Gone are those days when women stayed away from venturing into business. Today, women have made active participation in the startup ecosystem of India. Out of a total of 58.5 million businesses in India, women manage around 8.05 million. And employs around 13.48 million people.
However, only 10 percent of total entrepreneurs in India are women. And 14 percent of total business establishments in India are run by women.
15 Top Women Entrepreneurs In India Who Will Inspire You
So, have you started getting the entrepreneurial itch? Then, here’s a list of women entrepreneurs from India to draw inspiration from:
Suchi Mukherjee
She is the founder and CEO of Limeroad, the e-commerce website. An ex-employee of e-bay, Gumtree and Skype, she started on the business idea at the age of 39 when she was on her maternity leave. It is a discovery platform for lifestyle products. Started in 2012, Limeroad has raised funding of $20 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, Tiger Global and more.
Richa Kar
Richa Kar was one among the first entrepreneurs in India to venture into online lingerie space. She started Zivame in 2011 which currently employs around 250 people and recorded 300% YoY growth. Zivame continues to educate women about intimate wear and contributes to shaping consumer behaviour in the domain.
Aditi Gupta
Aditi, who hails from a small town in Jharkhand, started Menstrupedia to create awareness against the taboo related to menstruation. A post-graduate in New Media Design from National Institute of Design, Aditi started the company in 2011. The company provides a resourceful guide about maintaining the health and hygiene of women during menstruation.
Falguni Nayyar
Falguni Nayyar took up an entrepreneurial challenge with Nykaa.com, an e-commerce platform for beauty and wellness. The company got into retail partnerships with major organisations like Johnson and Johnson, P&G and more and has raised funding from multiple investors. An inspiring woman entrepreneur from India, Falguni is the person behind one of the fastest-growing startups in the country.
Shradha Sharma
She is the founder and Chief Editor of Yourstory.com, a media technology platform for entrepreneurs and start-ups. The company has raised investments from Ratan Tata, Mohandas Pai, Kalaari Capital etc. Yourstory currently boasts about more than 60 mn engaged readers and a direct impact on over 1.7 mn people.
Radhika Ghai Agarwal
Radhika is the Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of India’s first and largest online marketplace. Shopclues.com is currently serving in 9000 cities, towns and villages in the country.
Sabina Chopra
She founded Yatra.com, the famous travel portal in India. She was one among the forerunners in the online travel space and was able to make it one of the leading players in the sector.
Sairee Chahal
She is best known for her venture Sheroes, an online platform for women to network, discover work opportunities etc. A serial entrepreneur, Sairee has earlier co-founded Fleximoms. She has been actively involved in the business sector as a mentor, consultant, writer, etc. while being a mom of a little girl.
Upasana Taku
Mobikwik is one of India’s fastest-growing mobile wallets currently. It has a customer base of 65 million people. It is used by more than 2 million merchants as well. Upasana is the co-founder of MobiKwik and one among the few female entrepreneurs in the fin-tech sector.
Swati Bhargava
Swati is the co-founder and CEO of Cashkaro.com. It is a coupons and cashback website that rewards customers for visiting online retailers through their website. A graduate from London School of Economics, she has earlier started Pouring Pounds, a cashback website in the UK. In India, it was launched as Cashkaro.com in April 2013.
Rashi Menda
Rashi is the woman behind the startup Zapyle, a website dedicated to pre-owned clothes and accessories. It is a fashion marketplace to discover, sell and buy pre-owned apparels and accessories. She worked with Unamia, a startup for kids apparels before launching Zapyle. online certification courses.
Richa Singh
Richa is the women behind one of the unique startups in India, YourDost. It focuses on mental-wellbeing and emotional wellness. It is a platform that connects people with experts to discuss emotional issues and mental health under anonymity. Richa is behind this start-up that records a growth of 40% on a monthly basis.
