Successful Women Entrepreneurs these days might represent a variety of things, however, it usually entails a lot of desire and a fantastic result. Successful women are becoming more prominent in our culture as more women develop the courage and bravery to just go for it.
Their success can be attributed not just to their drive, hard work, and inspiration. But it also speaks to their ability to persevere in the face of hardship and refuses to take no for an answer. Their example may be followed by all of us.
These ladies are motivating and may motivate you to start working toward your goals. No matter who you are or what you do. So take a five-minute rest and absorb everything they’ve said!
Everyone’s had a rough time in the year 2021. Because of the pandemic-induced lockdown limitations, economies have struggled and companies have suffered. We saw businesses rise above hurdles and innovate in real-time to cater to their consumers in a never-before-seen ecosystem in the middle of these trying circumstances.
Women entrepreneurs in retail-tech and agri-tech have stepped forward to build new businesses. And products to affect the ecosystem and make customers’ lives simpler as the new normal brings new market problems.
A growing number of women are chasing the entrepreneurial dream. And thriving in their firms as the Indian startup ecosystem continues to grow. As a result, other Indian women who are still confined to the position of housewife are becoming more empowered. A list of noteworthy female entrepreneurs who have had an impact on India’s startup environment follows.
Nykaa’s Founder, Falguni Nayar
Falguni Nayar is an entrepreneur and Indian businesswoman. Nykaa was founded by her and she currently serves as its CEO. Nykaa is a beauty, fashion, and wellness e-commerce portal. It was the first unicorn business led by a woman in India when it was founded in 2020. Nayar became the richest female billionaire in India shortly after founding Nykaa. She is the second woman in India to become a billionaire via her efforts. Her net worth is estimated to be in the neighborhood of 430 million dollars. Nayar is also one of India’s richest persons, ranking within the top 20. Women all around the country look up to her as an inspiration.
Early life and professional career
Falguni Nayar was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, on February 19, 1963. Her father was a small business owner of a bearings firm. She earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics after high school. She went on to the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad after that. Nayar spent 20 years in Kotak Mahindra Group before founding Nykaa in 2021. She spent over four years as the Managing Director of Kotak Investment Banking. She started Nykaa at her father’s workplace when she was 49 years old. Her net worth quickly grew to $6.5 billion, making her one of the country’s wealthiest individuals.
Nykaa
Nayar planned to launch her firm in 2009 while working as the Managing Director at Kotak Mahindra. She had a few ideas by 2011, one of which was a multi-brand e-commerce platform. She left her job in 2012 to start Nykaa. Nayar launched her firm with three employees at her father’s modest office. The firm experienced several hurdles in its early years. Their website was always crashing, and whenever they reached 100 orders, the entire system would shut down. In 2013, the demand began to rise. Nykaa was founded by Nayar’s daughter, who resigned from her job and joined the company.
Nykaa began its cosmetic products in 2015, and they were a tremendous hit. In just four years, the firm has grown to become one of the largest e-commerce and beauty retail platforms in the world. It was the first unicorn business in India to be run by a woman in 2020. The firm had some difficulties during COVID-19. However, they were able to rise from their ashes and become a major force in the business. The business will also open its first store in Delhi in 2020. The company’s net value was $13 billion in November 2021. Nykaa has risen to the top of the beauty industry’s Amazon.
Falguni Nayar’s narrative of success
Falguni Nayar’s success story is incredibly encouraging. She left a career she had held for 20 years and took a major risk. She created a complete enterprise from the ground up through hard work and commitment. Falguni is a role model for women all around the country. Her tale shows us that the secret to success is hard effort. The business had considerable difficulties at first. They did not, however, give up and instead learned from their failures. To begin with, hard labor instills in us the values of devotion, drive, and persistence. Second, we should never quit and constantly learn from our failures. Continue to believe in yourself and pursue your goals.
Byju’s co-founder, Divya Gokulnath
Divya is a Bengaluru-based female entrepreneur. Who comes from a well-educated family. father is a nephrologist at Apollo Hospital. And Divya’s mother worked for Doordarshan as a programming executive. Her studies were a major source of anxiety for her. Her parents have only one kid.
Divya Gokulnath attended Frank Anthony Public School. And graduated from RV College of Engineering in Bengaluru with a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology in 2007.
Divya began GRE tuition once she completed her degree. She met Byju Raveendran there, and as a result of her influence, she began teaching at Byju’s. She was a math, English, and logical thinking teacher.
What steps did she take to improve her professional standing?
Divya Gokulnath began her teaching career in 2008 when she joined Byju’s. Later, her efforts were recognized, and the corporation provided in-person training to supplement the classroom curriculum.
