With the rising toxicity and pollution levels in the environment, eco-friendly products have become the need of the hour. Governments and various companies across the world are finally discouraging the use of plastics, which causes disastrous environmental issues. This has paved way for the paper bag-making businesses. Paper bags are in great demand nowadays for their recyclable and sustainable features in nearly every commences activity.
Paper bags, as the name implies, are bags made out of paper. These papers are usually created with the chemical pulp that is manufactured with the help of the kraft pulping process.
Paper bags are not a new thing that we witness today. The paper bag-making industry is pretty old in India and is still found in a majority of Indian shops, mainly in tier 2, and tier 3 cities, and beyond. However, most of these are envelope-styled bags, which lack handles. The flat-bottomed bags with handles are pretty new to the Indian market though, which is generally known for its eco-friendly bags made out of jute.
Francis Wolle first invented the machine to mass-produce paper bags back in 1852. His brother and Wolle patented the machine and established the Union Paper Bag Company. It was James Baldwin, who first received a patent for the apparatus for making square-bottomed paper bags in 1853. He was a papermaker of Birmingham and Kings Norton in England. Baldwin then began to use the image of a flat-bottomed bag as his business logo.
The concept of flat-bottomed paper bags got a boost in 1871 when inventor Margaret E. Knight ideated a machine that would be able to create flat-bottomed paper bags. These bags were detected fit to carry more than the previous envelope-style design. Eventually, Charles Stilwell patented a machine that is capable of creating square-bottom paper bags that had pleated sides in 1883. These bags emerged as a better alternative that is easier to fold and store. The Stilwell bags also came to be known as S.O.S or Self-Opening Sack.
The latest modification of the paper bags that come with handles was actually implemented by Walter Deubener in 1912. A grocer from Saint Paul, Minnesota, Deubener used cords with paper bags to reinforce them and also added carrying handles. Named after Walter Deubener, the “Deubener Shopping Bags” were able to carry nearly 75 pounds then, which was why it soon rose in popularity. It recorded a sale of 1+ mn bags a year by 1915.
After this, paper bags with handles became the standard for department stores and others, especially for their ease of use and durability. However, paper bags were trumped by plastic bags, which were introduced in the 1970s. These bags were lightweight and affordable, which propelled them to be the regular choice of both shoppers and merchants. However, plastic bags were eventually found to be really harmful to the environment, which is the reason for the growing demand for paper bags and other eco-friendly options.
Advantages of Using Paper Bags
Paper bags are largely embraced today by shoppers and shopkeepers because of the list of advantages they bring to us. Here’s to list of some of them:
They are biodegradable and recyclable
They don’t cause harm to the environment
Paper bags pose less risk of suffocation
These bags don’t harm the marine life
The paper bags are easy to dispose of
They are sustainable options
They save energy
The making of paper bags is easy and efficient
They are cost effective
Paper bags are efficient marketing tools
They can also serve as excellent gifts for corporates and others
Common Uses of the Paper Bags
Following are some of the major areas where paper bags are used:
Gift packaging
Food packaging
Shopping
Paper cover making at home
Medical use
Jewellery packaging
General purposes
Advertising
Types of Paper Bags
Paper bags can be classified into numerous categories. However, when looking at these bags, there are 2 prominent varieties of them that one can usually find:
White paper bags – The white paper bags or the white kraft paper bags are chemically treated variants of paper bags. These bags are bleached and treated with other chemicals, which help whiten them and purify the natural kraft pulp.
Brown paper bags – The brown paper bags or the brown kraft paper bags are made of unbleached kraft pulp.
Market Share of Paper Bags in India – White vs Brown Kraft Paper Bags
The Paper Bag Industry, its Market Potential, and Opportunities
The global market for paper bags is estimated to grow at a steady CAGR of 4.1% between 2022-2030 and is to reach $7.3 bn during this period. The global market size of paper bags was $5.2 bn in 2022. The collective paper bag manufacturers’ market share or value share of the top 5 companies in 2022E is estimated at 11%.
Global growth of paper bag market.
The Indian paper bag industry last stood at $5.95 bn when reported in 2018. the country today, exports paper products worth Rs 400 crore per annum.
Paper has no real competing product. Plastic bags, once regarded as a substitute for paper bags have lost their market over time. Moreover, the establishment of consumer stores and shopping malls has further increased the demand for paper bags. Hence, the paper bag-making business is a booming opportunity for new and aspiring entrepreneurs.
10 Easy Steps to Start Paper Bags Making Business
Paper bag making is rising in demand and more and more companies and entrepreneurs are joining in to make the best of the paper bag-making business. Now, if you are also looking forward to building a paper bag-making business, then here are some easy and effective steps that you can keep in handy:
Perform a thorough market research
Thorough market research is essential regardless of whatever the business is that you want to build. Proper market research would help you:
Know more about the industry
Build your strategies
Market your products effectively
Analyze your competitors
Perform a SWOT analysis
Thrive in the long run
Build a robust business and revenue model
Business models are of various kinds, one type of business model may not suit all of the industries and products/services around which the businesses revolve. So, spend time generously building a business model that is cost-effective and efficient for the customers, which would thrive in the future. It is also equally important to chalk out all the ways through which you would be able to earn, embracing the business model that you have zeroed in.
Estimate the Paper Bag Making Business Costs
As paper bag making is generally a small-scale business, it will require minimal investment. The main areas of investment will be the cost of machinery, labor, and land.Maintenance, transportation, and marketing will contribute to variable investments.
The price of one fully automatic paper bag-making machine is around 5 – 8 Lakhs INR. The price is dependent on the production capacity of the machine. One fully automatic machine can produce 15000 pieces/hour. Researching and proper planning as to where to spend and the choice of suppliers will also reduce your cost to a significant extent.
You will need to register your business and obtain a trade license from a local municipal authority.
Here, you can proceed either with a sole proprietor or an LLP registration of Company registration.
Then you will have to get your UDYOG AADHARMSME registration or SSI registration completed. It is for businesses running under the name of small-scale industries.
After that, you need to make your company GST-compliant, by opting for GST registration.
Lastly, you need to procure the BIS certification for your company, which is offered by the Bureau of Indian Standards
Focus on the Legal Compliance of your Business
Registering your paper bag-making business is a significant part of making your business legally compliant, which contains other factors too. These legal factors need to be checked first by seeking the help of local government representatives. Looking for and proceeding with efficient business insurance would further make your paper bag manufacturing business future-proof.
After all these things are taken care of, you can start your business professionally, but the naming of the business plays an important part, then.
Name your Business wisely
The naming of your business will play a huge role in the future growth and success of your business. Hence, you need to name your paper manufacturing business wisely. To choose a perfect name for your paper-making business, you need to ensure:
The name is unique
It is simple
It is easily pronounced and written
The name should be marketable
It should be memorable
The name should be relevant to the industry
Select a Proper Location for your Paper Bag Manufacturing Unit
Choosing an appropriate location according to your business size is very important. Moreover, the rented land cost must not outweigh your profits. To make transportation costs minimum, try to fix the location near the market and reduce the distribution channel. A semi-urban area is the best choice to establish paper bag-making businesses. It reduces costs in taxes, rents, manpower, and other important obligations.
Make Provisions for Procuring the Raw Materials Required for Paper Bag Making
The quality of your products and eventually the profits depend on the raw materials used. Paper bags with outstanding quality and fine texture can boost your competitive advantages and steal the focus of the market and the customers. Therefore, the appropriate quality, as well as quantity of raw materials, should be ensured.
These are some basic raw materials required for paper-making:
Paper rolls
Printing chemicals, ink, etc
Gums
Strings
Polymeter Stereo
Flexo Color
You do not need to overstock them as it may cause unnecessary storage costs.
Install Proper Paper Bag Manufacturing Machinery
Now, after the procurement of the raw materials for paper bag-making activities, you need to determine the type of paper bag your business will focus on manufacturing, and then select suitable machinery. Here, you would also need to check whether you will buy eco-friendly carry bag-making machines, wholesale biodegradable bag manufacturing machines, cotton bag-making machines, or something else.
The durability, reliability,and productivityof the machines should be checked thoroughly before purchasing. Depending on these factors, machinery costs from 5 lakhs to 10 lakhs.
Some of the basic features you can get when you buy a paper bag-making machine are listed below.
Stereo design roller
Flat forming dye
3 horsepower motor for the main drive
Double-color or four-color flexo printing unit attachment
We recommend you visit a paper bag manufacturing firm in order to know more about the working of machines. This will also give you an idea of the machine you need to buy for manufacturing paper bags.
Engage the Labor Required
Labor size depends on the sizeof the business but skilled manpower is a must. A healthy interactive training program can help them learn the manufacturing process and meet the requirements of the employer.
A small scale paper bag making business
Some Steps to be Kept in Mind to Make Paper Bags
The very first step is to decide on the size of the product. It should meet the client’s needs.
The next step is to print the logo. The print quality should not be compromised.
Then, the paper should be left for folding, pasting, and shearing which can be done through machines.
The last two steps are eyelet fitting and lace fitting, which needs to be properly done.
Branding and Promotion of the Product
Presentation is every bit as important as manufacturing. Without the right promotion, no business can survive long-term. There must be a uniqueness in your product description to attract your client’s attention. A logo represents the image of your company and is good for promotion. You can hire freelancers to design your company’s logo as you want. Also, you can use mediums like local magazines and newspapers for advertising your paper bags.
Social media provides a great platform for promoting your product and reaching the consumer crowd quickly. Establish an online website that not only gains orders but also creates an impactful image of your product to viewers. Research and conduct small surveys of the local and online markets.
The paper bag-making machine is capable of making 60 bags in a minute. You can make a profit of 10 paise per bag. So, you can get a profit of Rs 6 for every minute you invest in bag-making. With production and marketing going smoothly, you can expect to earn near about Rs 2800 on a daily basis. This sums up to Rs 70000 per month. Although these profits vary depending on various other factors in your business.
Conclusion
Paper bag making can be really profitable if executed properly, taking care of all the above measures. This business is full of interesting opportunities, and the output, which is paper bags, is the need of the hour and this need will only escalate in the future. Anyone can start a paper bag-making business because it doesn’t require large investments or vast land space or even complex machinery. In fact, you can initiate your business at home too if you have sufficient space for proper planning and researching. So go forth, invest time and energy, and set up your own paper bag-making business.
FAQs
What are paper bags?
Paper bags are an environmental-friendly choice of bags. Being made out of paper, these bags are rising in demand while more and more people are rejecting plastic bags.
What is the paper packaging bag manufacturers’ market?
