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The Women's Web list of 30 successful women entrepreneurs in India, Women entrepreneurs are making headwinds and these women entrepreneurs are growing their businesses and impacting their communities too!
The Women’s Web list of 30 successful women entrepreneurs in India – Women entrepreneurs are making headwinds and these women entrepreneurs are growing their businesses and impacting their communities too!
Women entrepreneurs are making headwinds in just about every industry there is.
Still, there are so many stories of women entrepreneurs that go unheard, and there are so many more women who need the inspiration from these stories!
So, this International Women’s Day 2015, I bring you a few glimpses of these amazing women entrepreneurs growing businesses – and nurturing families, developing new business models, caring for the environment, making a difference to society, continuing their studies – all while conceptualizing, founding, establishing, managing and developing their ventures.
If you would like to establish a closer connect with a committed band of entrepreneurs, and learn with and from their successes, join the upcoming Breaking Barriers to Growth event being organised by Women’s Web. Being held on March 14th in Bangalore and March 21st in Mumbai, it is a great opportunity to take a day off from your routine and invest the time in yourself – to upgrade skills and networks and renew inspiration. Registrations here.
These women, who have all been featured at Women’s Web, are business-savvy, but also creative and infinitely passionate about what they do.
This International Women’s Day, we take a moment to applaud them and wish them well on their journeys!
Most of us are familiar with the Chumbak brand that makes wacky, high creative accessories, gifting and home products. Women’s Web was among the earliest publications to interview the incredible woman behind Chumbak, Shubhra Chaddha.
The creative idea of turning her husband’s old denims into a bag became the inspiration for Tanushree Nair’s start-up, Karaashilp. Read on as she tells you about her daily routine juggling her work, employees and a full life at home too.
Thriving on the artistic heritage of India, Rashmi Singh launched Moya, a brand devoted to producing uniquely crafted lifestyle, home and apparel products; Moya caters to those who revel in the beauty and story behind Indian artistry.
Entrepreneur Ami Gandhi has a varied set of experiences to share; from her work in an Associate Program in Graphic Design in the US and a job at a graphic designing firm in Vadodara, to taking care of two children, sparking interest in origami and ultimately finding passion in creating personalised photobooks and photo-walls through her company—Fabrigamie.
The Founder of Zivame, the pioneer in online lingerie retail in India, Richa Kar speaks about the challenges of bootstrapping a venture and the joy of being able to fill a certain customer need successfully.
Sisters Ramya Rangacharya and Malyada Goverdhan’s apparel brand, Hands Of India is all about keeping alive the handmade weaving and embroidery traditions of India. They talk about the joys and challenges of working with artisanal teams all over India, and finding unusual traditions to bring to customers.
Mora sarees are considered a collectible item; Ritika Mittal, the obsessive entrepreneur behind Mora tells us why she firmly believes each piece of apparel is unique and how her brand connects the user with the story behind each piece of apparel.
Why should good quality work wear for Indian women not include Indian clothing as well? With that simple insight, Manali Shenoy Kamat began Indian Concepts, now a byword for professional-wear, good quality Indian clothing.
What started as a domestic experiment, slowly developed into two full-fledged business ventures: a Fragrance creation venture and Areev— a brand supplying spa and hotel merchandise. Ally Matthan, the creative soul behind this venture tells us how the journey has been.
Nina Lekhi failed an exam at her first year of college and was driven to prove that she had what it takes to succeed. Thus began her journey designing bags – a journey that has today taken the well known Baggit brand to over 25 exclusive stores of its own and a presence in over 300 multi-brand outlets.
Katie Bhujwala, who runs the Shergarh wildlife camp in Kanha, is among the small but growing number of women from Western countries who call India home. With her husband Jehan, she runs a warm and hospitable place for tourists, while staying committed to doing what is right for the local people and environment.
Bored of the road well travelled and eager to bring her own passion for travel to more people, Shivya Nath founded and runs India Untravelled, which aims to bridge the gap between socially responsible travel offerings and travellers looking for unique, authentic and offbeat experiences.
Born out of a conversation with a local resident during vacations in Pachmarchi, Prachi Garg created Ghoomphiro.com, a travel planning site for corporate retreats and outings with the focus on the off-beat, lesser known regions of India.
Identifying a service gap is always a good way to begin a new business, and a gap is precisely what Rati Rajkumar and her husband found while applying for bank loans. The result? Bank Bazaar—a leading online loan platform to procure loans and insurances in India. Read more about it.
