Once restricted to the four walls of a house. The Indian women have walked a long way to become successful entrepreneurs and change makers. The journey hasn’t been easy though. Centuries old social norms take a very long time to change. However with faith and determination (wo)man can move mountains.
In this post we present you brief profile about some of the most prominent women business leaders of India:
Hemlatha: The event that changed her life
At one point helping people to find the right profession, Hemlatha found her own passion in electric mobility in 2008.
In 2007 Hemlatha visited a conference in Japan where she heard about the potential of electric mobility in revolutionizing the transport industry- for the better. The idea clicked and stayed in her mind. She bid goodbye to Uni Connect, her Singapore-based HR consulting firm, to come to India with family.
For Hemlatha it was not only about business or even passion. She had bigger dreams. She foresaw the possibility of electric mobility in improving the lives of people in smaller regions like rural areas and small towns.
To turn her passion for electric mobility into a full-fledged business she invested enormous efforts and lots of time into brainstorming new ideas, building sustainable business plans, and most importantly research and development activities.
How serious she was in her endeavors can be understood by the fact that the legendary entrepreneur and proactive startup investor Ratan Tata was among her first supporters and investors.
The company, named AMpere Vehicles, registered healthy growth as Hemlatha kept on exerting efforts and pouring passion. To support the increasing sales the facility also needed to be expanded. Her manufacturing units with an annual capacity of 30,000 vehicles have made massive sales of 20000 vehicles.
Falguni Nayar – The perfect example of work-life balance
Falguni Nayyar is among those progressive Indian women who demonstrated that women can continue their careers post-marriage and have children. After 20-decades of a thriving corporate career, she followed her entrepreneurial passion by starting Nykaa.
Her father played a vital role in sowing the seeds of entrepreneurship right from her younger years. The business insights from her father along with the skills acquired during her professional career prepared Falguni for confidently starting her own business. The running point for the business came a few years after though when Falguni decide to go the eCommerce way with her digital shop for beauty products for women.
Along with the heavy digital footprint the brand also has several brick and mortar shops to support the traditional buyers. It allowed the brand to expand its customer base. For catering to the massive community of customers the company started in-house manufacturing as well, in addition to over 200 brands it already sold.
Keeping pace with the tradition of success Falguni decided to go the IPPO way last year. Showing trust in the brand the investors oversubscribed the IPO around 82 percent times, skyrocketing the company’s market cap to as high as 1.05 lakh crore. It achieved a historical; success not only for Nykaa but also for the entire women-owned businesses in India.
Despite such a massive success Falguni remains down to earth person and thanks to her entire family for supporting her dreams and passion.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw- The warrior spirit
Despite the cultural progress, the galleries of business have never been easy for young women. The barriers were much higher in 1978 when a young woman thought of starting her own business. At 25 Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was too young to start her venture in the field of medicine.
It wasn’t a bed of roses for her but Kiran was determined to walk the path of thorns to achieve her dreams. Her job tenure at an Australian company helped her acquire a deep understanding of fermentation which allowed her to give the right direction to the research and development. Though high on knowledge her funds were scarce to start the business. However, confident Kiran managed to overcome the obstacle by getting a loan from Canara Bank.
After achieving decent growth, Kiran decided to expand her business model to include pharmaceutical products as well. It was the time of scaling up and acquiring new markets. The company started dealing in several products like insulin, statins, and monoclonal antibodies.
When Kiran launched her company’s IPO it was readily welcomed by the investors who oversubscribed it 33 times. By achieving such a huge valuation on the first day the IPO proved to be a historical success for Biocon. In India, it was the second company to gain a $1 billion-plus valuation on its listing day.
Counted among 68 most powerful women in the world, Shaw has also received the Padma Shri award.
Vani Kola – The startup investment Wizard
Vaani’s strong entrepreneurial career through 20+ years, helped her acquire a keen knowledge about the investment potential of a new business. At that time India’s start-up scenario was booming which presented a favorable environment for VCs, and Angel Investors. Recognizing the opportunity that matched her expertise and passion, Vani said bye to Silicon Valley and returned to her home country.
A thorough market research equipped Vani to understand the Indian startup system and select the businesses with high growth potential. Being still at the nascent stage, it wasn’t easy to separate the best from the rest but Vani’s quick learning capabilities, deep research skills, and analytical expertise allowed her to pick up the early signals and make the right decision. It enabled her to gain a first & fast-mover advantage over many others.
Leveraging her Silicon valley connections Vani started Indo-US venture partners with her co-founder Vinod Dham- an Indian entrepreneur from Silicon Valley. Partnering with New Enterprise Associates IUVP started its growth journey.
Four years of successful stint gave her the confidence to open her sole entity with the name of Kalaari Capital. The opportune equation of knowledge, experience, and connections enabled Vani to achieve huge success in her sole business as well. With impressive stats such as $740 million of total raised capital and 200+ assets, the organization is constantly growing at a phenomenal rate.
She has been awarded by prominent business magazines. Such as, Fortune and Forbes as the Most Powerful Woman in Business in India.
Radhika Ghai – From struggling startup to Unicorn
Along with top Indian eCommerce brands like Snap deal and Flipkart the Shop clues has also built a loyal community of e-shoppers. However, the journey from a struggling startup to Unicorn was anything but easy for the founder Radhika. The MBA student from the USA dreamt of venturing into the eCommerce space which was thriving in India. However, the presence of strong players as well as Amazon’s plans to start Indian operations made her hesitate. Her husband Sandeep didn’t have any doubt about her potential and actively encouraged her to follow her ambitions.
Scarcity of funds made the competition even tougher. The challenge was how to build a customer base in a market where top brands were already enjoying a deep, traction, and ubiquitous presence. Despite these challenges, the husband-wife duo modestly launched their ambitious digital marketplace. It is known as Shop clues, which acted as a bridge between sellers and shoppers. However, the founders’ determination, customer relations, and top-notch user experience set the business on a steady growth trajectory. The initial success culminated in steady growth and the business kept on prospering. It took just half a decade for Shop clues to achieve the covetous title of Unicorn- the $1 billion-plus business.
The business’ success attracted the attention of another Singapore-based business named Qoo10.
Redirecting her entrepreneurial journey, Radhika went on to launch her beauty and wellness brand with the name Kindlife. This digital platform carefully picks the best brands in the field of home care, nutrition, and beauty products. Instead of stuffing any brand or just going by the market value, Kindlife does a thorough 360-degree analysis before allowing a brand to get listed on its platform.