The global paper packaging bag manufacturers market is valued at $5.2 bn in 2022 and will grow by 4.1% CAGR between 2022-2030, and is expected to reach $7.3 bn during this period.
From where is the paper bag procurement done?
Paper bag procurement can be done by visiting physical local stores, factories, and wholesalers, or by placing orders for the same online.
What is Paper bag limited Kenya?
Paper bags Ltd. is a Kenyan packaging company that manufactures quality paper packaging materials – brown and white paper bags, sacks, and more.
What are some popular paper bag manufacturers in India?
Paper bags is one of the industries that are flourishing today in India and has great potential for future growth too. Here’s mentioning some of the prominent paper bag manufacturers in India:
Yes Sir Bags
Eco Bags India
Vachi Paper products
A. R. Enterprise
Papyrush
How are paper bags made in industry?
The paper bag manufacturing industry is huge today. However, if you are wondering how paper bags are made in the industry now, then here are some important steps that are carried out by the best paper bag manufacturing companies in their paper bag production factories:
First, they select the raw material needed and gather them
Then, they proceed with paper steering, where the cutting or sizing of paper is done.
The handles of the paper bags are done now.
After that, the sheered and eyelet-punched paper is creased.
Hard pressing is then done, where sheets of paper are stuck together to make the paper bags stronger and thicker.
The article is contributed by Pankaj Gupta, Founder and CEO, EnableX.io
The Indian SaaS industry is now firmly on the upward growth trajectory. As per the Zinnov’s Punching Through The Global Pecking Order report, in 2022 alone, the Indian SaaS industry saw a whopping 50% rise in revenue and a 3x increase in VC funding. This makes it abundantly clear that the country’s SaaS ecosystem has finally come of age. While the market is growing at breakneck speed, building a successful SaaS business is not easy. Like any business, it takes time, effort & a lot of innovation to scale a business in today’s ever-evolving environment.
Launching a SaaS company involves many steps, which can be daunting for first-time entrepreneurs. Let’s go over the process of getting your software business started:
1. Getting an Initial Set of Clients
No matter what industry you’re in, every founder has the same burning question: “how will I get my first 10 customers?” The best way is to start with your existing network. It’s low-hanging fruit. Talk to the people you know. It may not yet be a big number, but in the process, you may find a few relevant connections among your friends and family. And don’t get disappointed if none of them is directly interested in using your service; they might refer to somebody who may need it.
You’re off to a good start if your product addresses a pain point or fulfils a burning need for someone and does it better, quicker, and/or cheaper than its competitor. Here are the following things that can be helpful:
Build a Quality Product
The success of a business depends on how well you understand the market needs and then build a product that addresses the users’ needs or problems. Therefore, spending some time and resources to understand customers’ requirements is fundamental & key to success. Once you’ve established a product-market fit, you are on the right path.
Be Agile
Change is the only constant, and this maxim is truer for SaaS companies. The business landscape is changing so fast that it may become obsolete by the time your product hits the market. Agility is not just about the product features; it includes everything – IT stack, business model, and culture. It should be nimble and should be able to respond faster to remain competitive. Therefore, it is essential to have a keen eye on the changing market landscape, evolving customer preferences, and competitors.
Establish Robust Customer Support
It might sound a cliché, but your customers are the heart of your business. Apart from the product quality, they always want to know how fast their problems can be resolved satisfactorily. Therefore, build robust customer support service that enhances the overall customer experience.
Even if you don’t have the financial muscle to put a 24*7 customer support team, there are many options. You can use Twitter and Facebook to provide quick support. You can also implement a ticket system to manage the support request or can put a well-defined FAQ page/User Guide on the website.
3. Building a Team That Delivers
It is essential to have a clear vision, commitment, and sincerity to realize your vision as a founder. You must believe in your product and have a clear roadmap of how you want to take it forward. And most importantly, you need to build a competent team that can help realize your vision. While hiring people, pay attention to skills, but it should not be the sole factor. Along with qualifications and skills, hiring people with a growth mindset, the right attitude & cultural fitment are key. Also, be extra careful while building your initial team as these are the set of people who are more likely to stay with the company for a long time. They should exhibit a clear commitment and drive to achieve something and excel in their work in a fast-changing environment.
4. Staying Abreast with Trends
As a founder and also your team members should be fully aware of what’s happening in the industry and what’s hot in the space. And of course, keep an eye on the competition. Know what your competitors are doing, what features they have built & what is their overall strategy. Keep tracking industry trends, technology and other news items pertaining to your industry. Networking with other startup founders, and attending industry events and peer groups is the best source to have a sense of what is happening in the environment around you!
Building and sustaining a SaaS business can be exhilarating and overwhelming at the same time. Though there are many steps to take before you can even start thinking about making money from your SaaS business, the points discussed above are crucial to starting right!
The world’s biggest names share more than just a few enviable accomplishments. Be it Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, or Bill Gates. They all are billionaires who made their fortune in the technology industry, and they all were students when they started their businesses. They are living proof that you don’t need to be a graduate to start your own business.
In some cases, you don’t even need to complete your graduation especially if you are taking the examples of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Some tips for becoming a successful student entrepreneur must be known before you start a business.
However, before contemplating becoming a successful student entrepreneur you should have a plan. Like any other venture you undertake, planning is a must. In this article, we will talk about some tips that you should follow to become a successful student entrepreneur. So let’s get started.
When still in college pay attention as well as make the most of your time with your educators. While colleges have the duty to connect students to mentors, offer real-life experiences, and send employable graduates into the workforce. Students have the duty of making sure that they get the most out of their college investment as after college these mentors or experts are called consultants and will charge for the same information.
Analyse Your Own Abilities and Disabilities
Don’t rely solely on the entrepreneurship classes make your own evaluation regarding your skills knowledge and the goals you want to achieve. Rather than relying primarily on classes or in-house competition, good entrepreneurship programs give leverage to local entrepreneurship communities for an internship, workshops and speaker events. The more you will know about your abilities and disabilities the better you’ll be able to manoeuvre yourself.
Find Business Ideas That Suit You
Research the market thoroughly for the business ideas which will suit you best. Your idea doesn’t have to be a million-dollar idea to start with. Let’s say it’s an application that links the customer’s credit card and allows them to get grilled pizza delivered to their hotel rooms or pay for guest accommodation with the click of a button.
Test Your Idea
The main mistake that new entrepreneurs make is putting a lot of time and money into ideas that are bound to fail. One of the reasons this happens with entrepreneurs is that they work and exist in isolation once they set up their businesses. Favourably you are still in college, surrounded by smart people whom you could ask for suggestions. If your business idea is fairly inexpensive you can make a rough scaled-down version of it and test it out.
Research Your Competitors
Your competitors are your biggest teachers. Look around you, have knowledge of your competitors and also keep an eye on them. You can add features to your product or services that your competitors do not have and make them unique. This way you will get more leverage for your product or service and it is the strategy that is generally used by any competitor’s company.
Search for a Suitable Mentor
One of the most important and valuable assets an entrepreneur can have at any given age is a business mentor. A business mentor is a person who has functional knowledge and who is ready to offer advice, guidance, lesson and support to run your business and help speed up your success. Find a mentor who can do all the above things and help you out by providing suggestions at necessary times.
Use Your Status as a Student for Leverage
Finally, use your status as a student who is starting something cool to get tons of leverage and publicity. Start out by approaching your local radio station and newspaper, and your own community of students. You can use the internet and social media also in many ways for the promotion of your business. Remember, it is always better to start with your dream instead of sitting idle in fear of its failure.
Conclusion
More than 80% of students interested in starting their own businesses do not have the experience or the knowledge to do so. If you think of joining entrepreneurship classes, they teach an orthodox lesson “make it work the first time or it’s not for you”. Contests and classes generate a feeling that the first venture of the students is the one and only chance to prove themselves as an entrepreneur. However, students should learn to plan, apply, fail, and repeat the process again till they get successful.
FAQs
What are the entrepreneurship tips for becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Some of the tips to becoming a successful entrepreneur are:
Have a solid business plan.
Prepare for financial challenges.
Be frugal – remember you’re a start-up.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Put your faith in a trusted mentor.
Marketing on a shoestring budget.
Look after number one.
Build a team that shares your vision.
What made entrepreneurs successful?
Passion, resourcefulness, willingness to improvise, listening to others, and strong determination to succeed are what make an entrepreneur successful.
What are some business ideas for youngsters in India?
The article is contributed by Gauri Bhatia – Founder and Director, The Unveiled Sagas.
Everyone dreams of igniting inspiration through their career trajectory. I too, for that matter often boasted about having only ‘twenty-five rupees in my pocket’ when I started The Unveiled Sagas. My business partner was in a financial fix, and I being the (kind-of) only child in my family had lied to my parents to start my own business. Somewhere along the line, I feel we added all this masala to make our life seem only a little bit more dramatic.
Eight years since, the dawning realization that life didn’t have to be that difficult has pushed me to take the simple(st) path, and I am here to tell you that no, the entrepreneurial journey is not filled with toil and heartbreak. It is simply a profession, just as easy as you make it.
First and foremost – don’t do it because you hate working for someone else.
Contrary to popular belief, you are not ‘boss-less’ or working on your own terms. You don’t make the rules, and you don’t have a ready team ready to drop everything for you. From working for one manager or one corporate, I have diversified my attention to working to meet my company’s revenue requirements, 110 clients’ needs, moral and political preferences, my team’s obdurate party needs and my friends’ social obligations. Not to mention, working for a start-up means that my parents can get me to run errands more often.
Despite all of this, I cannot deny the eager anticipation that overflows when we close a big client, or when the client closes a big client because of our efforts.
How do you optimize your journey then to ensure as smooth a ride as possible.
Don’t be afraid to hire- or to build an office
Optimizing cost convinced us to save on seats, and on people. For the first three years, we operated on on-call employees and garage-offices to ensure that in the time of adversity (case and point, the pandemic), our company should have clear and free-flow liquid funds.
This was one of the worst decisions we’d ever made.
I have nothing against freelancers and smaller offices, but operating with a team that barely saw your face deliberately questioned the strength of our company. There was a huge, visible difference between the first ‘manager material’ freelancer we hired, and the first ‘manager’ manager we brought on board. The first, was apprehensive about the opportunity- the second, aggressive and passionate about leading our team of barely three.
Similarly, working from the garage or the extra room at home lead to an extinguished productivity, and burnouts that frequented us more often. Rather, purchasing even a flexi-seating arrangement at a co-working space boosted inter-employee morale and trust to a level that was immovable.