Lakshmi Rebecca hosts Chai with Lakshmi, an online talk show where she interacts with interesting people from different walks of life and discusses a wide range of topics, ranging from music and art to technology and entrepreneurship – all over a piping hot cup of tea!
From applying for 150 client projects a day to becoming a valued and profitable graphic designer, Pragati Srivastava traces the beginning, the inspiration, modifications and success of her design and development company—ProgressiveWeb.
Hetal Jannu and Anuja Balasubramanian, Founders of Show Me The Curry, transport thousands of viewers from across the globe into their kitchens through their cookery shows on YouTube. They talk about their ‘a-ha’ moment of turning entrepreneurs, and the challenge of differentiating themselves from the countless cookery shows out there.
Juggling between a demanding college life and her start-up technology firm, Swaathi K recounts the inspiration, the process and the demands of daily work in her company, Skcript, which works with emerging technologies.
With the world getting increasingly digitized by the day and books competing with toys and games, Swati Roy enlightens us on her day to day experience of being a book seller, a literary consultant and book supplier for over 40 schools in Delhi.
Falak Randerian, a Post Graduate in Communication, an experienced Phonics trainer, a trained storyteller and a parenting blogger shares with us her journey conceiving and founding My Little Chatterbox—a program aimed at creating a life-long association with books amongst its young users.
Shobhna S. Kumar is the Founder of Queer Ink, an online bookstore as well as publishing house, offering resources for Indian women and men who are lesbian, gay, or otherwise different from what is seen as sexually ‘normal’. She discusses her journey in this challenging space in India.
An experienced trainer and neuro-linguistic programming specialist, Payal Gandhi Hoon launched Tamarai, a training consultancy offering services for personal and professional development using neuro-linguistic programming—the practise of articulating your thoughts, language and behaviour patterns to achieve specified goals.
Coming from a family of non-risk takers, Nithya David however always had a dream of becoming the head of a Company. Read on as she shares her experience of creating Upstream, a Human resource consultancy firm along with her insightful process of networking with clients.
Being an entrepreneur in a digital marketing agency demands dynamism and creativity along with efficient and timely communication with clients. Read on as Payal Sakhuja shares her daily rounds of work at Ripple Link— a dynamic social media and digital management company.
Aaradhee Mehta is the Founder of Buy Stories, which works in the field Customer Experience Management or CEM. Her company helps brands manage their customers’ experience, gives them a holistic view of the customers comments about the enterprise, troubleshoots if there is a wrong outlook about the brand and articulates the brand image by various means.
Saundarya Rajesh, President of AVTAR Career Creators, a Recruitment and HR consulting firm also leads the I-WIN initiative to help women progress in their careers or re-enter the workforce after a break. She tells us how Indian companies have gradually begun to realize that encouraging talented women to stay in the workforce is beneficial for everyone.
The Founder of Sheroes.in which is a career platform for women at work, Sairee Chahal has pioneered the growth of programs enabling Indian women to re-enter and continue working after a career gap. Sheroes mentors women at work and connects them to the resources they need to succeed.
Entranced by entrepreneurship from an early age, Preethi Sukumaran attempted business from the age of 7 – charging a ticket for a localized colony event and creating her own little garage library using donated books. Today, she heads Krya – a firm that manufactures environmentally sustainable product made from plant based ingredients as an alternative for the socially conscious urban Indian.
Aarti Mohan had a flourishing career in Engineering before she switched lanes to follow her twin passions of community development and writing. She talks about her experience running The Alternative, an online publication that chronicles as well as supports a more environmentally and socially conscious India.
Shweta Foulger who has moved from running a blog on all things sustainable, to creating a business from it, Green OK Please talks about her life as an entrepreneur. Green OK Please is an online store that deals in all things green and sustainable.
Here’s hoping that these stories of ordinary women doing extraordinary things has inspired you and perhaps, even sets you off on a journey of your own!
I enjoy Chinese food, animated movies and fictional books. I take pride in practicality, love discussing psychological disorders and yearn to be resourceful in every sphere of life. I always wish for free time but read more...
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Menopause is a reality in women's lives, so Indian workplaces need to gear up and address women's menopausal needs.
Picture this: A seasoned executive at the peak of her career suddenly grapples with hot flashes and sleep disturbances during important meetings. She also battles mood swings and cognitive changes, affecting her productivity and confidence. Eventually, she resigns from her job.
Fiction? Not really. The scenario above is a reality many women face as they navigate menopause while meeting their work responsibilities.
Menopause is the time when a woman stops menstruating. This natural condition marks the end of a woman’s reproductive years. The transition brings unique physical, emotional, and psychological changes for women.
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