The world has always been a tough, sometimes cruel and also demeaning place for women since the ancient of times, crushing their hopes and dreams of a life outside the confines of a house. However, the women instead of capitulating to the intense pressure have broken their shackles, and have advanced in various fields leaving men far far behind.
Toba beta, the author of Master of Stupidity cleverly defined an entrepreneur in one of his quotes “Youngsters want to change world. Elders want to enjoy their works. The entrepreneur sells anything needed by both to win their desires”. Men have although garnered much of a stronghold in this field with ventures such as facebook, google etc., but the women are not far behind. Various Indian women have identified these ‘needs’ and have initiated various start-ups that cater to these needs. Here are a few worth mentioning:
- Neha Juneja: Neha Juneja (CEO and co-founder) of Greenway Grameen Infra is an entrepreneur to the word. She identified a massive need for the rural Indian women in her first product The Smart Stove. This product generates almost 65% fuel savings and cuts down the smoke emissions to an astonishing 80% compared to the mud cookstoves that the rural women in India use. Due to her efforts with GGI, Neha was awarded ‘Brightest Young Climate Leader’ by the Hindustan Times and the British Council.
- Aditi Talreja: Aditi Talreja is the founder of the famous Indian food ordering website deliverychef.in. In an interview on how she founded this venture after quitting her corporate job and availing a top notch Bachelors Degree from New York, the entrepreneur exclaimed “When I moved back to India, I noticed that Mumbaiikars were veering towards doing as much online as they could – from booking airline tickets to movie tickets at the nearest multiplex, so I was struck with an idea. Why not have online ordering food as part of a delivery? We all already have such busy lives, and developing a web-based food ordering platform to offer convenience to customers seemed like a great idea. That is how Delivery Chef came about.”
- 3. Shaifali Agarwal: Shaifali Agarwal, the 26 year-old is the master mind behind Easyfix, a one-call repair service that provides you a plumber, electrician or carpenter for menial jobs or big projects within six hours of your booking. Shaifali reorganized this blue-collar industry into a structured organization. When asked about the risk that she’s taking by venturing into this field, Shaifali replied with the true entrepreneur spirit “Honestly, I didn’t have any time to think and ponder about ‘what if I fail’. I jumped into it without thinking too much and without giving myself a long notice period. Rather than having doubts, I was excited to have my own office”.
- 4. Nandini Rathi: Nandini Rathi started her website Bornrich.com in 2005. She cleverly understood the materiality and the profanity in the world. In her website she has catered to the rich-obsessed people by providing content about the most luxurious of experiences to the most luxurious of objects. This venture has a readership of 2 million monthly visitors and was featured among the top 100 favorite blogs according to PCMag.
- 5. Shilpi Kapoor: Back in 1995, when the technology bubble burst Shilpi Kapoor sought to utilize it in the most humane way possible. Her goal became to “break the barriers of knowledge and disabilities”. She along with a team founded BarrierBreak to use the latest technological advancements for people with disabilities and provide equal opportunities to them. According to their website 75% of the total staff at BarrierBreak is disabled. When asked to give some advice to budding women entrepreneurs the stalwart stated “If you have a dream, follow it. If you really believe in something, do it. I know it’s a balancing act in life, but you want to be something for yourself that inspires you along the way and if you have such a dream go ahead and do it.”
By Nousheen Zeeshan