Hire Young Blood
An adamant advocate of freshers, I myself was an aggressive intern when I was in college, delving into 3 jobs besides my inter-college sports and academic career.
Apart from that, a fresher is often moldable and flexible to learn. Experienced professionals often have a set mindset that launches them into a certain systemized career trajectory that can be inflexible. Ask a 20-year-old writer, however, to build a website and the only answer you’ll get is “I don’t know how to do it yet, but give me an hour and a Youtube connection”.
Also, they love power, money, and authority. Their priorities are set right, and if not them, there is no hope to set the world right.
Diversify your corporate portfolio- and don’t be afraid of seeking ‘cool’
Not only through your start-up and its internal clientele, but also through external portfolios. My business partner and I have had successful (and many failed) start-ups in travel, blockchain, manufacturing, skincare, marketing and AI.
We’re blessed to have a diversified clientele that keeps us on our toes, enabling us to seek whatever seems ‘cool’- real-life experience begins where research ends, and there’s a different kind of flair in challenging your knowledge.
Sampling through the clientele
Our first ‘other’ start-up was through a client who wanted to diversify into manufacturing. We’d written a plethora of books and articles on the topic, but to live It first-hand was a different ballgame altogether. Convincing the client of our genius didn’t take much time- in a couple of months, we had attained a fund for marketing and hiring, and used our weekends to set up his factory and his ecommerce infrastructure.
More often than not, founders love to stay within their comfort zones because of their mental block- “I can’t go international because I don’t have the funds”, “I cant expand my verticals because I don’t have the manpower”, or even “I cant get into manufacturing because I’m into marketing” (okay, the last one is me). Inhibiting experiences because of these small, mortal limitations is anticlimactic considering the profession that you’ve chosen. Entrepreneurs do what they want to, and then find a way to enable the journey.
Although I advocate the hustle culture, I firmly believe that incessantly torturing yourself is not the way to attain financial stability.
Constructive criticism and hard to please clients often believe in your potential, and make you push yourself until you give them what they want. Compare them to people who suddenly turn into bad payers and over-critiquing audience as soon as the invoice hits their inbox, and you have a recipe for a migraine on your hands.
I don’t often mind bargains, but after ten years in the industry and an optimized rate that I consider cheap, if I find someone who tries to cut corners, I prefer to drop them. Look for people who seek results, and not a deal, even if you are in an industry that essentially functions on discounts and quantity.
Conclusion
To end my argument, never forget that a start-up is the gateway to the limits of human potential, and containing childish whims like travelling the world, becoming a billionaire or even enabling world peace and hunger is nowhere near impossible. Be kind, seek innovation and test your limits.
Google for Startups is an accelerator program by Google for supporting Startups and helping them grow. It provides mentorships, training, and, guides entrepreneurs to find solutions for the challenges they face in building and growing their startups. StartupTalky took an initiative to know the details of the program – Selection Procedure, challenges to be addressed, help for women entrepreneurs, and more.
Here are insights into Google for Startups by Paul Ravindranath G – Program Manager, Developer Relations & Head of Google Accelerator at Google India, Bangalore.
How is Google for startups different from the traditional accelerator model?
The Google for Startups Accelerator helps startups build successful products and businesses by focusing on 360* needs of the company and founders. Our needs analysis for selected startups helps us define a custom support plan for each of the startups that meet them at their point of need. Not only is there focus on solid tech, product strategy and growth but also on people and leadership.
How is the selection procedure for startups?
When applications open, startups can apply directly at the accelerator tab of Google for Startups.
GFS Accelerator looks for startups that are meaningfully and scalably solving for the challenges of the current times. The program is vertical agnostic, but given the need to further innovation in an increasingly digital-first world, we are carefully considering verticals such as Edtech, Healthtech, Fintech, Retail & Logistics, Media & Entertainment, Agritech and Gaming.
The 3 months mentorship program selection process has some basic eligibility criteria such as:
Startups need to be based out of India
Should preferably in the seed to Series A, B stages
Deep understanding/application of new-age technology
What areas do most startups at the program struggle with/ What problems do they expect you to address?
The program’s focus is a founder-first, founder-friendly approach to support startups in solving their business, operational, and technology challenges.
Startups face a varied set of challenges at different stages of growth and maturity. Since the accelerator is a stage agnostic program, it presents the opportunity to work with startups facing diverse challenges. With a strong mentor base and methodologies to help with various areas, the program can address key challenges faced by founders.
User Experience/User Interface, Product Strategy, Tech Architecture, Growth and Marketing and People Development tend to be the main areas where the program can add value to startups.
Additionally, we also provide them with extensive training on leadership along with robust strategies for building company and product capabilities. As part of this program, founders outline the top challenges facing their startups and are then paired with relevant experts from Google and the industry to solve those challenges.
Is the support more tech-centric or spread across different domains? Do you plan to expand the horizon?
Accelerator helps startups scale and be successful with strong product strategy and a robust and scalable technology approach. The 360* approach we take helps address all the key areas of concern for a startup. The goal is to constantly look to add on expertise and methodologies to help startups thrive.
Every startup is unique and has different needs, how do you address their needs individually?
With every class batch we attempt to identify some unique and interesting startups. Each of these businesses have different requirements and different business challenges. The accelerator is looking for startups at all stages of development that are not only using cutting-edge technology but are also helping India, and potentially the rest of the world, adapt and move forward especially in a post pandemic world.
At the very beginning of the program, selected startups go through a complete needs analysis with a panel of experts and mentors. This exercise helps us build distinct goals and objectives for every startup that are addressed through a mentoring bootcamp, access to mentors and Google teams to help in moving their goals.
What are few areas which Google for startups provide a unique value? Does it help in connecting partners with govt agencies or a few of the best customers?
Startups are connected to mentors from all over the world through the accelerator programme. As part of the programme, we have over 20 Google teams and hundreds of industry experts who assist with operational, technology, and business difficulties. Mentors bring expertise across a wide range of areas such as User Experience and User Research, Technology covering Android, Cloud, Web and more. Marketing & Growth, Leadership are other key areas.
Additionally, the startups also find themselves to be eligible for the following perks, once they are part of the Google for Startups Accelerator Programme.
Equity-free support
Technical training on design, people, product, and growth marketing
Support on high-level company and product strategy
Google product credits and early access to new services
What’s the format/curriculum of the program? Does it change every year?
Google for Startups Accelerator India is a three-month cohort based program. There are typically 2 cohorts a year. While the accelerator team is based out of Bengaluru, the scope of the programme expands over the country where we handpick the best and the most promising startups to be a part of the batches.
In light of the constraints posed by the pandemic, the accelerator currently runs as a fully digital program but is hopeful of going hybrid as things improve. During the beginning of the program, we work with the startups selected into the accelerator to determine each startup’s challenges and support required from the program. Then these startups go through an intensive Bootcamp around topics such as Product, Design, Technology, People & Growth, followed by the OKR (Objective Key Results) workshop to define their objective for the next 3 months.
Have you ever considered a program specifically for women entrepreneurs or tier2 or tier 3 city startups?
Despite the many strides in diversity and inclusion efforts in different industries in India and the world, we remain at some distance from true and proportionate representation of women in the workforce – be it in leadership, entrepreneurship or otherwise.
This is a gap that we are committed to closing through various efforts within Google and beyond, across all the communities we support. Our ongoing efforts to support women entrepreneurs are one of these. To showcase our belief in the Indian women entrepreneurs, for our 6th batch we have selected around 35% of women-led startups in the mix and comprising a mix of B2B & B2C startups between Seed and Series A stages.
Do the alumni startups contribute in any way to the program?
With over 100 startups graduating from the program, we have a broad set of alumni, including unicorns like Sharechat. Several Alumni give back to the program with their recommendations of great upcoming startups. They come forward to support the cohorts as mentors, speakers and more.
Could you please share some insight on the success rates of the startups after the program?
The Google for Startups Accelerator has mentored over 116 startups, who have collectively raised over $2 billion in funding and contributed significantly to India being one of the world’s largest startup ecosystems.
Startups solving for key large-scale opportunities that India presents such as Drivezy, Nestaway, Sharechat were part of our early cohorts. Several companies like Niramai that apply cutting edge AI/ML tech in healthcare, specifically early detection of breast cancer have benefited with our technology input.
These startups, along with all the others in the previous batches of GFSA, continue to make an impact in the country.
Few things we (the whole startup community) can do to support startups across India?
The Indian startup community is currently witnessing a maturing cycle and even through the pandemic, growth has been solid. As a startup ecosystem few trends present an opportunity for us all to make a difference.
So also is the area of helping founders understand how to build great teams. Employability and access to good talent have been a challenge for seed to series A companies.
Enabling startups with insights, research and access is going to be key as they innovate and solve for India and the world.
The biggest support that we can provide each other in this thriving ecosystem, is collaboration across the ecosystem. Collaboration with a founder first, founder-friendly community approach can make a true impact as startups help accelerate our economy.
The entrepreneurial dreams of Indians have given the country over 94 Unicorns in recent years. This number is expected to cross a century by the end of 2022. Startups across the MSME sector have been at the heart of the Indian economy and generated millions of jobs for people across the country.
It is anticipated that MSMEs alone contribute 8% of the overall GDP, and startups play a huge role in it. But unfortunately, not every entrepreneurial dream gets the chance to take off due to a lack of funds. Keeping this in mind, the Indian government offers various government loans to help passionate entrepreneurs make through.
Budding entrepreneur with a revolutionary idea in mind should use the government loan schemes to transform their ideas into action. For further assistance of all entrepreneurs, we’ve curated this epic guide that has all the information on how to avail of a government loan for a startup.
Government business loans have always provided the necessary financial backing to startups. If a startup requires some financial help, the founders might want to apply for any one of the following government loans for a startup.
Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY)
Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) – Government Business Loans for Startups
Launched in 2015, this government loan scheme offers business loans to non-corporate & non-farm small and micro-enterprises. Under this scheme, startups can avail of a loan amount of up to Rs. 10,00,000. The tenure for repayment for this collateral-free loan ranges from one year to five years. Startups can avail of this loan by visiting any nearest small finance bank, microfinance institution, commercial bank, and non-banking financial company.
The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana provides loans depending on the development stage of the startup. Hence, the applicants can find the following three segregation under this loan:
Loan Type
Coverage
Yearly Rate of Interest
Shishu
Up to Rs. 50,000
1% to 12%
Kishore
Above Rs. 50,000 to up to Rs. 5,00,000
8.60% to 11.15%
Tarun
Above Rs. 5,00,000 to up to Rs. 10,00,000
11.15% to 20%
Startup founders can apply for this loan if they’re a trader, shopkeeper, vendor, etc. Just visit any lending institution mentioned above or login to a PSB or 59 minutes portal and do the needful. They will guide further. Startups can utilize this loan as a working capital loan through the offered MUDRA card.
Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) – Government Business Loans for Startups
MSME Loan in 59 Minutes
MSME Loan for Startups Approved in 59 minutes
As the name suggests, this loan offered by the government is approved in 59 minutes flat. Launched by SIDBI, this loan is ideal for small and medium-size startups that need capital assistance of under Rs. 10, 00,00,000 at a somewhat lesser interest rate. In some cases, the interest rate is as low as 8%.
To avail of this Public Sector Banks (PSB) loan scheme, startup founders can visit the Central Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, SBI, etc., for a hassle-free loan application process. Once the loan application is processed and approved, the applicants can get the amount within 8-10 working days. Startup founders can also visit the PSB loan in 59 minutes portal to get more details about this loan scheme and apply.
Credit Guarantee Fund Trust Scheme for Micro & Small Enterprises
CGTMSE for starting new Business
Also known as CGTMSE, this government business loan provides collateral-free loans to startups. Launched by the SIDBI and MSME ministry, this loan scheme offers a loan amount of up to Rs. 2,00,00,000 to both new and existing startups. A special preference is given to women entrepreneurs under this loan scheme. Under the CGTMSE, startups can get a collateral-free loan of up to Rs. 10,00,000. But for any amount above this value, startups will have to provide collateral in the form of any building or land attached to the primary business.
Those who want to avail of the CGTMSE loan can approach a scheduled commercial bank or select a regional rural bank classified by NABARD for loan approval. Both new and existing startups can apply for this loan engaged in manufacturing activity, retail trade, and service activity.
Credit Facilitation Through Bank by NSIC
NSIC Launched by the MSME ministry for business loans
The NSIC has signed an MoU with various banks to provide super-fast and hassle-free loans to different startups. Launched by the MSME ministry, this one-of-a-kind loan facility is provided by NSIC under the central government. The best part of this government loan is that NSIC also helps complete the full documentation and legal formalities to quickly avail of the loan.
Small or medium startups needing a short-term loan for maintaining working capital or other operations should consider applying for this loan. It is a reasonably low-interest loan and can be availed by visiting any well-known banking institution like the HDFC bank, ICICI bank, Axis bank, YES bank, etc.
Credit Link Capital Subsidy Scheme
Also known as CCLCSS, it is a loan provided by the MSME ministry and the government of India to startups for technology upgradation. Startup founders that own a manufacturing enterprise, textile startup, fabrication unit, or any business that uses machines and equipment should avail of this loan of up to Rs. 15 lakh to upgrade to the latest technology. This loan helps startups stay up-to-date regarding technology to withstand the competition at local and global levels.
How to Choose the Best Loan Ideal for Your Business?
Now that the information related to top business loans offered by the government to startups is made available, some entrepreneurs might be confused about which one to proceed with. The answer is pretty simple. Every loan discussed above has a different purpose, interest rate, credit limit, etc. The startup founders should go ahead with the one that helps the business stay afloat and even scale in the best way possible.
To apply for any of the above-discussed government business loans, startup founders can head to the respective website of the financial institution providing the loan, fill out the application, and wait for someone from the organization to contact them. Business loans offered by Government are sure to help you accelerate your business growth, so they should be applied for.
FAQs
What are the Government loans for startups?
List of Government Loans for Startups are:
Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY)
MSME Loan in 59 Minutes
Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro & Small Enterprises
Credit Facilitation through Bank by NSIC
Credit Link Capital Subsidy Scheme
How much loan can you get under the MSME government business loan scheme?
Under the MSME government business loan scheme, as an MSME, a startup/business can get a loan sanction of up to Rs. 1 crore within just 59 minutes.
What is the eligibility for a startup business loan?
Eligibility Criteria for Startup Business Loan are:
Resident citizen of India
Minimum CIBIL score of 700
Business should at least 2 years old
Annual income of business should be at least INR 2 lakhs
Applicant Should be between 21 years to 65 years of age
The article is contributed by Mugdha Pradhan – CEO and Founder of iTHRIVE.
In the contemporary world, the term “startup” is glamorized to another extent. Every person wants to become an entrepreneur without fully understanding what it means to start a business. Individuals look at entrepreneurship with rosy colored glasses and think of it as a medium to become an authority, rich and live life on their own terms. These outcomes are very much possible; however, it takes a lot of hard work to attain such freedom. One has to work without money for long hours before they can enjoy the empire. One has to convince people to use their product before building brand loyalty.
So now the question arises what is the right way to become an entrepreneur and grow your business. Following are a few smart strategies to grow and sustain your startup.
Solve a Problem
It is important that one builds a product or a service that is genuinely going to solve a problem area. A very great way is to solve a problem that is close to you. When you do that, you’ll be able to convince the masses to use your product/service, and it will be more difficult for you to give up on it as it truly was helpful to you.
Choose Teammates Carefully
One cannot build a business alone. You will need a strong foundational team who believes in your vision as much as you, if not more. This team will become a brand ambassador for your venture in the initial days. Look for partners that complement your skills and get help whenever necessary.
Plan for Failure
Failure upon starting something new is inevitable, and it is important that one is prepared for that in order to adapt to the situation and learn quickly in such a scenario. It is also important to have Business Continuity Strategies in place by understanding potential hindrances in your business.
Get Help
When building something big, it’s naive to think that you’ll be able to do everything by yourself. Everybody has their limitations. Hence other than building your core team as advised in point number 2, it’s imperative to utilize your network and resources to their utmost potential. The key is to work smart and not hard.
Find a Mentor
One of the most cliche pieces of advice and yet often overlooked, a mentor can quickly take your career and business to new heights. More than a mentor, an advisory board is preferred. These advisors will not only know how to build a brand that lasts, but they will be your cheerleaders when the journey gets tough. Their advice will not only be optimistic but rather practical because they have experienced failure and difficulties in their journey too.
It might be tempting to add multiple features/ products/ services at the time of your launch, however, keeping things simple often is the best approach. Minimum viable products work best as they allow you to get feedback from actual target users rather than you perfecting and solving imaginary problems even before launching.
Test Your Product/Service
A business is only for its customers. Don’t solve a problem or give out services that are not asked for. It might be surprising, but many can get ahead of themselves and try to launch a product that is not needed in the present. So before going all out, ask for feedback from potential targeted audiences to understand the viability of your product/ service.
Follow Trends
A lot of us are reading the same books and following the same advice from traditional leaders. However, we need to follow the current trends and use a platform where most people are active. Such platforms can be Twitter, Reddit, Quora, Instagram, or even clubhouse. Remember, your product has to reach the audience before the audience can reach your product.
Marketing/PR
There is a common misconception that customers are attracted to good products, and hence one should focus on perfecting their product/service, and word of mouth is the only marketing one will need. While word of mouth is still one of the strongest marketing ways, marketing and PR have become quite necessary in a world where products are in abundance. PR strategies like garnering coverage in a digital or physical newspaper or a magazine can be very effective in increasing the reachability of your business.
SEO
SEO consistently is becoming important in the contemporary world of startups. Aiming to use appropriate SEO when posting digitally helps a long way in broadcasting your name in organic sales.
Strong Sales Funnel
While marketing and SEO can increase your organic sales, reaching out constantly to your customer base and getting leads is important. A strong sales funnel, and sales target will help you create a plan to grow your company at a steady rate.
Create a Blue Ocean in Your Market
The term “blue ocean” was coined in the entrepreneurship industry in 2005 to define a new industry with hardly any competition or barriers in the way of innovators. When a new or unknown sector or innovation appears, it creates a vast “empty ocean” of business options and opportunities. Hence try to create a blue ocean in your market and solve a problem that no one is solving.
Apart from these tips, remember to keep trying new things in your entrepreneurial journey. All of the above-mentioned strategies were once a breakthrough idea in the startup world as well, so keep on learning and inventing; moreover, defining your “why” will keep you in the game even when the road gets tough. I hope these strategies help you during your venture.
The possibility of beginning a company can be somewhat startling if not out and out scary. Still, there are numerous extraordinary purposes to give it a go. Nowadays, it is “simpler” than it ever has been to begin and maintain a business.
Regardless of whether a person is bootstrapping his business or has an investment, it is currently more hazardous to rely upon employment. Enterprise is fit as a fiddle and here are a few reasons why everyone ought to consider diving in as well. There are many reasons to leave a 9-5 job and become an entrepreneur. Let us see the complete story on the topic- This Is Reasons- Why You Should Leave 9-5 Job And Become An Entrepreneur.
If you get yourself effortlessly bored you know how others begin to view you as an issue. Nothing isn’t right with you aside from that you are exhausted with exercises that aren’t up to your potential and aren’t testing you. This absence of tests is the reason you loathed the vast majority of the classes you ever took. Take a gander at who dropped out of school to wind up distinctly one of the wealthiest men on the planet.
2. To Be Right
You need to demonstrate you’re not a maniac isn’t that so? Your companions called you insane, your manager thought you were whacked and even your mother said no chance is that going to work. Be that as it may, hello, you did it. You were RIGHT! Furthermore, now you can move around with your hands on your hips, nose noticeable all around, singing “I’m a business person…. I’m a business person….
3. To Be Appreciated
Manufacture your business, procure colleagues and take great care of them. You’ll be valued. Particularly on payday; and when you reveal to them they’re making an extraordinary showing with regards to; and when you give them a raise
4. To Make Money
The main motive when you think of becoming an entrepreneur is to earn money and if you become a successful entrepreneur you could earn a lot of money. This is one of the most important reasons to leave a 9 to 5 job and become an entrepreneur.
5. Become Your Own Boss
You may not see eye to eye with your manager, but rather you can’t fire him or her. As a business visionary, you will work for your customers, however, you can supplant and fire troublesome customers. Owning your own particular business will empower you to experience being in control of your own workday.
Dozing is impossible since you can’t kill your considerations. Your thoughts may even show themselves in your rest your psyche is never killed or on an excursion. The following morning despite everything you’re overwhelmed by the thought, diverting you from the employer should do.
7. Obsessed
You may have been named over the top since when you begin on something you have a troublesome time relinquishing it. Try not to give anybody a chance to persuade you this is a malady or insufficiency. Every single awesome business person turns out to be totally inundated in their vision — obsessed.
8. To Gain Knowledge
Regardless of whether this is one reason you set out to be a business visionary or not, your tank is presently brimming with information. One thing I’ve adapted, however: It’s greatly improved to have astuteness than information. This is also one of the reasons to leave a 9 to 5 job and start your own business.
