Managing a small business when pregnant is like nurturing two babies simultaneously! How do women entrepreneurs cope with the challenges?

By Monalisa Saxena

I started PIXIGHTS – a research and consulting firm focused on visual media about a year back. It was an exciting time planning and developing the business, creating a brand and building something of my own. Around three months into all of this, I realised I was pregnant with my second baby. Continue reading →

While entrepreneurship in India is challenging, many are proving themselves equal to it. Here are 10 Indian women entrepreneurs doing something truly impactful. 

By Nandini Hirianniah

Entrepreneurship is definitely not for the faint hearted. Though, in India we claim of this ever-increasing support system to help early-stage founders / startups, it just does not seem sufficient. Continue reading →

How can entrepreneurs keep the focus on the bigger picture without getting bogged down by the day-to-day activities of running a business?

By Sairee Chahal

“The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close-up. The shortcut to closing a door is to bury yourself in the details. This is how we must look to God. As if everything’s just fine.”

- Chuck Palahniuk

Film making and start-ups are wonderfully similar. In both, one is constantly trying to imagine the big picture while assembling elements of detail. In both, there are moments of cheer and there are ones of despair. Timelines of start-ups are like a play in light and shadow. Film making follows a script, whereas entrepreneurial ventures have business plans, only scripted one detail at a time. The constant challenge of keeping the big picture and small detail together is common to both. Continue reading →

Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, a design school situated in Kutch, emphasizes the importance of women in reviving the various craft forms of India.

By Elizabeth Soumya

This article was originally published at The Alternative - an online publication on social change and sustainable living.

Her fuchsia clothes brighten up the barren landscape around her. Sitting in the confines of her home in Sumrasar village, 25kms from Bhuj, Gujarat, Hariyaben Uttamchand uses a vocabulary that’s at par with any urban designer. She explains how one needs to understand colours – primary, warm and cool colours, and the concept of contrast in a craft like embroidery. Continue reading →

Among women entrepreneurs who start home based businesses, home bakers are all the rage! But how easy – or difficult – is it?

By Melanie Lobo

Starting a home based business is something many women hope to do, especially in areas like food or fashion. There are many women entrepreneurs who have taken this step and established themselves successfully and home bakers seem to be prominent among them.

While the rise of the home bakers is often covered in the media, is it really that easy? We talk to some noted home bakers and get you the story of the grit behind the goodies. Continue reading →

While women entrepreneurs are increasingly visible in India, following the Silicon Valley model of entrepreneurship may not work for all.

By Sairee Chahal

A lot of time and effort has been spent figuring out the cauldron of entrepreneurship and women. The stats are all too familiar. Less than 5 percent of capital goes to women led companies. One in 40 is the kind of ratio seen at industry forums and start-up events. There are very few scaled up, women owned businesses in the ‘hot sectors’ like mobile and internet.

Look around at the world of accelerators, incubators, angels, VCs – in India, outside India, barring less than a dozen, the landscape models the stereotype. A one size that does not fit all. Continue reading →

Meet these young women entrepreneurs in India who have become successful business women while still in college!

By Melanie Lobo

Becoming an entrepreneur is no mean task and starting a business with no prior work experience is all the more challenging. But this fact did not stand in the way of a few enterprising women entrepreneurs in starting their businesses while still studying. Continue reading →

Sometimes, women entrepreneurs in India need a little help along their entrepreneurial journey. Some organizations which work towards empowering women entrepreneurs.

By Rashi Goel

The last decade has seen a steady rise of women entrepreneurs in India. With a larger number of women taking to entrepreneurship, academic institutions as well as industry backed foundations saw a void which needed to be filled – they realized that women either had the funds and lacked the technical know-how of running a business, or vice versa. The need of the hour was for a mentor, a hand holder to walk beside them on their path to success. Continue reading →

The women entrepreneurs of India are a growing force in business; sharing here writing by women entrepreneurs around the world to inspire us!

By Aparna V. Singh 

As an entrepreneur in India myself, I know how easy it is sometimes to feel disheartened – the journey seems uphill, and the rewards are slow to come by. Of course, there is that one note you receive from a customer (or a reader, in our case!) with fulsome praise and the day looks brighter than ever, but the following day, it is back to the slog all over again.

The women entrepreneurs of India often have it even harder and as our study on women and entrepreneurship in India shows – knowing and learning from other entrepreneurs helps.  Continue reading →

Unhappy with mainstream children’s clothing stores, some women entrepreneurs have started home based businesses in children’s clothes.

By Melanie Lobo

Many women in India are forced to take a career break after motherhood. While some return to work later, more and more women are turning to entrepreneurship for various reasons ranging from increased job satisfaction to more work flexibility. Some opt for home based businesses like baking while others turn their talents for dress making into a profitable enterprise. A few such women entrepreneurs share their experiences about creating children’s clothes.  Continue reading →