Byju’s career progressed in 2015, and she developed an online application with a video lesson. Diya will feature as an instructor in the videos.
Divya is also a blogger. She wrote on the future of education, parenthood, and women’s engagement in STEM fields, among other things. Divya has spoken at several events about the issues that women entrepreneurs face.
Divya also co-authored an essay about educational technology in Vogue India with Byju Raveendran. She had an affair with Byju Raveendran while working with him, and they subsequently married. The pair lives and works together, and their total net worth is $ 3.05 billion.
Byju Raveendran, Divya’s spouse, and his brother Riju Raveendran work together to attain this goal. Divya Gokulnath lives with her 11-member family, which includes her infant kid. At the beginning of 2021, she gave birth to a second kid.
ImpactGuru’s co-founder and chief operating officer Khushboo Jain.
According to Khushboo Jain, co-founder of ImpactGuru. The crowdfunding site continues to make a difference in people’s lives by providing timely healthcare aid.
“In India, 100 individuals are admitted to hospitals every minute. And 30 health insurance claims are submitted every minute. ” Seven out of ten Indians in the middle-class lack health insurance. And those who have are often underfunded, with the average cover in India is Rs 5 lakh. Out-of-pocket expenditures are around 60%, which is three times the worldwide average, according to Khushboo Jain, co-founder of ImpactGuru
Khushboo and her husband Piyush Jain founded a fintech startup in 2015 to make healthcare cheaper in India. Motivated by a deep desire to make a difference in people’s lives and save more lives.
“However, Piyush and I realized we wanted to be social entrepreneurs. And develop a firm that was mission-driven but ultimately blended profit and purpose,” she adds.
Business in her genes
Khushboo comes from a family of business owners, and she knew from a young age that she wanted to operate her own company. At the age of 15, she began training at her father’s workplace while juggling college and other activities. Khushboo earned her MBA in Marketing at WE Business School – Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, and then moved on to Parsons, the New School of Design in New York, to study marketing. Piyush formerly worked as an M&A investment banker at JPMorgan (New York, Hong Kong, and London), as well as a management consultant at BCG (Southeast Asia and India).
“In most cases, each of these contributors makes a tiny online donation to assist reach a much greater goal amount. “For example, 500 donors paying Rs 5,000 per can raise Rs 25 lakh in less than 24 hours for a cancer procedure or organ donation,” she explains.
Since its establishment, ImpactGuru has raised $200 million (Rs 1,500 crore) through its platform and global partners. Over ten lakh contributors from 165 countries have already given to various causes on the site, with an average of 1.5 donations each minute. Its 100-person team is situated in Mumbai.
Maximum money for charitable purposes
ImpactGuru was founded on a limited budget and raised $0.5 million in a seed round from RB Investments in 2016. (Singapore VC Fund). In 2018, it raised $ 2 million in a Series A round led by Apollo Hospitals Group, Currae Healthtech Fund, RB Investments (Singapore-based VC Fund), Shorooq Investments (Middle East-based VC Fund), Venture Catalysts (India’s #1 angel investor group), and various other investors from the US, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, with participation from various other investors from the US, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
Apollo not only invested in ImpactGuru, but it also pledged to make its healthcare funding solution available to thousands of patients across the country through its 70+ facilities. Over 1,500 hospitals across the country are now connected to the network on various levels to assist their patients in raising finances.
“We normally charge a 5% fee on total cash generated,” Khushboo said of its income plan. Customers don’t have to pay anything up ahead to use our platform. We recently introduced a 0% ImpactGuru Platform fee option so that fundraisers can get the most money for the causes they care about, whether it’s for COVID-19 patients, cancer patients, organ transplant patients, non-profits fundraising for their programs, or individuals raising money for animal causes, education expenses, or any other cause they care about.”
Donors will be asked for an optional tip to assist the platform continue to provide a free fundraising option. To maintain sustained confidence and safety on the platform, these optional suggestions will assist ImpactGuru cover expenditures related to technological infrastructure, dedicated employees, fundraising outreach, due diligence, screening, disbursing cash, and notifying donors on fund utilization.
Bikayi’s Co-Founder and CEO, Sonakshi Nathani
Sonakshi Nathani and Ashutosh Singla, IIIT alumni, created Bikayi in 2019 to assist small and medium-sized enterprises to expand upon digital platforms and reach a broader audience.
MUMBAI: Sequoia Capital India led a $10.8 million Series-A fundraising round for Bikayi, a mobile commerce enabler. The firm raised $2 million in a seed round spearheaded by Combinatory in August of the year 2020
Bikayi wants to use the capital to expedite product development, acquisition, and talent recruiting to scale product offerings.