9. Labeled a Rebel
The significance lies outside of the lines and limits of experts and you don’t think laws, approaches, and directions apply to you. You have been marked a rebel, a run breaker and would challenge gravity if you could.
Yes, but entrepreneurship is all about hard work and how successful your product will be in the market. But many entrepreneurs do make less money when they were an employee.
Why are entrepreneurs better than jobs?
You are your own boss. Entrepreneurs can work at flexible times which leads to a healthy life but entrepreneurs usually have high-stress levels.
Are entrepreneurs happier than employees?
Yes, entrepreneurs are happier than employees but that comes with its own set of drawbacks which is too many failures, long working hours, low income, and high-stress levels.
We are long past the old wives’ tale of the pathetic patriarchal society of the past which forced the idea that women cannot be founders, co-founders, or manage businesses successfully. Now, women are not only reigning in the sphere of businesses but also appearing as a powerful force commanding the startup ecosystem much like their male counterparts. Women entrepreneurs are not a myth now but in fact, breaking the stereotypical boundaries built by a regressive world that was male-dominated.
StartupTalky salutes all the women entrepreneurs this Women’s Day, who have successfully come out of all the past prejudices and are breaking stereotypes in entrepreneurship!
Here’s a list of all the women entrepreneurs of India, who are making a mark in the growing startup ecosystem of the country. So, without further adieu, let’s hear it from them ahead.
I (Nupur) started my professional journey working in Corporate and worked for almost 4 years in different companies in various roles. While the learning curve was steep in those 4 years, I always felt that I resonated more with startups’ fast-paced and ever-changing dynamic culture. My passion for doing something that creates real value for society at large was my driving force to move from a 9 to 5 job to co-founding a health-tech start-up. My journey so far as co-founder of Navia Life Care has been extraordinary and the startup learnings are incomparable.
Running a company is demanding and challenging. Working through ambiguity, wearing multiple hats, and taking extra responsibility, especially after working in a stable and structured corporate environment can be very stressful at times. However, what has always kept me going is the impact that we’ve been able to create in the healthcare ecosystem, by digitizing thousands of doctors and hence touching the lives of millions of patients.
Dimpy Dewan | Co-Founder, Hanchens
Woman Entrepreneur – Dimpy Dewan
Women are best at Multi-tasking, creativity, money-management, negotiation skills, honesty, resilience, compassion, and taking everyone along. These are exactly the skills required to be a successful entrepreneur in building things ground up. I wish to congratulate all the Women Entrepreneurs who have broken the age-old shackles and pre-conceived notions, rules, barriers and paved the way for other women to come to the forefront to be and lead the change. As women, our intent should not be to follow or to trample over any gender but to walk along and make a mark in building solutions for the largest economy in the world and also taking India to the global arena. With folded hands, I also seek and advise complete support from men of their family and workplace to inspire them and back them in whatever little way they can, which gives them wings to fly and thrive in whatever they wish to do.
Sharmilee Kapur | Founder & Director, Atmantan Wellness Centre
Sharmilee Kapur | Founder, Atmantan Wellness Centre
There are many stereotypes attached to Women entrepreneurs… one that always bothered me was that once women get pregnant or have babies, they can’t work! Well, that is so not true… Atmantan was a dream come true for me and when we finally started working in it in 2008, I was pregnant. I remember being plump pregnant, and sitting on long 8 hour meetings for 3-4 days at a stretch, with our overseas architects. There was absolutely no dip in my productivity; in fact, I think we did some of our best work then, proof being this fabulous well-planned Wellness Centre! Even after I delivered my son in August 2008, (13 years ago), I would express myself in the early morning, and go attend these very architect meetings.
I did have to have a family member be with my newborn, check with them every 2-3 hours, and also go through some guilt pangs… but I used to tell myself that Atmantan was my dream and I simply needed to put in the work to make it happen. Yes, I would come back home exhausted from those yummy and happy baby hormones, but I did what was needed, and when it was needed and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Women are like that… we get stuff done, no matter what. It is true that women break stereotypes every day.
Megha Asher | COO & Co-Founder, Juicy Chemistry
Megha Asher | COO & Co-Founder, Juicy Chemistry
You know building a successful business is not just about a brilliant idea or great decision-making. It is not limited to one individual. Instead, it takes an army that is religiously working behind the scenes to build the empire. And this army is not just limited to your core team but includes each and everyone from staff to management, your family, and even your house help who manages your household chores to ensure your work goes on smoothly. Success is always a team effort.
Looking at the bigger picture, there has been a paradigm shift to women taking leadership roles in sectors that were previously seen as “male-dominated”. Though there have been improvements on social parameters, leading to more acceptance in the business world, women-owned firms or women in leadership roles in healthcare, tech, marketing, food industry, and such other important sectors still somehow remain a minority.
I have always believed that gender does not have anything to do with someone’s achievements but certain pressures that women and especially Indian women have to overcome to be able to keep their careers going are too daunting to be overlooked. Even in this century, gender bias at the workplace, being buried under household responsibilities on top of a full-time job, finding the right mentors at the job become deciding factors for women as to whether they want to continue at work.
I consider myself lucky to have worked with an incredible set of people most of the time but at the same time, I have encountered gender stereotypes that hindered me from leading projects or building a support network in male-dominated areas. Over time, I learned to work hard to develop strategies to transform these barriers into opportunities which only helped me in enhancing not just my leadership skills and abilities, but also the overall health of the companies that I’ve worked with.
Chaitali is the Associate Vice President of Marketing at Sprink.online, a full-stack meal subscription platform, created to make affordable daily personalized meals accessible to people wherever they are – at their homes or workplaces.
While stereotypes, of course, exist, I (Ramya) find that staying focused on your business goals and having no barriers in your mind are the most important things. With that comes the focus on building skills continuously, building networks, and getting the support of your colleagues as well as family – all relevant for both men and women!
Ramya Venkataraman is the founder and CEO of CENTA Private Limited working with more than half a million teachers on certification, careers, and training. Ramya has been recognized as one of ’15 Women Transforming India’ by NITI Aayog and UN, as one of ’25 women leaders in business and social sectors’ by The Economic Times, and a distinguished alum of both her alma maters IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta.
Neha Bagaria | Founder & CEO, JobsForHer
Neha-Bagaria – Founder, JobsForHer
We need to stop stereotyping roles by gender. There is no job that isn’t a “job for her” and all roles should be opened up for both genders to increase diversity in the workplace.
I found out that nobody prepares young women to realize that men’s and women’s career graphs can look very different. We are trained to believe that a career graph is a straight vertical line that keeps rising. But in fact, it doesn’t have to be. And thus I realized that we need to prepare our women for the kind of career stages that life might throw at them. Just because you need to decelerate or take a break or slow down, doesn’t mean you’re done with your career. Once your life stage is right, you can get back right where you left off.
Raksha Kothari | Co-founder & Head of Sourcing, Go Desi
Raksha Kothari | Co-founder & Head of Sourcing, Go Desi
The manufacturing sector is a largely male-dominated field. As one of the very few women here, the biggest challenge I faced was while having to liaise with machine manufacturers, vendors, farmers, and factory staff. One needs to be both tactical and bullish when dealing with them. The latter is not a trait that came naturally to me and had to be learned with time. I realized that standing your ground and being assertive was the only way forward. These are the qualities that have helped me the most in this journey.
Raksha 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 the ground. Under her leadership, Go Desi has employed more than 200 women in their manufacturing setup in Bangalore.
Entrepreneurship is about being ready to face challenges head-on and never giving up. Every challenge is an opportunity waiting to be explored. No journey is without struggles. I strongly believe that the success of a startup stems from the drive and ability to fight against these hurdles. We have a number of success stories to prove this theory. For me, it has always been about perseverance. Business models can be figured out if you persist and have the right people by your side.
Our (my co-founder Mihir and me) aim has always been about enabling healthier living. However, when we initially started, the business model had to undergo a few iterations. While the initial ideas did not work out as planned, they gave us an opportunity to understand consumers and the market better. And OZiva was launched in 2016 to cater to the needs of the consumers.
Aarti completed her Bachelor’s in Technology from IIT Roorkee and MBA from INSEAD, France. She has worked across India, US, and Singapore with companies like Credit Suisse, Capital One, and a few tech start-ups. Parallel to her professional life, Aarti also practices OZiva’s core philosophy in her personal life. She ensures that she invests time in bettering her physical and mental wellbeing.
Supriya Kulkarni | MD, Kyzer Software
Supriya Kulkarni | MD, Kyzer Software
Entrepreneurship is a complex phenomenon and plays a key role in the economic development of a country. Women entrepreneurs are making significant contributions to global economic health, national competitiveness, and community commerce by bringing many assets to the market.
Based on recent studies, currently, women own less than one-third of small businesses in India and the number is likely to be over 50% in the coming years. The percentage of women entrepreneurs has increased from 7.69% in 1992-93 to 34% in the year 2020-21, but the number still is significantly low.
The number of women in technical courses, professional courses, and engineering streams has shown a tremendous rise. Polytechnics and IITs have only 35% girls out of total enrolled students and very few join and set their own enterprises.
Around 28% of women have an interest in starting an enterprise or are giving it serious thought, compared with 53% of men. Around one in five women come into self-employment from unemployment compared with around one in fifteen for men.
Only 2% of men cite family commitments as a reason for becoming self-employed, compared with 21% of women. Though there has been considerable growth in the number of women opting to work in family-owned businesses, they still have lower status and face more operational challenges in running businesses.
Working in a male-dominated world, woman entrepreneurs face continuous challenges of proving their worth over and over again. The key requirements of expertise, experience, leadership qualities, business acumen, and foresight get challenged so much more from a woman in the ever-changing business environments. As entrepreneurs, one has to overlook public perceptions, reassess market expectations and realign and move ahead to achieve one’s vision.
Facing major complications during audits for corporates, Supriya Kulkarni co-founded Kyzer Software. It’s one of the leading banking and financial organizations that came into existence in the year 2016. The firm is focused on the creation of banking RegTech, Trade Finance, and automation products, which supports a wide range of trade products and multiple regulations within a unified platform. Supriya is, at present, the Managing Director of Kyzer.
Every year on November 19, Women’s Entrepreneurship Day is observed to acknowledge, support, and celebrate the invaluable contribution of women business leaders and entrepreneurs towards economic growth and development.
Women are no strangers to entrepreneurship. They have been breaking barriers and leading the way for fellow boss ladies since the 19th century. From running home-based businesses to scaling large teams, women have come so far, breaking glass ceilings along the way.
