Women entrepreneurs: Jumping the corporate ship and gaining new wings
Entrepreneurship is one word that belongs to men as much as it does to women. Especially when you live in a world where more than 1/3rd of the entrepreneurial ventures are established, run, and managed well by women.
Statistically speaking, there has been a rise in Women Entrepreneurship and the trend is bound to continue, owing to the massive digital revolution in the last decade, economic progress, better access to education, urbanization and recognition from the society. As per a survey and the EdelGive Foundation Report, Businesses owned by women entrepreneurs in India are likely to witness a 90 per cent growth in the coming five years, compared to the US (50 per cent) and UK (24 per cent).
Speaking of Women Entrepreneurship, here are some Indian names who have made it to the list of top Entrepreneurship – women who did not hesitate to take the plunge, irrespective of the challenges and uncertainties, and yet prove their mettle.
Zivame – Richa Kar
A fashion brand started way back in 2011 by Richa Kar, Zivame primarily focussed on Lingerie with the USP of featuring a plethora of styles for Indian Women – something they arrived at after understanding that Lingerie is quite an under-served category in India. Later on, the brand forayed into Activewear, Sleepwear and Shapewear which soon began to witness almost 2X growth. Zivame, the brain-child of Richa Kar, is today one of the largest Lingerie EBO networks in India with an unbelievable 30 retail stores network.
Limeroad – Suchi Mukherjee
Founded by Suchi Mukherjee about a decade ago, Limeroad is a Gurugram based company, that has over the last 10 years, built a reputation of being among the best. Reason why it is backed by investors like Tiger Global Management, Lightspeed India Partners, Matrix Partners India and Lightspeed Venture Partners, to name a few. As India’s first boutique fashion marketplace for Women, Men and Kids, LimeRoad has raised over $50 million in funding to date.
Nykaa – Falguni Nayar
A brand that needs no introduction, Nykaa.com is one of the biggest destinations for products on beauty & wellness. With over 2500+ brands, 5 lakh+ products and delivery all across India, it is today a one-stop solution that offers affordable cosmetic brands along with apparel. Founded by Falguni Nayar in 2012, it expanded in 2015 only to diversify and sell Fashion products through Nykaa Fashion in 2018.Today, the company has multiple eCommerce platforms across websites along with mobile apps and has 76 offline stores as well. A unicorn start-up, Nykaa is the story of a woman entrepreneur whose brand was valued at ₹85 billion (US$1.2 billion) in 2020.
Cashkaro – Swati Bhargav
Swati Bhargav co-founded CashKaro, India’s largest Cashback and coupon Site in 2013 along with her husband, Rohan Bhargav. Known to be a one-stop destination for shopping lovers, it enables its members to compare prices, earn extra cashback and get free coupons across 1000+ e-commerce sites. The fact that CashKaro is backed by Ratan Tata says a lot about the brand and the woman behind it!
Fresh Menu – Rashmi Daga
Rashmi Daga is the founder & CEO of Fresh Menu – a Bangalore-based online food delivery service platform. Started in 2014, it delivers freshly prepared food. Her Online Delivery platform today serves 12,000 orders a day. FreshMenu has multiple satellite kitchens with each kitchen serving within a five kilometres radius. It operates 22 kitchens in Bangalore. It has to date raised $25.8 million in funding. Speaking of her other achievements, Rashmi was on the list of Fortune’s 40 under 40 and has also been awarded ET Prime Women Entrepreneur Award in 2019.
Sheroes – Sairee Chahal
SHEROES is a women-only social community platform founded by Sairee Chahal that helps women find work from home and other resources and mentors to help them start or boost their careers. SHEORES offer a range of products like Brand Solutions, Managed Remote Solutions Program and SHE – prevention of sexual harassment at work platform.
Mad Street Den – Ashwani Ashokan
Mad Street Den, founded by Ashwani Ashokan along with her husband Anand Chandrasekaran in 2013, is a computer vision and artificial intelligence company where they build models of generalizable intelligence and create actionable ways to contextualize AI on the scale, helping millions of people and providing customised solutions. A Chennai based start-up, it has over 220+ employees in the US, Japan, and India. Global Brain Corporation, Sequoia Capital, Falcon Edge Capital, KDDI, Array Ventures are some of the many big names that have invested in Mad Street Den which today boasts of $30M in funding
Wed Me Good – Mehak Sagar
WedMeGood was co-founded by Mehak Sagar Shahani eight years ago in 2014. Apt for the Indian market, this Wedding Planning Website and app helps in finding the best wedding vendors, with prices and reviews at the click of a button. A single-stop solution for all queries and requirements related to Wedding, WedMeGood is the go-to app and website for people (or their families) who are getting hooked. A Gurgaon-based start-up, WedMeGood has investors with the likes of Orchid Asia Group Management, Indian Angel Network, Alok Mittal
and Hemant Kanakia.
Some Interesting Statistics on Women Entrepreneurs in India
- About 58% of the female entrepreneurs were in the age range of 20-30 when they started out.
- Nearly 73% of them report a revenue of approximately Rs 10 lakhs in a financial year.
- Almost 57% of these women started out solo, i.e., without any other member.
- About 35% of the women had a co-founder.
- Roughly 71% of the Indian female entrepreneurs employ five people or less.
The rise of Women Entrepreneurs is proof that we are moving ahead in the right direction, as an economy and as a society. Backed by the digital revolution that has empowered millions of people, some of who are sitting at home and bringing a change, today we as a Nation, have all that is required to ensure Women Entrepreneurs are able to dream, live their dream and bring a change.