Without racial, cultural and gender diversity, there is no innovation or progress. Women are not a minority, they make up 50% of the population and, therefore, half of its potential. Although their role in the labour force has evolved over recent decades, it’s no longer just about breaking glass ceilings and occupying leadership positions in large corporations – female entrepreneurship is also necessary for making progress in society.
A lack of role models, stereotypes and difficulties accessing funding make it hard for women to launch businesses. Committing to work-life balance, redefining the face of entrepreneurs and new business and digital models are some key aspects that could help make entrepreneurial opportunities more egalitarian. Here is a list of female entrepreneurs making new strides
Burgeon Law has guided promoters on the legalities of managing the uncertainty and extension of the runway in order to tackle various issues rising up with the lock-down and its impact on India’s start-up ecosystem whereas many female startup founders are consulting Burgeon Law to understand legalities associated with the force majeure. The firm believes in supporting entrepreneurs throughout their journey and in encouraging entrepreneurship in India at its core. Under the guidance of Roma Priya, Founder of Burgeon Law, India’s leading boutique law firm has for the two consecutive years done the maximum number of venture capital transactions in the country as recognized by Venture Intelligence and has also been recognized as the Top Law Firm by Forbes India in Legal Powerlist 2020.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, healthcare, starting from doctor consultation and diagnostics tests to getting medicines, shifted online almost overnight. This service was uncommon back in 2014-15 when Nidhi Jain, IIT Roorkee alumnus, began her entrepreneurial journey. Nidhi, Founder of KareXpert, who has always drawn inspiration from entrepreneurs, comes from a family of people working in the healthcare sector. She began her work by providing video doctor consultation solutions to patients. Prior to starting up, Nidhi held product management responsibilities with popular companies such as Transera and Mahindra Comviva. After realising the lack of digital services for doctors, she pivoted to focus on building B2B solutions. In 2018, Nidhi launched KareXpert, which is aimed at digitalising hospitals by providing a SaaS-based digital healthcare platform.
Go Desi, a new-age packaged food brand offering a range of traditional Indian specialties, started as a D2C brand whose products are manufactured by micro-entrepreneurs, farmers’ cooperatives, and self-help groups. Raksha Kothari, co-founder of Go Desi heads the sourcing department and looks after procurement, vendor management and production. She also takes care of HR & alliances including recruitment, training & development of the workforce as well as tracking the impact on ground. Under her leadership, Go Desi has employed more than 200 women in their manufacturing setup in Bangalore.
JobsForHer is an online job portal which seamlessly enables women on a professional break to restart their careers and achieve their full potential. It offers women with suitable job opportunities, reputed companies, and curated experts in a plethora of restart resources such as reskilling, community building & networking, etc. JobsForHer’s vision is to reverse female brain-drain from within the Indian workforce. Neha Bagaria the Founder & CEO of JobsForHer, took a 3.6-year break in her own career when she had her 2 children. During this personal journey, she became aware of the various difficulties a woman faces in order to re-enter the workforce. She then became committed to the cause of enabling women to accelerate their careers and founded JobsForHer.com on International Women’s Day, 2015.
Zahara Kanchwalla, Rite KnowledgeLabs a knowledge first digital agency converged her passion for digital technology and communication by co-founding Rite KnowledgeLabs, which delivers Storytelling as a Service (SaaS) and has created original content and led thought leadership mandates for some of the biggest brands across sectors. After completing Plastics Engineering more than a decade ago and doing a Post diploma in Computer Applications, she never imagined that down the line she would emerge as a digital storyteller. The firm has created digital assets and social media outreach programs from the ground up by marrying strategic consulting with executional rigour. Be it social media advocacy, corporate websites, subject-specific microsites, investor and cause reporting-led digital assets and reports, they research & write, design & develop in an integrated manner.
Source: Business World