Women entrepreneurs can contribute to the economy as job creators, which is a spacewoman, are rapidly taking to across India. With adequate support, women entrepreneurs could fuel India’s economic growth ambitions.
I firmly believe that women of tomorrow will surely break this stereotype and not be limited to pursuing only the fields of fashion, art, dance, music, etc. We can break these shackles by attaining knowledge and becoming financially independent-which is the key to liberation. I’ve learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances. I think the key is for women not to set any limits.
Arushi Jain is an award-winning executive who received the prestigious ‘Young Entrepreneur Award’ at the India CSR Summit 2018, at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. After holding a key position in a prominent firm like Ernst & Young, Ms. Jain has brought forward her expertise of Strategy, Audits, Taxation, and Financial matrix to play a vital role in StayHappi’s progress across the nation and continues her influential part for the foremost business decisions.
Bhagyashree Singh | Director & CEO, Merakii
Bhagyashree Singh | Director & CEO, Merakii
It’s not about what you did in a month or a year; it’s about making the best of the 24 hours that you have. Women don’t have to be perfect to run the show. Be unapologetic and do it your way. Keep the guilt away, be yourself and own it all. You don’t have to conquer the world; you just have to find your strength.
Mansi Vyas | Director, Azafran
Azafran
Women are known to be excellent multitaskers so when it comes to being an entrepreneur, it doesn’t surprise me when I see several women leaders coming to the limelight these days as they were always there silently fostering brilliant ventures. It gives me immense pride to be. a part of Azafran’s journey. At Azafran, we aren’t just frontrunners but also advocate consciousness and sustainable living through our wide range of organic and natural products be it skincare, baby care, food, and nutraceuticals. This Women’s Entrepreneur’s Day we aim to nurture our organic & natural philosophy not because it’s the need of the hour but because it is the right way to lead a happy and fulfilling life on our planet.
Akshaara Lalwani | Founder & CEO , Communicate India
Akshaara Lalwani | Founder & CEO, Communicate India
Women-led companies and businesses have tremendous potential to grow and affect real change in the economies of countries. I (Akshaara) believe that as a woman entrepreneur, I am empowered to lead an organisation that creates more opportunities for women, and I have the ability to eliminate problems such as the gender pay gap. When women devote themselves to an organisation, they are passionate, compassionate and 100 percent committed to the job, such dedication can do nothing but help catapult companies to the heights of success. Despite the phenomenal performance of various women-led companies, women entrepreneurs still face a slew of challenges such as biased perceptions and rigid social norms. Young women entrepreneurs have it even tougher as they’re trying hard to build networks in the industry but are often brushed aside due to their “lack of experience”. Nonetheless, I strongly believe in the words of Frida Kahlo – “At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.
Never underestimate a woman, her instincts, or her capability. We are the biggest untapped pool of talent in the WORLD! Premium Bionaturals is a result of that and keeps us pushing harder. Look how far the expectation of cleaning, cooking, and keeping the family safe has brought us! Today, we Women do it all, with our biodegradable and non-toxic range of home care, Hygenic, and pushing others to achieve the same.
Premium Bionaturals is a result of two sisters, Kirti and Nidhi, who want to give back to the planet and lead a safer lifestyle in the form of eco-friendly, toxin-free products used in our daily lives.
Harleen Gulati | Founder, Totally Infuzd
Harleen Gulati | Founder, Totally Infuzd
A mother can start a business and run it too because she knows what it takes to multitask like an entrepreneur. So she can brew a tea cuppa at home and can simultaneously ace at running a tea business too!
Founded by a mother of two, Totally Infuzd is the brainchild of Harleen Gulati. Being an advocate of healthy living, Harleen Gulati discovered a gap in the Indian market for wellness teas that cater to perfecting well-being and she thought of stepping in by setting up Totally Infuzd with a touch of luxury. While Harleen Gulati was a renowned nutritionist, she has also trained from the Asian School of Tea. By rounding up the perfect balance of nutrition and tea variants, Totally Infuzd is crafted lovingly by her with the support from the local farmers!
At Scarlet Relations, we are an all-women run team because we feel that each woman has the ability to rise above the glass ceiling. Who other than women can be better at marketing and communications, We women are anyways known for gossiping and showing off!
Mehar Gulati, a creative strategist & business developer has been trained under the finest minds at the London College of Fashion. After studying Fashion Public Relations and communications, her passion translated to the profession for Mehar at an early stage. Her zealous drive and ambition had her managing the outreach strategies of multiple brands globally. Working with over 20 clients in the Luxury sector in her time at different agencies for 3 years + (Fashion, Retail, F&B, Hospitality, Wellness, FMCG) she followed the trend in and out. Her work as the Founder of Scarlet helps reinforce the primary reason why she opted to join the industry in the first place: the joy of delivering (qualitatively and quantitatively) on the faith that clients place in her. At Scarlet, she adorned the entrepreneurial hat whereby she helps various brands to structure their social media, consult on building the right strategies, and assists in collaborations for sound presence!
You know what a woman can do in the world with protein powders and supplements? She can launch Abbzorb Nutrition and bring world-class quality wellness supplements at an affordable price to your home!
Abbzorb is a brainchild of Anish Garg and Namrata Agarwal. Founded in the year 2019, Abbzorb is a result of the duo that aims to bring high-quality nutrition and wellness to Indian consumers at affordable prices. Tormented to see the disorganized wellness market in India whereby fake and adulterated products had led to a lot of problems, the duo ventured to start Abbzorb which could help restore the trust of people towards dietary supplements.
Namrata Agarwal joined hands with Abbzorb to ensure that consumers can rely on Indian-made products that are supported by independent internationally accredited lab results. She ensures that the quality of these products is at par with the customer expectations and plays a crucial role in the organizational and logistical frontiers of Abbzorb.
Headquartered in New Delhi, Abbzorb started its journey to formulate world-class products like Whey Based Proteins and Amino derivatives like creatine, BCAAs, and glutamine. It’s the relentless effort and pursuit of the duo who took about a year to prepare the right formulation of authentic and cost-effective supplements before launching in the market. Supported by their in-house research team, they have a full-functioning lab that houses the required equipment to help them formulate the finest selection of products.
Kavitta Bedi | Co-founder, xtraview.in
Kavitta Bedi | Co-founder, xtraview.in
I became an entrepreneur inspired by my daughter’s need of the hour which was her college interview! Since there was no formal lesson on cracking an interview, I knew I had to do something about it for students like my daughter. I would say one shouldn’t be afraid of going after what one believes one can make successful. Have faith and confidence in your own ability. Don’t be afraid to get pushed out of your comfort zone but always set boundaries and know when you need to pull out and stop. Be secure in who you are. To me, feminism is just having the choice to choose. Make your own choices and then be happy with them. Continue to learn, up-skill yourself and widen your horizon.
Kavitta B Bedi is the founder and CEO of JBC INC (Just Because its Children), where she brings in broadway theatricals from overseas for children and family audiences all across India. The repertoire of shows includes Barney Live, Spiderman Live, Noddy Live, Jungle Book Jive, Geronimo Stilton Live, etc. These shows have been done in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Dubai, Singapore, etc., An entrepreneur at heart, she is also an angel investor with investments in Tech Startups across Crowd Funding, Food Tech, Supply Chain, Health Tech, and now Ed Tech.
There are unique challenges that female entrepreneurs face, be it balancing work and motherhood, or striving to establish credibility in the workplace. Rather than treating these as “weaknesses” and trying to mask these and emulate our male counterparts, we must learn to play to our strengths, and use those to our advantage to succeed in a competitive environment. I remember resuming work in a few weeks of delivering my daughter! Such strength and inspiration came from my mother whom I’d seen managing multiple businesses in our childhood. I learned a lot from her. The art of raising ideal kids and being successful in a profession at the same time.
Katherine Ernst Mehta is the CEO and Founder of Edvanta Consulting, where she works with international high school students across India, Singapore, Indonesia, and the UK to help them navigate the US undergraduate admission process, and gain admission to their best fit colleges. Katherine graduated magna cum laude from Kenyon College, Ohio, where she majored in Anthropology, Dance & Drama. She built a career in international education after first coming to India as a student and researcher in 2009.
Nidhi Yadav | Founder, Aks Clothings
Nidhi Yadav | Founder, Aks Clothings
Women are taking the world by storm with their innovative products and articulate business strategies. The fierce passion of women entrepreneurs is breaking the gender stereotype and the generally accepted societal norm by stepping up outside the walls of their homes. However, the journey for women entrepreneurs remains a rocky one rather, in comparison to their male counterparts. Hurdles such as rife competition, scarcity in funding, reservation from the society, low-risk appetite, lower literacy, etc are very common amongst women because of the predominantly male-centric atmosphere that creates a resistance for the women to enter the business. Such was my experience as well when I began Aks Clothings. When you are a woman entrepreneur, the difficult part is not the inception but how you keep your business running and healthy once you have begun. The struggle is to find trustworthy investors and channels to source your product. Nonetheless, if you have your vision clear and a supportive team by your side, finding other ancillary elements would not be a far away dream.
Dr. Meenu Kumar | Founder, Cosmo Arts
Dr. Meenu Kumar | Founder, Cosmo Arts
The life of an entrepreneur is filled with challenges and mine has been no different. When I entered the market, I faced two major challenges. The first one was the lack of network – in the form of clients and partners.
For me, business never came from family or close friends. Even if we were able to get a contact, it wouldn’t last more than a year or two. So, I had to step out of my comfort zone to build the right kind of network. I accomplished this by joining business networking groups and social media and online portals. I expanded my horizon by reaching out to interior designers, architects, and art connoisseurs through exhibitions, shows, and online portals.
The second major challenge was to create something exquisite yet environmentally sustainable. We dealt with this challenge by creating in-house art pieces using recyclable materials like paper mache, discarded mannequins, old clothes, polythene, etc. This way, we were able to create art installations that were not only unique but sustainable as well. This approach eventually brought us a lot of success. Challenges are a part of life and we all have our own. At the end of the day, it’s not the intensity of challenges but your attitude towards them that determines whether you’ll fail or succeed.
Geeta Singh | Founder & Director, The Yellow Coin Communication
Geeta Singh | Founder & Director, The Yellow Coin Communication
The first challenge that I faced was running a business without having any sort of business background. And things are getting better now but if you are a woman taking on the world alone, people don’t often take you seriously. But I kept persevering until my body of work began doing the talking for me.
