Shashi Bala is the Chief - Business Development at BMC and Director - SMILE Council (BMC’s Civic-Tech Business Incubator). With 29+ years of experience in business operations, marketing, and urban governance, she has significantly contributed to the Ease of Doing Business initiatives and regulatory reforms in Mumbai and has been awarded “Certificate of Appreciation” from World Bank for her contribution. The initiative of online combined Business Application has won the “Digital India Awards 2018”, under the category of “Outstanding Digital Initiative by Urban Local Body”.
She has been pivotal in establishing the SMILE Council, the civic-tech incubation centre at BMC and Mumbai’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Film. She is also the Focal Point for Mumbai at UNESCO Creative City Network and actively represents Mumbai @UCCN.
As part of UCCN local initiative, she is working on Culture led Sustainable Local Economic Development framework for Mumbai.