Anisha Singh
Anisha worked with the Clinton Administration where she helped women entrepreneurs raise funds for their business ventures. Returning to India, she started Mydala.com in 2009. It is a marketing portal which connects merchants and consumers. It allows users to purchase offers from different brands. Hats off to all those women entrepreneurs! However, the list is small. There are more women who are unleashing the unexplored career paths. Take your idea into action. If you’re doubtful about your skill sets, why not enrol into online certification courses to improve your knowledge?
2 cents on Entrepreneurship, from Mr. Ajai Chowdhry
Mr Ajai Chowdhry is the co-founder of HCL. The following article appeared in the Intelligent Entrepreneur, July 2013 and reproduced here with permission from Mr Ajai Chowdhry.
Besides the will of individuals, what is needed is an ecosystem that fosters it.
Ajai Chowdhry
In my many years of study, deciphering the secret to what makes an entrepreneur tick—I have come across an oft-cited fallacy. It seems that many young people have the notion that entrepreneurship is a lonely battle, a singular trek through a bumpy business landscape where one is armed only with a burning passion and little else. There is an idea that a “real” entrepreneur can only be “born”. There is some innate, intangible quality, which makes a person an entrepreneur—that there is no room for outside intervention (governmental or otherwise) to retain the sanctity of that title. I am here to suggest the opposite.
Importance of mentors
I absolutely believe that for a young person to embark on the path of entrepreneurship, they need certain qualities: Passion, fearlessness and dedication. Yet they need not be alone on that path. They should be armed with education, the knowledge and expertise of mentors and an ecosystem that supports and fosters their efforts.
India is a land dotted with incubators—many of the strongest beings in educational institutes. I feel that while these institutes have strong technical mentorship, there is a void where business mentorship, teaching entrepreneurship and providing a connection to angel investors are concerned. It was in the interest of addressing this very void that I created a first-of-its-kind Minor in the subject at IIT Hyderabad, as Chairman of the institute.
I have seen the benefits of bolstering the entrepreneurial spirit with education and tempering it with experience. The true question for India is, how to get the government on board to provide the regulatory environment required to breed and incubate these young giants of the industry. Unfortunately, only around five percent of the many Indian start-ups get financial support from sources outside of friends and family due to an inhospitable business ecosystem.
A network
One of the best examples of positive incubation of entrepreneurs in India can be seen in the Indian Angel Network (IAN)—of which I am an active member, having invested in 12 start-ups myself. Combining the expertise and knowledge of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders with fledgelings in the field, the network provides mentorship for start-ups with great potential. A great example in the Indian IT space is Nasscom’s launch of 10,000 start-ups aimed at incubating, funding and supporting technology start-ups in India over the next decade in partnership with the IAN.
It is important to note that India has a long way to go in terms of the number of companies nurtured by angels when compared to their counterparts in the West. Here, in India, we are in need of more and more jobs of this calibre. About 100 million new jobs to be considered a “developed” nation, in fact!
Government support
We stand to gain from a multiplier effect, if we can convince more young people to embrace entrepreneurship as a supported, nurtured and respected arena for business practice. This can only happen when the government steps in and creates a positive environment for these young, dynamic businesses.
There are myriad ways this can be done; by creating greater ease of business for start-ups by simplifying the maze of regulatory roadblocks and through tax breaks and incentives for groups such as the IAN.
The creation of an entrepreneur is a tricky business. It requires the construction of a robust ecosystem complete with mentors who can guide and inspire these bright minds to their best.
An argument can be made that the last two decades of growth in the IT industry contributed in no small part to the creation and success of entrepreneurial ventures in the country; HCL being a strong case in point.
How much more will India grow if we foster an environment that provides the framework, funding and mentoring for these start-ups to succeed?
If you want to know more about entrepreneurship and its opportunities, sign up for online entrepreneurship courses and get a chance to pitch your idea to successful professionals in the investor community.
More Information:
Core Principles of Entrepreneurship
Best Entrepreneurship Management Course in India