Only 14% of Indian businesses are run by women. Here’s to growing our share of business faster!
According to the Sixth Economic Census in India, only 14% of businesses in India are run by women, lower than in many other countries around the world. Yet, Indian women are fast taking to entrepreneurship, both to seize new opportunities, and out of necessity – to be financially secure while using their skills.
Given the societal and other barriers to women at work, women in India often don’t have a straight ride upwards – we make our own way against the odds. What keeps us going is Innovation – whether in our businesses, in jobs, or in our own lives, to make things happen – differently.
Kriti Baveja, Co-founder of MOMZJOY, a fashionable maternity & nursing wear brand, shares her story with us. The idea for this business emerged when Kriti and her partner Divya Gupta met a pregnant friend who was conscious about not being able to find the right outfit for her body.
Although Kriti and Divya were engineers who did not know fashion designing, they understood the need to build highly efficient systems for product development, quality control and client satisfaction. Kriti explains, “We used surveys, research, online tools to gain a better understanding of how a woman’s body changes during pregnancy.”
Within two years of launching, Momzjoy has over 10,000 customers including celebrities like Soha Ali Khan.
Kriti attended Breaking Barriers last year, and says, “It’s a wonderful place to stimulate new ideas and inspire action.”
Yet another entrepreneur, Manveen Singh, has built Hobby in a Box, a DIY-craft delivery service.
She talks about how they incorporated innovation into their business model, “After several failed hires, we tapped into a whole new resource- stay-at-home moms! This is a profit-sharing system that gives mothers the flexibility of work-hours and controls our financial load by linking costs to actual results.”
When she attended her first Breaking Barriers event, Manveen had a full-time job and HIAB was still a part-time venture. Networking with other like-minded women from varying backgrounds helped her build contacts. She confesses, “Breaking Barriers gave me the confidence to convert ‘Hobby in a Box’ into a full-time business.”
This year, Women’s Web brings the 6th edition of its flagship event Breaking Barriers, around the theme of Innovating as Women in Business. Powered by ZOHO One, Breaking Barriers 2018 will be held in 9 cities including Pune, Panjim, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Coimbatore in August-September 2018. (Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai were held earlier this year and widely attended by women in business.)
Noted speakers include Kuppulakshmi Krishnamoorthy, Evangelist-Head, Zoho for Startups, Anuradha Goyal, Author, The Mouse Charmers, and Founder of IndiTales, and Dipika Prasad, Co-Founder of Lakeer which is focused on making Indian cities liveable through citizen action and civic tech.
#BreakingBarriers 2018 will give aspiring as well as experienced women in business the opportunity to listen to some incredible speakers, in an environment that encourages networking and future collaboration among participants. Participants from past editions have gone on to hire women as employees and vendors, collaborate in mutually beneficial ways and act as peer mentors to each other.
Event Details:
Pune, 25th August, 2018
10 AM to 4 PM
Address: Sector 7, Office 405, Town Square, New Airport Road, Viman Nagar, Pune
Panjim, 1st September, 2018
10 AM to 4 PM
91 Springboard
Address: 2nd & 3rd Floor, Shanta Building, 18th June Rd, opposite Broadway Book Centre, St. Inez, Panjim, Goa
Hyderabad, 8th September, 2018
10 AM to 4 PM
91 Springboard
LVS Arcade, Plot No 71, Jubilee Enclave, Hitec City, Madhapur, Hyderabad
Kolkata, 15th September, 2018
10 AM to 4 PM
Caring Minds
Caring Minds, 54A, Sarat Bose Road, Kolkata – 700025. Landmark – Paddapukur Bus Stop.
Coimbatore, 29th September, 2018
10 AM to 4 PM
FORGE.FACTORY
G Floor, KCT Tech Park, #3 Athipalayam Road, Chinnavedapatti, Coimbatore 641049.
