In a developing country like India where societal norms place women in a severe disadvantageous position, limiting them to a mere supporting role, among family, relatives, friends, peer groups and workplaces. Even when we look at Indian mainstream films, the most popular form of entertainment, we find most of the narratives are set around a man as a lead and a woman as a supporting role supplementing the story. According to the National Sample Survey, Women’s Labor force participation remains low, with cultural expectations pushing them towards domestic responsibilities. A deep-rooted gender bias has limited their access to education, financial resources and professional opportunities. Despite improvements in recent years, there is always a cultural and structural barrier for women entrepreneurs to find the desired success.

In recent years, we can see women entrepreneurs who are not just breaking the cold ceiling of those barriers but creating an empire in their respective industries. In various industries such as ed-tech, fin-tech, beauty, fashion, healthcare, hospitality, women entrepreneurs are creating scope for a more inclusive and innovative economy. In this blog, we look at the journeys of trailblazing women who have set new standards of success.

Falguni Nayar, CEO Nykaa-

Falguni Nayar is the founder and CEO of Beauty and Lifestyle Retail Company Nykaa. She was born and brought up in a Gujarati family in Mumbai. She held prestigious portfolios in various Investment firms. After working for nine years, she left her role as the Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Capital, Investment Unit in 2012, at the age of 50. Nayar started Nykaa with $2 million capital investment. Within 10 years Nykaa became a global brand with a $2.3 billion valuation. As of September 2024, Nykaa’s valuation is $7.07 billion. At present Nykaa has 174 physical retail stores and operates online platforms Nykaa Fashion, Nykaa Man and Superstore. Apart from that Nykaa Group has a 55% stake in joint venture Nysaa with Apparel Group. Currently, Falguni Nayar has a net worth of $3.1 billion. Nayar is the wealthiest self-made billionaire Indian woman.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Founder and Chairperson of Biocon-

Kiran Mazumdhar-Shaw is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur. She founded Biocon Limited and Biocon Logistics Limited. It is a biotech firm based in Bangalore. Kiran Mazumdar belonged from a middle-class family. She studied fermentation science in Australia. She was the only women in Melbourne University to study Malting and Brewing. In 1975 she topped her class and earned the degree of a master brewer. She actively pursued her career as a brewer between 1975-77 in Melbourne, Calcutta, and Baroda. But brewing being a highly unorthodox field for women she had to face struggles in securing work at many places. Mazumdhar met Leslie Auchincloss, the founder of Biocon Biochemicals Limited, of Cork, Ireland. In 1978 they started a partnership, where Mazumdhar would establish a subsidiary of Biocon and supply with Papain. Kiran Shaw was the 70 per cent owner of the joint venture. She started the first operations of Biocon from the garage of her rented house with a seed capital of Rs.10,000. Initially, she faced credibility challenges because of her youth, gender and her untested business model. Uninterrupted power, good quality water, sterile labs, imported research equipment, and workers with advanced scientific skills were not easily available in India at that period. Despite the challenges in 1979, Biocon became the first company in India to manufacture and export enzymes to the U.S. and Europe. In 1989 Unilever acquired Biocon from Leslie Auchincloss. In 1997 Unilever sold its shares of Biocon to Imperial Chemical Industries. In 1998, Jhon Shaw fiancée of Kiran Shaw purchased the outstanding 30 percent share from ICI. In 2004 Biocon went public and issued its IPO. As of 2024, Biocon is India’s largest bio-pharmaceutical company with generic active pharmaceutical ingredients that are sold in approximately 120 countries. In 2018, Forbes listed Shaw as the 68th most powerful woman in the world. She was bestowed with numerous awards and accolades in India, Australia and USA. The most famous of them are the Padmashri in 1989, Padma Bhushan in 2005 and Othmer Gold Medal in 2014 for outstanding contribution to the progress of Science and Chemistry.

Divya Gokulnath, Co-founder of Byju-

Divya Gokulnath and Byju Raveendran together founded the ed-tech platform Byju in 2011, Byju revolutionized education with customizable online learning. Divya belonged to a middle-class family, her father was a nephrologist at Apollo Hospital and her mother was a programme executive at Doordarshan. She attended tuition where Byju Raveendran used to teach. She started working as a teacher at the age of 21. During COVID-19 Divya started looking after the user experience, content, and brand marketing to ensure uninterrupted learning for students.

