An Indian entrepreneur has taken to social media to say how she was removed from her position as CEO of the company she co-founded because of her brown complexion.

In a video she shared, she revealed that the company’s board chose a ‘white man’ to replace her, saying her skin tone and gender could keep potential investors at bay.

The entrepreneur said, “In July 2024, the board picked a white man to replace me as CEO in a company that I had co-founded and run for 10 years. And I’m gonna tell you why it matters that it was a white man who replaced me… When they went around trying to convince the rest of the board members that a swap should happen, apparently, one of the women board members we had was very uncomfortable with the idea of a white man replacing a brown woman as CEO… Not all board members agreed with this idea. I got a call from one of them who said they would not be able to give equal pay to both CEOs.”

The arrangement obviously fell apart, but the board went ahead with having the ‘white man’ as CEO, highlighting the racial and gender discrimination prevalent in the corporate world.

The woman entrepreneur said, “The new CEO had the audacity, in 2024, to call me up and tell me that as a brown woman I couldn’t draw the same salary as a white man. The board couldn’t reach a decision, so they went with just having him as CEO.”

The entrepreneur’s courage to open up on injustice at the workplace has been widely appreciated. – editor@nrifocus.com