Even though I’ve been in the industry for quite a while now, I still deal with new challenges every day, and that I believe, is just part of being an entrepreneur. From hiring and retaining good employees to hiring and retaining good clients, everything is a challenge. The solution is that you have to give your 200%, and there are times when even that isn’t enough. But I take everything in stride and keep moving forward. It’s the only thing I know.
Dr Malini Saba | Founder & Chairman, Saba Group & Anannke Foundations
Dr Malini Saba, Founder & Chairman, Saba Group & Anannke Foundation
The thought that women are weak and that they should be protected creates an environment that daunts women from taking charge of their lives. Women are bad at tech, women are terrible drivers, and white women are beautiful, these are the common stereotypes women of all cultures face daily. I want to create and foster a culture for women in male-dominated areas, so I focus on hiring women in my companies. I have experienced that women are more assertive, passionate, and persuasive. They have a stronger need to get things done and are good at benchmarking their ideas to set a goal.
Through our vocational training and awareness-raising campaigns targeted at ground level, we are making attempts to change mind-sets and bring people’s attention towards the problems that plague women: sexual harassment, domestic violence and other gender-based violence, bullying at the workplace, and rape. We want to change the perception of what masculinity means, what is permissible and what is not.
This International Women’s Day, I want to tell each woman out there to stop being sorry for no reason, exude confidence and command the respect that you deserve.
Amarpreet Rai | Co-Founder & Director of Operations and Development, Sanrai International
Amarpreet Rai | Co-Founder -Sanrai International
Recognizing that commitment and perseverance can overcome all of the hurdles can be the key to success of women entrepreneurs. Signing that first contract in a male dominated medical industry, gave a boost to my confidence as I could convince my counterparts to take a chance by showing our commitment and by preserving. Thesedays, women are taking up such challenging roles and are leading by example.
Anchal Mehta | Founder, The Knowbility
Anchal Mehta – Founder, The Knowbility
A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” – Diane Mariechild Women have been known for multi tasking, creativity, leadership and team management. These skills can be found in any successful business owner. These days women have started breaking the shackles of stereotypes that tie them to household chores and desk jobs. We can see the trend of emerging women entrepreneurs, creating their own products, selling products and managing resources on and off the internet and paving way for new ways of earning. The preconceived notion that only men can run a successful business has quickly started disappearing as we see more and more women entrepreneurs taking the lead and even supporting their men as the bread winners of their household. Teenagers, students, mother’s, grandmother’s, young and old, rich and underprivileged, educated and illiterate, women from all over the world have been inspired that they can make a boss out of themselves and take the lead on their lives. We’ve long being told that women belong to the kitchens whereas now we can clearly see that women belong to themselves and are the boss of their own lives.
Shruti Aggarwal | Co-founder, Stashfin
Shruti Aggarwal – Co-founder, Stashfin
The first and most pertinent step to breaking stereotypes is to call ourselves just entrepreneurs, and not ‘women or female entrepreneurs’. Every perceived male space, importantly finance, now has women at the helm. Think about any industry – finance, healthcare, education, wellness, communication, automobiles – and you’ll likely find a woman at the lead. This is when women have been able to prove people wrong who believed ‘women can’t be good with numbers’; ‘women can’t run their own business’; ‘women can’t be the bread-earners’; and so many other biases. We have come a long way and now the mind-set is also changing to ‘she can’ vs ‘she can’t’.
My company, Stashfin, operates in the fintech space where we firmly believe that ‘Nobody in India should be credit starved’. And this includes women. In fact, I take it as my personal mission to dispel any myth that one might have about women and finances, women and investments – essentially women and money. It’s not as confusing or as difficult as it’s perceived to be. Numbers are exciting. Being an entrepreneur in this space is even better, because it’s when I see more women being financially aware, when they learn to take charge of their investments, their taxes, their money, that I know that – ‘women can’.
Ms Charushilla Narula Bajpai | Founder, Director & Key Mentor, University Connection
To begin with, it’s not uncommon for a woman to lead as an influencer at home or take charge of an ailing in-law, or double up as a teacher mentor for her children. She’s never put herself into a stereotype yet every time she acts on instinct, it’s often the world outside that sees her as different. My mother decided to participate in a beauty pageant at 60; around the same time my daughter chose to launch her first music score at 16 – were they breaking stereotypes? They were just being themselves and thankfully their environment was allowing them. Even as an entrepreneur, I’ve decided to run an all-women team at University Connection because it’s been the most natural choice. We are an extremely cohesive, collaborative, do not bicker, mean business, respect each other’s boundaries including the importance of time with family and personal goals besides professional ones! Just let a women be; she’s created to bring awe in the awesome. Another thought: From science to design to chemicals and financial know how, women are breaking barriers and allowing themselves to excel. At our college planning organisation, University Connection, we now increasing find young women students, aspiring for a career in politics, international relations, engineering and Economics.
Sakshi Aggarwal | Founder, Gharobaar.com
Well, clichés like don’t think of switching your career once you are married or have kids, business or entrepreneurship is men’s domain, instead of career focus on your family- these are the things that have hindered progress of women from ages. But the good part is that we are increasingly seeing many amazing women out there who are breaking all the shackles and succeeding.
It is no longer believed that starting a business post your 30’s is too late. Women are proving that ‘age is just a number’, and women like Falguni Nayar who founded Nykaa at the age of 50 are setting the perfect examples for us. Stories like these are paramount to breaking all the baseless stereotypes that have been created in our society.
Sejal Pravin Purohit | Founder, Seven Spring
From my viewpoint,
1) Women are now more aware of their law rights and strength. They know if they can give birth, they can do anything so they are breaking these stereotype that women are fragile.
2) Women are everywhere from space, politics to farming. It is written in our history and science that though we are all human beings, men and women think differently so world gets more opinions and new prospective due to women as they are breaking the stereotype by leading in every field (From home to Mars)
3) Earlier It was said that women are very emotional. However, women who are leading in the corporate field have proved that its nothing wrong to have high EQs as every organizational issue (be it home, corporate or country) can be solved amicably and nicely by being little empathetic and emotional, and women have broken that stereotype that women cannot lead or take decisions because they are emotional.
4) Women play so many roles where one role demands her to be very loving and emotional and at the same time other role demands her to be practical and bold. She plays every role efficiently and more than anything, she is the perfect example to describe that with efficient time management skills, one can do wonders. So here she is breaking this stereotype that it’s difficult to play many roles.
Ankita Riva, Co-Founder & COO, Zymrat
Women entrepreneurs have let the world know that they are here to take the stand, they are here to make moves and they are not one step behind. Women, today, are standing right at the front and we are being unapologetic about it. From ringing a bell at NASDAQ to listing companies on BSE, women entrepreneurs are now one step ahead of the curve.
Anamika Pandey, Founder, Naario
Women Entrepreneurs are breaking the glass celeing in very many ways today. Primarily just by showing up in increasing numbers. When a woman starts up, she is motivating tens and hundreds of women to do the same. When a woman backs another woman entrepreneur she is telling everyone that backing women founders is the need of the hour. When a woman starts talking about sales in her venture, she is telling every single person that women and sales can go hand in hand, in India and across the world. And it is not a taboo.
When a small female entrepreneur puts up a stall in a festival, she’s proving that she is confident and can run the show, at home and in business, despite having hudred responsibities. When a female entrepreneur builds her team she is telling all the team members that women can be in command yet lead with empathy. When a woman entrepreneur starts learning technology and talking data, she is telling everyone around her that she is more than what meets the eye. She can build things.
Shwetal Shubhadeep, Co-Founder & COO, Nworx
Today women entrepreneurs are role modeling that it is acceptable for them to be ambitious and a reality for them to be successful. They are also role-modeling, how to gracefully balance the many roles they play in their life and, in the process, be unapologetic to ask for support. The definition of ‘role of a woman’ and ‘capability of a woman’ is fast expanding. My wish is to have a day when the courage and strength of an entrepreneur are celebrated, and gender becomes irrelevant.
Meenakshi Dubey, Co-Founder, Yes!poho
Women entrepreneurs, who were once pursuing unpaid labor in olden times from setting pickles under the sun to crocheting sweaters and apparels for their near and dear ones, are now stepping up to become entreprenaaris. Establishing our presence in every domain from FMCG to finance, law to artistry, MNCs to encouraging saree-based businesses, women are shattering the glass ceilings of stereotypes. In former times, (in some cases, even a few years back), there was a stigma around women heading out to earn because relying on daughters, sisters, mothers etc. for daily chores seemed okay but their income was still considered something to be embarrassed or ashamed of – sidelining the entire idea of working women entrepreneurs. However, the years and years of rebellion has finally resulted in women taking accountability of their careers and fanning the fire of their ambitions to be at the top of their professional game. De-stigmatising the growth from a house-wife, mother, daughter or sister to entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs and women that slay the markets like a dragon with passion – the times have changed and the ladies are taking the lead with their due credits and recognition.
Pragati Agarwala, Partner, Three Fourth Solutions
The word ‘Entrepreneurship’, in itself is a paradox with stereotypes. This is particularly true in terms of female entrepreneurs. Whenever a woman sets out to make a change, or lead from the helm – there’s a lot of flak she has to face and keep proving herself. For instance, dealing with situations where “log kya kahenge” or “she’s a woman, what can she do?” or ‘Why should we be lead by a girl?’ and so on, is still quite commonplace today.
The mere existence and continued use of feminised descriptions of entrepreneurship gives the perception that entrepreneurial activity is a largely a male preserve. Such stereotyping has an impact.
However, our times are changing, and there is hope with figures such as Vineeta Singh, Vani Kola that are constantly challenging the norm from the forefront and helping make the workplace a more female friendly space as a whole. At TFS, we ourselves are an organisation that is 90% women dominated, and how! Each of the women on my team are constantly breaking the bias and proving with their work that women can achieve anything that we set our minds to do. The sky is the limit for their dreams, and we hope to continue enabling them to keep reaching higher!
Maintaining a balance between work and home is a task, but it is vital to success and quality of life. Today we see women holding significant positions in all walks of life and even incepting their own companies. I believe that women have come a long way, breaking the barriers and creating an ecosystem where the young generation feels motivated and encouraged to start their entrepreneurial journey. Today, when I look at young women talking about business, striving hard for their dreams, and not restricting themselves in a cage, I feel elated and delighted to hear their challenges and how they tackle them.
I started my entrepreneurial journey with a health and wellness brand- Gaia – a primarily male-dominated industry. However, I didn’t stop and kept working towards it, making it one of the frontrunners in the industry, upping consumers’ health and wellness quotient. Being a cosmetic engineer, I always had an interest in the beauty industry and realized a gap in the skincare market for the younger generation. So I researched it and launched Skinella, a skincare brand that uses superfoods’ formulation to target teenagers and younger girls. Gradually, I’m creating an environment where women can come out of their zones and build an empire that believes in equality.
