[100 Emerging Women Leaders] This women-led startup is building stronger boardrooms

When Divya Momaya was working as a company secretary overseeing the compliance requirements for various companies, she realised the lack of proper corporate governance.

This motivated Momaya to educate founders, promoters, and other board members about good governance practices. In 2018, Momaya along with her sister-in-law, Neha Shah started MentorMyBoard.

The startup provides knowledge, network, and resources needed by individuals and organisations in the corporate sector to be better in board leadership and governance.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India explains that corporate governance is a set of internal controls, policies, and procedures that form the framework of a company's operations and its dealings with various stakeholders such as customers, management, employees, government, and industry bodies.

“Not just new hires and mid-level managers require mentorship but directors and senior members also need guidance. There is a lack of awareness among directors and promoters about corporate governance. Therefore, we mentor them to efficiently apply corporate governance in their daily processes,” Momaya tells HerStory.

"Many startups & MSMEs work as ‘solopreneurs’. We work with companies in their startup and growth journey and help them create their advisory boards and help their existing boards to be agile and transformative. For listed and mid-level companies we ensure their governance practices are better," Shah adds.

Mentoring boards

The startup has mentors from diverse fields such as strategy, diversity, cyber/ digital technology, finance, treasury management, legal, governance, marketing and sales, and compliance. They provide mentoring on various topics in the form of courses, group sessions, one-on-one sessions, and more.

The duo discusses challenges and subjects of interest with the Chairman or relevant authority, maps the right mentors and subject matter experts from the industry, offers training programmes in boardrooms, and builds a community of board leaders.

Mumbai-based MentorMyBoard offers a host of courses covering topics like breaking down board duties, enterprise risk management, code of conduct for directors, fraud reporting procedure, responsibility towards stakeholders among many others.

It also runs a three-month mentorship programme specifically designed for women aiming for management and board positions.

“At Women on Management & Boards (WOMB), we try to empower aspiring female leaders and the existing women leaders with enhanced skills on board leadership and best corporate governance practices. Our programmes equip women with the skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to excel in board roles,” Momaya explains.

WOMB was launched by Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman during their second Women Directors Conclave for MentorMyBoard in 2022.

The startup says that over 60 women have participated in the programme, with four securing board opportunities. In the past three years, the startup has hosted three Women Directors Conclaves.

Apart from training sessions, the startup also organises networking events through offline and online directors' meets in cities like Delhi, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. It hosts events such as Women Directors Conclave (flagship programme), Independent Directors Summit, and Mentors Round Tables, further offering networking opportunities.

It also helps in curating profiles of industry experts having the potential to serve as directors and conduct skill gap analysis for portfolio companies' boards and senior management assistance for investors. Additionally, it helps in interviewing, reference checking, and due diligence of prospective candidates.

So far, MentorMyBoard has conducted over 1000 training sessions.

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The beginning

Momaya grew up in Malgaon, Nashik. Education always played an important role in her life.

She vividly recalls a defining moment from her youth: she had the opportunity to buy a scooter, but her father presented her with a choice. He told her she could either have the scooter or continue her education. Without hesitation, Momaya chose to pursue her education.

She went to Pune to complete her graduation along with which she completed a course in corporate governance. Soon after this she got engaged and moved to Mumbai.

Momaya began her career as a company secretary at BSEL Infrastructure, then BSE Ltd. She is also the founder mentor of D. S. Momaya & Co, where she has accumulated 16years of experience as a practicing company secretary.

Her expertise spans across corporate and secretarial laws, corporate governance, business development, and mentoring startups and MSMEs. She specialises in consulting businesses to help them scale up more efficiently and effectively.

On the other hand, Shah has a background in HR. While she was working with Future Group India as an HR recruiter after which she took a sabbatical for 8 months.

Soon after, in 2012, Shah joined D. S. Momaya & Co wherein she was looking after compliance for various clients.

In her role she managed client coordination, handled clients from various sectors, managed ROC reporting and filings, handled PAN and TAN applications, oversaw LLP incorporations and compliances and more.

During 2018, Momaya decided to start her own venture releasing the lack of corporate governance in most corporations. After Shah’s experience in the domain, Momaya joined hands with her and started Mentor My Board.

“As a Co-Founder Director, I manage company operations, strategy planning and execution, and platform development with the IT team. I serve as the Change Mentor for WOMB and Relationship Manager, communicating with Industry Board Mentors, scrutinizing their profiles, adding them to the mentor database, and identifying the training needs of mentees,” Shah adds.

Reflecting on her journey, Momaya says, “I've learned that gender bias starts in the mind. But with knowledge, you can prove yourself.”

She adds that the duo never faced situations where people ignored them, as their expertise and knowledge always spoke for them.

“Gender doesn't matter if you can prove your worth and the value you bring,” Shah adds.

Momaya believes that women should believe in themselves and never stop learning.

“We need to be resilient till we reach our goal and have a circle of trustworthy people around us who keep motivating us,” Shah adds.