During that period, Byju's user base increased to more than 70 million. In 2022 Divya Gokulnath was appointed as the Chairperson of FICCI’s EdTech Taskforce and named in the Fortune India’s 40 under 40 Biggest Entrepreneur. Divya’s leadership had seen aggressive expansion, global outreach strategy and merger. Many argue this rapid push for growth has stretched the resources thin for operational function leading to a loss of the core educational value. In the dynamic landscape of Indian education, Byju is a household name. Divya Gokulnath as leader had faced significant success but now faces a period of turmoil as Byju lost Rs 180806 crore in terms of valuation. She was close to being ousted from her own company in February 2024. But Byju has become a trailblazer in learning for millions of students. It redefined the top-down nature of pedagogy.

Upasana Taku, Co-founder of MobiKwik-

Upasana Taku was the co-founder of the leading mobile payment company MobiKwik. She built the company from scratch and now has 32 million users and 100,000 merchants. Taku was a Kashmiri from Gujarat. She pursued management sciences at Standford University. She worked at HSBC, and PayPal as a senior product manager. In 2009 Upasana Taku co-founded MobiKwik along with her husband Bipin Preet Singh. The initial service was a website with a closed wallet facility. Over the years the company started its mobile app and partnered with online merchants to make their wallets available as a payment option on e-commerce sites. MobiKwik provides financial services including loans, accident insurance, life insurance, fire insurance, IMPS money transfer, credit card bill payment, mutual funds, and DTH recharge. As per the latest available information, MobiKwik is valued at $924 million.

Richa Kar, Founder of Zivame-

Richa Kar is the Founder of an online retail brand for lingerie called Zivame. The vision behind this venture was to provide women with dignity, privacy and a wide range of options. Richa Kar was born in a middle-class family in Jamshedpur, and had pursued education in Management and IT. She worked with SAP retail consultancy where she tracked Victoria Secret’s online sales. With the experience, she realized the taboo around women's discussions of women's lingerie. The challenges faced while purchasing a product such as the lack of knowledge of the salesman and the lack of privacy had led to compromises in size and fit. The name ‘Zivame’ is ‘radiant me’ in Hebrew. Richa launched Zivame in 2011 with Rs. 35 lakhs as a seed fund. Richa received her first major funding of $3 million in May 2012, followed by $40 million in 2015. This helped her in expanding the reach of Zivame to tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Zivame has 30 retail stores and more than 800 partner stores. Richa Kar has an estimated net worth of Rs. 749 crores. Reliance has obtained Zivame in 2020, though the details of the acquisition are not public.

Aditi Gupta, Co-founder of Menstrupedia-

Aditi Gupta is the co-founder of the innovative platform Menstrupedia. The platform aims educating people about menstrual health of female addressing the taboos surrounding the mestruation. She and her husband Tuhin Paul together created Menstrupedia Comic. The comic explains menstruation in a friendly, informative, and culturally sensitive way, making it accessible and socially acceptable. Aditi's faced the stigma and silence around the topic herself. This experience motivated her to pursue a solution that could educate young girls and boys on menstrual hygiene and empower them with knowledge.

Menstrupedia comic is used as a part of the curriculum in 25,500 schools in India. It is available in 20 languages and in 23 countries. It impacted the lives of 13 million girls so far. Aditi was listed in BBC 100 Women and Forbes India’s 30 under 30 in 2014.

Above mentioned are some of the trailblazers who have left a mark or are still pursuing their goals passionately while making a meaningful contribution to society. The list can also include names like Shradhha Sharma, founder of Your Story and Meen Ganesh CEO of Portea Medical. They are making notable impacts in breaking social taboos and gender discourse. Women entrepreneurs navigate the deep-rooted biases that question their capability and credibility. Richa Kar of Zivame had to face challenges before she could launch her brand, most of all from her mother. Even though she received generous financial support from her in the end. However, access to funding is another major challenge. Research shows that women in India are far less likely to receive venture capital or bank loans compared to men. Women entrepreneurs are considered as higher-risk investments by financial institutions, further complicating their ability to secure the necessary capital. Despite these challenges, many women are defying the societal expectations owing to their pliability, inventiveness, and sturdiness to launch their enterprise. This backdrop of social and structural hurdles makes their entrepreneurial journeys remarkable and inspiring.