“Bikayi’s yearly Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) has increased by 1800 percent in the previous eight months, thanks to a 5x increase in its merchant base. The platform presently has over 4 million registered users, according to the firm “It also stated that it is assisting small enterprises in selling items across India and standing out in the ever-changing online commerce sector.
“Our objective is to enable every small business to win in the developing online market by giving them cheap tools, allowing them to accomplish unthinkable ambitions,” stated Sonakshi Nathani, co-founder and CEO of Bikayi.
Bikayi, founded by IIITians Sonakshi Nathani and Ashutosh Singla in 2019, helps small and medium-sized companies (SMBs) build out on digital platforms and reach a larger audience. Businesses may use the platform to create a digital shop, as well as professional features and resources to help them develop. A specialized business coach, catalog listing, shipping facility, payments, and analytics on consumer behavior are just a few of the features that allow users to operate their e-commerce enterprises from one place.
Said Shraeyansh Thakur, Vice President, Sequoia Capital India. “India is on the verge of an e-commerce revolution, and we believe small and medium companies will play a critical role in changing the landscape in the coming decade.” “India is home to over 75 million SMBs, which account for over 30% of India’s GDP, employ over 130 million people, and are the backbone of the economy, Rapid digitization of SMBs and deepening of the e-commerce ecosystem are huge trends in India, and Bikayi is building a next-gen product that sits at the confluence of both trends.
Arjita Sethi Indiarath’s Co-Founder & Equally
He is the co-founder of Equally, an augmented reality learning platform, India Rath, and the New Founder School, which assists first-time entrepreneurs with the myriad hurdles that come with beginning a business.
He was 16 years old when she asked her mother, a businesswoman, whether she might work for her. Her mother was the founder of The School of English, a Delhi-based institute that teaches pupils communication, language, and technological skills.
This sowed the seeds for Arjita’s eventual career as an entrepreneur. She traveled to the United States in 2014 to pursue her master’s in social entrepreneurship at the Hult International Business School, where she was eager to study how disruptive technology might be utilized for social good after working with her mother for seven years.
“When I arrived in Silicon Valley, I used that expertise with my master’s degree to launch Equally, a virtual reality learning platform for children.” In San Francisco, I co-founded this company with my spouse, Anshul Dhawan. “We received venture capital funding in 2018 and have been steadily growing since then,” she explains. Equally has over 20,000 members and is available in 12 countries across the world.
Arjita, along with serial entrepreneurs Yatin Thakur and Upasna Dash, founded Indiarath, a 24-week borderless incubation program that provides individualized sessions and coaching to help businesses handle business difficulties across verticals, in 2020.
Creating fresh visions and ideas
Arjita had several challenges as an immigrant in her first few years in the United States, including visa concerns and others.
In 2019, a few aspiring immigrant founders began contacting her for assistance, and she realized that many people like her aspired to be entrepreneurs. Over the next few months, a large number of first-time entrepreneurs began seeking assistance. Even though Silicon Valley is brimming with resources, she sensed something was lacking for those without connections.
“As a result, in June 2020, I created the New Founder School platform from my San Francisco one-bedroom apartment. “We’ve graduated over 250 entrepreneurs from 30 countries in the previous nine months,” she continues.
As a training platform, Arjita founded the New Founder School. As additional founders joined, she began seeking input on what they were looking for a regularly began to seek assistance in areas such as legal, financing, marketing and branding, and accountancy.
“I realized that training would be insufficient, so I began adding my mentors and network to the platform so that any New Founder School entrepreneurs could benefit from their experience and obtain answers to any pressing issues they had,” she continues.
Team building and training
Founders may receive weekly office hours, monthly training, accountability seminars, and a worldwide network of experts through the New Founders School membership platform. It provides a 12-week accelerator program for any concept-stage startup to get to their first launch, guiding them through idea refinement, user pipeline development, prototype creation, and market launch.
It provides a 24-week incubation program called Launch to Scale for innovators who have recently launched their concepts and are looking for support scaling to their first 10,000 users. This program links entrepreneurs with particular mentors and tailored training to help them advance to the growth stage, establish their teams, and prepare for their first round of funding.
It has a monthly membership cost of $10.
“In the nine months since we went live, we’ve reached over 250 founders.” My personal story of struggle as a first-time immigrant founder has been the most important factor in our growth. I believe it speaks to women in India who are searching for role models, immigrants who are looking for help, and first-time founders who are looking for a way to launch their businesses. “This year, our goal is to achieve 10,000 founders,” Arjita says.
Arjita established the New Founder School in response to the epidemic. She saw how isolated first-time entrepreneurs would feel at this point, and how accessibility would be at an all-time low. In 2021, she wants to achieve 10,000 entrepreneurs’
Arjita gives some practical advice to female entrepreneurs.