Women Entrepreneurs: Redefining womanhood?
Every year ‘International Women’s Day’ is celebrated across the world with paying tribute to the spirit of women empowerment & womanhood. Over the period of time since its inception the role of women have constantly evolved in society & women are now seen beyond housewives. Thanks to those few women who accepted the challenges & proved their worth.
Today you name the sector & there is a woman making difference to it by her unique initiatives & efforts. Be it higher education or jobs in MNCs, women are today seen as competition everywhere. But here we will talk about those few women who are making strides in entrepreneurship as well & setting an example for others.
1. LatentView
Pramad Jandhyala, a graduate from BITS Pilani & an MBA from IIM Kolkata did a brief stint with corporate world before she went on to found LatentView, a data analytics and data management firm. She has grown up under three very strong fundamentals of Discipline, Hard-work & Standing up for what one believes in. She thinks these three fundamentals have contributed a lot towards what she is today. According to her one should never let their short term goals bruise their long term vision..
2. ZipDial
Valerie Wagoner is the co-founder of ZipDial, a Bengaluru based mobile marketing and analytics platform for global brands in emerging markets to engage 100% of their consumers.
ZipDial assigns companies a special phone number which their brands can use in print ads or TV commercials. Customers can call the number and hang up before they are charged for the call. In turn, brands can phone or send text messages about their business to the ‘missed callers’
She believes that the skills that are absolutely essential but are less valued in society are sales skills & every student should have good sales skills.
3. VLCC:
Vandana Luthra is the founder & mentor of India’s leading beauty & fitness brand VLCC. It has now more than 150 centers across Indian cities & has overseas footprints as well in countries like Abu Dabhi, Dubai & Sarjah.
As per her, the young entrepreneurs should set their goal & work towards it. They need to follow ethics, best-in-class service & product standards. If there is firm commitment and dedication on these aspects then there is no stopping from reaching the pinnacle of success.
4. Cupcakes & Closet
Neerali Malji & Aneesha Dalal started Cupcakes & Closet, a fashion brand in 2011 when they both were just 20 years old & were not having any formal education in Fashion Designing or Business Management. They firmly believe that risk taking ability is always inversely proportional to age. According to them young entrepreneurs should start small but should focus on perfecting every aspect of their business & scale will come with time.
5. Alicia Souza:
Alicia Souza is just another young girl, who is shy but passionate about her work, loves drawing in spite of no formal education & yes she is on Facebook too. The only difference is that she has a huge fan following of 50,000 followers approx. on her page. A Communication Design graduate from Australia, who flew back to India & worked as designer for ‘Chumbak’.
She left her job & decided to work as freelancer illustrative designer, whose designs are now available on eCommerce sites like Amazon. She creates a buzz on social media platforms every time she designs a new illustration. She thinks that the key to her success is giving in passion, diligence & the will to carry on regardless of her failure or success.
These women have moved on & broke the traditional shackles of how women are seen in society by their counterparts. They have set in examples that says much more about their hidden potential. They rightly showcased through their endeavours that entrepreneurship is not limited to a particular gender in specific & if given a fair chance can walk shoulder to shoulder with them.
Write to us if you have something more to add on women entrepreneurship or the role played by them in shaping the society.