Ms. Preety Tyagi, Lead Health Coach, Nutritionist and Founder of MY22BMI
Entrepreneurship is a field of business that is seasoned with various stereotypes, especially when it comes to women. Women starting a business of any kind are often termed with women-specific names such as mumpreneurs or femprenuers etc. Even the businesses are often expected to be something related to makeup, grooming, or fashion accessories. The mere notion of using such terms to define a women-owned business means that businesses and entrepreneurship are otherwise, a male-dominated reserve. However, the reality is far from this. There are women entrepreneurs in every field and all over the world, who are owning, manage, and leading businesses entirely by themselves. They are breaking stereotypes in each and every sector and field, be it automobiles, be it sports, be it science and technology, everywhere. However, such stereotyping and branding of such women-owned businesses has its own impact and fallbacks.
The existence of such bias in the world of entrepreneurship is what makes it hard for many women to step out there and start on their own. For example, in the Indian economy, if women started businesses at the same pace as men, there would be at least a million more entrepreneurs in India. Even when the number of women entrepreneurs is on the increase, it still shows that a lot needs to be done in order to break the unthought-of bias and to remove the straight sexism that is present in society. And it also shows that breaking the bias is not only essential for women but the economy of our society as a whole.
Shaily Shah, Co-founder, Elevo (Powered by Tarrakki)
It is clear that women entrepreneurs are impacted by stereotypes. As per the study, 70% of women entrepreneurs highlights that gender stereotypes, social approval or disapproval have an impact on them. But the new age living and advancement of women have started to gradually see the change in how the women are breaking the stereotypes inorder to achieve their goals. According to me, here are the pointers to break the stereotypes :-
1)Rise in awareness of how entrepreneurship, economic participation, and other financial participation helps one be stable
2)To take concrete measures to eliminate the stereotypes and their negative impacts both in public and private spheres
3)To raise awareness about realisation of rights and equal opportunities, those related to economic participation & entrepreneurship.
The upcoming years will be captivating to see the women entrepreneurs thrive for their goals.
Kruti Mehta, Founder, Vivaa Consulting
I don’t think gender has anything to do with breaking stereotypes, honestly. Anyone can champion making a change after all, so why should the onus lie with one gender. It’s more about an attitude in general, and entrepreneurs by nature have an attitude of challenging the norms or looking for a problem to solve. Having said that, having more women lead startups can definitely serve as a great inspiration for anyone wanting to make a switch from a job to a business or anyone who has an idea that they want to chase but haven’t so far. So I would like to think the courage is infectious for sure.
What women do bring to the table is an opportunity to bring awareness about unconscious biases that have existed thus far which have led to pay gaps or the glass ceilings that we all know and hear about. With more women choosing to lead, hopefully with time there will be ample of chances to challenge and change those biases to ensure equity and opportunity regardless of our gender!
Tanul Mishra, CEO, Afthonia Lab
Today we see more women at the senior-most levels in multinationals. However, the Indian fintech sector still lags behind when it comes to the number of women in the industry. Therefore, I feel that there is a need to channel the resources, in order to make these opportunities reach more women, which will help in the growth of the country’s economy. The aim is to always be gender inclusive and seek growth, with ability defined roles rather than their gender.
A better and more sustainable ecosystem that helps in overall enhancement will change the entrepreneurial journey of women in our country.
Naina Ruhail, Founder, Vanity Wagon
From being unable to voice their opinions in a male-dominated society to becoming absolutely fearless in doing so, women have broken stereotypes and how! Time and again, it has been proven that women have to go through hardships in the littlest of things. But gone are the days when the patriarchal leash held us back. It is high time that we now start acknowledging the struggles and challenges we face as women. With the rise in women taking charge of leadership roles and the emerging number of successful women entrepreneurs in India, it’s evident that we have challenged the norms and crafted a space for ourselves in the business realm and made it our niche. Today, more women are starting businesses at a much faster rate than men, making significant contributions to job creation and economic growth. We have proven ourselves and our endless capabilities to break the glass ceiling time and again!
Shreya Sharma, C.E.O and Founder, Rest The Case
Women of all ages are entrepreneurs now, right from someone who is in their 50s to younger women in 20s. They are in all fields regardless of gender. whether its finance, law or doctors which were initially male dominated industries now have women leading the way as well.
Namrata Bajaj, Co-founder, Tatsa – Skincare made Simple
As challenging as it may get, women of today are out there in every field working and crossing hurdles with an invisible crown on their heads. There is no hidden truth in women entrepreneurs breaking every kind of stereotype there is. One being Gender discrimination, which is as popular as having ‘chai’ in this country, you almost wake up to it every morning.
I personally feel women were always born to do extraordinary things. We ace, strive for perfection in the smallest & biggest of tasks and we get the work done.
According to reports women make up 13.76 per cent of entrepreneurs in India. It is only a matter of time before this number goes up. After widely promoting and supporting women entrepreneurs in reality shows which also involved major women judges, it all proved how women are breaking stereotypes within their own industries that were male-dominated.
This women’s day I would encourage each woman out there to strive for the stars, achieve everything they have dreamt of and shatter every preconceived notion there could be.
Mrs. Neha Singhania, CPO, TradeSmart
In the ever expanding entrepreneurial landscape, we can see a rising percentage of women joining the bandwagon. With India being the third largest contributor to startups and fintechs in the world, we have large number of these businesses and unicorns led by women at the front.
The status quo is changing in most of the sectors as women are proving that the age-old conditioning system or gender inequality only exists in the mind. Women of today are shaped for growth and with widened opportunities, we can expect to see more women-led enterprises in the coming years. Furthermore, women are setting a strong foundation by supporting other women to achieve a gender diverse workforce and having an equal ratio at work.
Ankita Thadani, Co-Founder, Secret Alchemist
Gender stereotyping has had a huge impact on women entrepreneurs, but more and more women choose to step out of these predefined roles to take up new and more divers challenges.
India is changing too, slowly but steadily. We all saw the female dominance in India’s version of Shark Tank. This was the year where we saw Falguni Nayar , self-made billionaire listing her company at the NSE. Looking at the bigger picture, we definitely see a paradigm shift to women taking leadership roles in so many male dominated sector. A true testament to all that the future of India holds.
Ms. Aanchal Bhatia, COO, The Plus Size Store by Meera Creations
Aanchal Bhatia – COO, The Plus size store by Meera Creations
With thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in India, inclination towards opting for entrepreneurship has increased significantly. Talented and aspiring people are seeing it as a great opportunity. Astonishingly, women have shown an unflinching affection for entrepreneurship and they are making entry into every domain of businesses. They are breaking all stereotypes, leading the company and outperforming their male counterparts with fierce passion and zeal. They are making brilliant decisions, including their companies into the unicorn list, and making collaborations with big corporate houses. They have established their names in the respective fields. Apart from that, they are receiving awards and recognitions for their contributions to the sectors on global platforms. They are not limited to any boundaries. They are just striving to fulfil their aspirations while solving the problems of society and creating a number of employment opportunities for others as well.
Conclusion
Women have indeed progressed long enough from the dark days when they were restricted to their houses, tied to the usual chores inside them. They have indeed lighted up the startup ecosystem with their own entrepreneurial sparks. However, there is always some room for more development when it comes to startups, which aims to build a world convenient for the end-users and profitable for the entrepreneurs but that demands both men and women working hand in hand.
The influence and popularity of IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) is known by everyone. In fact, some of the greatest minds of India have studied at IIT. And now, the alumni of IIT are working as an entrepreneur and, in fact, leading the high-tech startup space in India.
Based on its massive success and its alumni, IIT is truly a dream for numerous students. Today, IIT graduates have taken over almost every work sector, from the world’s famous CEOs and scientists to the quirky interiors. And these success stories have now become an inspiration to a lot of students.
In the past few years, the success of IIT has grown truly massively and that resulted in the involvement of IITians in almost every sector that you can think of! And that’s what we are discussing today. In this article, we have discussed the most successful entrepreneurs who graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Let’s get started!
We all are well familiar with the name- Sundar Pichai as the CEO of Google. Mr Pichai has pursued his B.Tech degree from IIT Kharagpur, the top IIT college of India. He completed his degree in metallurgical engineering in the year 1993.
He not only just graduated but in fact, topped his batch. But the interesting part is Sundar Pichai did not pursue metallurgically, he chose the path to become the very first Indian CEO of Google.
Sachin Bansal
Sachin Bansal
The co-founder of a famous E-Commerce platform, Flipkart, Sachin Bansal is also an IIT graduate. He studied at IIT Delhi, in the stream of computer science. Sachin Bansal is considered the leader of the E-commerce revolution. He is also an Indian Software Engineer and Internet entrepreneur.
Vinod Khosla
Vinod Khosla
Vinod Khosla, the famous name listed among the billionaires of Forbes magazine. He is a prominent American engineer and businessman, born in India.
Vinod Khosla is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems. He completed his bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in the Electronic Engineering field.
The founder of one of the largest technology companies in India, Infosys, NR Narayana Murthy pursued his master’s of engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in the year 1996.
He completed his B.Tech from the University of Mysore. NR Narayana Murthy was honoured with India’s highest honour, the Padma Shri in 2000.
Deepinder Goyal
Deepinder Goyal
Deepinder Goyal is the CEO of one of the largest food delivery companies, Zomato. He is an IIT graduate, who studied at IIT Delhi with an M.tech degree in computing and mathematics. And with his dedication and hard work, Deepinder Goyal made Zomato the best food company.
Conclusion
There have been numerous graduates from the most prestigious institutions such as IIT in the biggest startups in India. And in the past years, the IIT graduates have served in almost every field of work and made themselves some of the most successful figures in India.
IIT has truly become the dream of every other student, with the passion of becoming a great individual. And these personalities that we mentioned in this article, have become the inspiration for many. Stay tuned for more such articles!
FAQ
Who are some of the successful entrepreneurs graduated from IIT?
Deepinder Goyal, Bhavish Aggarwal, Prabhkiran Singh, Sundar Pichai, Narayana Murthy, and Sachin Bansal are some of the successful entrepreneurs who graduated from IIT.
Which IIT is best for entrepreneurship?
IIT Delhi tops the list among other IIT colleges which created the most successful startups.
Does IIT teach entrepreneurship?
No, IIT does not provide any specific training on entrepreneurship.
Gorish Dua
