Dr Nupur Pavan Bang is the first born in her generation, in a small town in Jharkhand, in a traditional, joint, Marwari, business family, that was once very rich, but not so when she was born, due to the sudden death of the patriarch (her grandfather), and no one being old enough, or capable, or willing to take over the business. What she researches today as an Associate Director at the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise, Indian School of Business (ISB), she has lived from the day she became aware of her surroundings.

She had unbiased access to education and a loving household. Yet has grown up seeing and experiencing the casual unconscious biases, the cloaked in “well-meaning” advices meant only for women, the traditions that are meant to keep women out or to make it extra challenging for them to succeed, the cushion of culture and traditions around the men, and simply a patriarchal society. Through her research and outreach, Nupur wants to make is easier for women to succeed, wants more role models to show the path for other women to dream and to not give up.

Nupur is a renowned thought leader in family businesses, is a frequent speaker at industry forums, an astute observer of “families” in family businesses and has interacted with several of them to understand their challenges, strengths, and best practices. She has authored several research papers, case studies, white papers, and articles for international and Indian publications. She was listed amongst the top 100 women in Finance in India in the year 2020 and was inducted into the Family Business United, UK’s ‘Family Business Hall of Fame’ in 2022.