Women constitute around 14% of the total entrepreneurial base in India. The figures may not look very pleasing but looking back, we can say that the things have become better and there’s definitely no looking back now.
Being a woman, now I can proudly say that women in India can now type as fast as they used to chop. (Just like I typed this for you! 😉)
Though they still face a lot of prejudices and biases at work and at home, there are some who have the ability to outshine themselves in any situation.
1. Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
She founded Biocon in the year 1978 with a capital of 10000 and faced many challenges during that course. At that time, her company did not have the required assets and facilities. Now, it is one of the largest biopharmaceutical companies in India. She has been honoured with Padma Shri in 1989 and the Padma Bhushan in2005 by the Government of India.
2. Indra Nooyi
Indra Nooyi has a Masters Degree from Yale University and a Masters in Finance from IIM, Kolkata. She began her career by working as a Product Manager at Johnson and Johnson and Mettur Beardsell. She also held senior positions at Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri before joining PepsiCo. She joined PepsiCo. in 1994 and was made President in 2001. She has also been awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan for her business accomplishments.
3. Indu Jain
She is known for many different identities such as that of a spiritualist, an educationalist or an entrepreneur. She serves as the chairman of Times Group, a powerful media house. She was conferred with Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in January 2016.
4. Richa Kar
Richa grew up in Jamshedpur and completed her engineering from BITS Pilani. She worked with a retailer and a global technology firm before starting her own venture. Zivame is the first online lingerie space in India. She started it with an investment of 30 lakhs from her friends and family and never looked back since then.
5. Sairee Chahal
Sairee is a role model for all women around the world. She has been deliberately working for the upliftment of women in the country and established SHEROES for her noble purpose. She is a former journalist who is now helping thousands of women in finding jobs to sustain their living. She was nominated for Editor’s Choice for L’Oreal Femina Women’s Award and was a finalist for Cartier Women’s Award Initiative in 2012.
6. Aditi Gupta
While working on a thesis for her postgraduate programme at the National Institute of Design, Aditi got the idea of Menstrupedia. She went ahead with her plan and co-founded it with Tuhin Paul in the year 2012.
7. Zarin Daruwala
She is a gold medallist Company Secretary and became the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank in 2016 after successful job tenure at ICICI Bank for 20 years. Even when she started working here, she helped the bank from drowning and by getting it out from its falling incomes.
8. Falguni Nayar
She formerly worked at Kotak Mahindra Capital Company but quit to become a beauty entrepreneur. Nykaa is a successful cosmetics brand selling over 30000 products from 65 brands.
9. Simone Tata
She played an instrumental role in changing a small subsidiary of Tata Oil Mills into one of India’s largest cosmetics brand- Lakme. She has been associated with the brand since 1961. Currently, she is the chairperson of Trent Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Group.
10. Suneeta Reddy
She has made Apollo the biggest chain of Hospitals in the country which also has it presence in Oman and Bangladesh. Apollo is growing under Suneeta Reddy.
