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A
Fairer Deal
It may not yet be common knowledge but a growing
number
of industry leaders believe that businesses and
consumers will
only gain from having more women entrepreneurs in
the fray, finds Evelyn Fok
For
Rajan Anandan, 2014 was a land mark year as an angel investor.
Google's
vice president for Southeast Asia put in about 60% of his personal
investments
into startups led by women, including Mapmygenome and
Culture
Alley, as opposed to none three years ago.
His
was a well thought-out business decision, considering women make
up
half of society and control major consumption decisions in every family.
Anandan
is convinced the dearth of women entrepreneurs in the country
only 6% of Indian startups are run by women
is translating into poorer
products
and services targeted for this substantial demographic.
“Across
a range of internet businesses from content to commerce, the women
user
base will drive growth going forward,“ said Anandan. “Whether it is
content
or products that appeal to women, it is women who have a much
better
sense of the needs and can create much better products.“
At
networking events, startup community gatherings and hackathons, women
are
already making more of a presence, as they overcome forces of tradition,
financial
barriers and structural bias to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions.
Zivame's
Richa Kar, Shopclues' Radhika Aggarwal, Nykaa's Falguni Nayar,
and
Limeroad's Suchi Mukherjee are respected names in the ecommerce
industry,
to mention a few. Twitter's first and only acquisition in India, ZipDial,
was
founded by Valerie Wagoner.
“Entrepreneurship
is hard for men and women alike. You need the fighter gene
to
succeed, and that requirement is really gender-agnostic,“ said Mukherjee,
founder
and chief executive of fashion website Limeroad, which raised
$15
million (about Rs 95 crore) last year from Tiger Global and other investors.
Aggarwal's
Shopclues raised $100 million earlier this year, again in a funding
round
led by Tiger Global.
Like
them, a small but increasing number of women entrepreneurs are now
circumventing
the traditional boys' club barrier of venture capital firms to
score
sizeable investments and valuations. While women running small
family
businesses often find themselves rejected by banks for loans, there
are
more subtle barriers for larger-scale entrepreneurs in the race for
venture
capital.
“The
investors are trying to understand the entrepreneur and want to
check
out important points. This includes the question of asking whether
(women)
are going to get married and have children, and whether they will
be
able to do a balancing act,“ said Padmaja Ruparel of Indian Angel Network.
Yet
women founders have come a long way in the past decade. Startup and
tech
events are no longer characterized by a sea of men, nor are investor
meetings
only represented by suits and ties.
Women
now make up 20% of the one million sellers on ecommerce platforms,
ET
reported earlier this month.
In
the US, women-founded businesses secured 13% of venture capital funding
in
2013, a giant leap from 4% in 2004, accord ing to a report by research firm
PitchBook.
Ashwini
Asokan, founder and CEO of one-year-old artificial intelligence
startup
Mad Street Den, is a proponent of a movement to fundamentally rethink
the
exceedingly time-intensive and hostile startup environment, and make it
more
accommodating of other life priorities. “Why are there only 48-hour
hackathons?
Why are there ping-pong tables but no child care?
The
entrepreneurial system has to support different stages of women's lives,“
said
Asokan, a mother of two young children who runs her office from home,
where
employees and venture capitalists alike are welcome to come in and out.
After
all, an entrepreneurial setting gives women the autonomy and flexibility
to
balance their own personal and professional priorities in other words, to
`have
it all.'
“Startups
need a lot of time, and so do kids. Yes, I think I work
longer
hours and complete harder work and smarter work,“ said Aggarwal of
Shopclues,
who co-founded the company a year after having her second child.
The
key, women entrepreneurs agree, is having a good support system, in the
home
as well as at work, with a strong set of mentors, a resilient team, and a
network
of friends to fall back on.
This
was the core focus for Limeroad's
Mukherjee
at the start of her entrepreneurial journey. “We surrounded ourselves
with a strong set of investors and advisers,
fought hard, and scanned the country
to find highly motivated talent. I dug out
all the people who had ever worked
with
my extended network of friends and families,“ she said.
The
best reinforcement the startup ecosystem can provide to bolster women's
ventures
is role models in the form of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, as well
as
influential board members. These forerunners who have “been there and done
that“
not only are shining examples that the seemingly gargantuan feat is feasible,
but
can also actively mentor others who have decided to take the plunge.
“There
is a need for women-focused seed, angel, and VC funds, preferably by
women
investors,“ said Sucharita Eashwar, India managing director at
WEConnect
International, a network for womenowned businesses, adding that
such
funds have already materialized in the United States and Europe.
“This
would enable women-founded businesses to remain majority-owned
by
women.“
Until
that becomes more full fledged, it will have to be people like Anandan
and
Mohandas Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education and a former
Infosys
director. Pai in January announced a new fund focused exclusively o
n
women entrepreneurs.
“It
is a great market opportunity. Remember, women
are
responsible for 55-60% of consumer decisions,“ he said. “Fifty percent of
our
population has been shut out and the time has come where there is great
value
in opening up.“ ‘
-With
Additional Reporting by Payal Ganguly in Hyderabad
& Shonali Advani in Bengaluru Evelyn.Fok
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ET27MAR15
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