WOMEN/ ENTREPRENEUR SPECIAL...WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS 

The Myth Busters 

Defying handicaps and history, some women entrepreneurs in India are showing that they have the burning ambition to build businesses on a grand scale across multiple sectors

    As Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg asks women across the world to “lean in” to their careers, her ideas are finding resonance in an unlikely quarter–India’s women entrepreneurs. In a country where historically most womenrun businesses have been small, local ventures there is a small but perceptible shift underway. A handful of entrepreneurs are stepping up to show they have the appetite, skills and vision to take a shot at scaling their young ventures. Across sectors as varied as technology, clinical research and retail these women are poised to burst a common myth that women-led businesses do not grow beyond a certain scale.

“I want to make Zivame a billion-dollar enterprise in the next five to seven years,” says Richa Kar, founder of the online lingerie retail business launched in 2011 that is targeting revenues of $50 million ( 270 crore) next fiscal. Industry experts say it is such ambition that is making the difference in a country where only a handful of businesswomen like Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon, Shahnaz Husain of Shahnaz

Herbals Inc and Vinita Jain of Biotique have successfully built large enterprises. While earlier most women would turn to entrepreneurship to support the family, now it is about self-actualisation, there is ambition, says Mahesh Murthy, founding partner at early stage fund Seedfund. Multiple factors have led to this change, according to Kavil Ramachandran, the Academic Director of ISB Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurs Programme. “Women now have greater corporate experience and skill sets that gives them confidence and also makes them effective entrepreneurs,” he says. However, even as they prepare to enter the big league, women entrepreneurs are finding that apart from the normal pains of starting up there are some challenges that are unique to being a woman. “It is not just cultural; even women themselves feel they should take greater responsibility at home,” says ISB’s Ramachandran. For most women, this is the greatest challenge.

“When you are growing a business you cannot spend as much time with family and that is a choice I have made,” says Zivame’s Kar, 32. “I work 9 am to 9 pm, I don’t do any housework as I have household help to take care of that, don’t socialise, don’t have time to interact with parents. I only work,” says Kar, who is married to an internet professional. She and other businesswomen say the guilt has to go before a woman gets down to starting a venture.

Equal access to capital is another stumbling block. Upasana Taku, cofounder and CEO of payment gateway solution Zaakpay, recounts an incident where an investor asked about her plans of having children. “This is something they would not ask a male entrepreneur,” says Taku, 33, who founded Zaakpay in 2011. A Stanford graduate, Taku eventually raised funding from Sequoia Capital in 2012. “Women should not let these questions stop them from raising funds; you just need to take it in your stride,” she says. Typically, when investors assess early stage ventures they look for a unique offering that will make the company grow bigger and faster than others in the market. “We look at the company’s potential to become a dominant player in the market they are targeting. Do they have something unique, like technology, talent or pricing, which will help them reach there?” says Seedfund’s Murthy. As more women-led businesses meet these benchmarks, access to capital is increasing.

Last year Zivame raised $10 million from IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital. The ability to showcase their passion for the business is another important aspect that women must cultivate, according to Nidhi Saxena, founder of a clinical research venture Karmic Lifesciences. “Add a lock-in period and performance linked clauses that demonstrate commitment while closing an investment contract,” says Saxena, 39, who was previously the vice president for the North American operations of business process outsourcing company, WNS. Her company Karmic has raised funding from a range of investors, including the Indian Angel Network, Basil Growth Corporation,

Sidbi and Mumbai Angels. Karmic, which is targeting $10 million in turnover this fiscal, conducts clinical trials and provides clinical data management to pharma companies, like Novartis International, Bayer AG and Cipla. Saurabh Srivastava, who invests through the Indian Angel Network, says Saxena’s experience in project delivery, marketing and strategy led him to invest in the company. “She has what it takes to become one of those women entrepreneurs who can successfully build large, global organisations,” he says. Women also stumble when it comes to networking that is so crucial in building a business. “Women do not put in enough effort into networking,” says Neelam Chibber, 50, who launched ethnic retail brand Mother Earth in 2008.

Zivame’s Kar says that with the rise of professional networking sites, establishing the first contact has become a lot easier. While women entrepreneurs may not be able to go for all the wine-and-dine events that their male counterparts can attend, they can be more creative to meet the right contacts. Kar once ensured that she went for a marathon in which a prospective partner was participating. “I met him at the event and the meeting spilled over to our office and finally we signed up after three hours of conversation,” says Kar. Raising children and a growing a business at the same time is a hurdle that Shubhra Chadda had to contend with when she set up a souvenir company Chumbak in 2010, when her daughter was two years old. “Right from the start I did not want Chumbak to be a niche business. I wanted it to be a mass brand, which meant keeping prices affordable and scaling it up across the country,” says Chadda, 32. But it was challenging to build a distributor network when she could not travel much as her child was young. But she overcame this issue with some deft use of emails and phone calls. She now retails her products through 130 partner retail stores in India and 70 stores in Japan. “It was the company’s potential to reach a large target market that led Seedfund to invest in the company,” says Bharati Jacob, founding partner at the early stage investment firm. Women entrepreneurs say as more success stories emerge they will have role models to follow. “Everything is available now, women now have no excuses. Those who are inclined should just start up,” says Chibber.


Richa Kar | Founder, Zivame WHAT DOES IT DO Founded: 2011 Online lingerie retailer FUNDING 54 crore Raised from IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital in 2012 REVENUE 270 crore Targeted by the company in FY2014

Nidhi Saxena | Founder, Karmic Lifesciences WHAT DOES IT DO Founded: 2008 A contract research organisation, with expertise in Oncology Cardiovascular, Diabetes and Neurology FUNDING Raised undisclosed amounts of investments from Indian Angel Network, Basil Growth Corporation, SIDBI and Mumbai Angels REVENUE 54 crore Targeted by the company in FY2013

Upasana Taku | Co-founder, Zaakpay WHAT DOES IT DO Founded: 2011 Provides payment gateway solutions for web and mobile transactions FUNDING Raised undisclosed amount of funding from Sequoia Capital in 2012 TRANSACTIONS 80 crore Transactions processed in FY2013 (YTD)

Shubhra Chadda | Co-founder, Chumbak WHAT DOES IT DO Founded: 2010 Creates and retails (online and offline) design-focused Indiathemed souvenirs. It retails out of 130 partner stores in India and 70 in Japan FUNDING Raised undisclosed amount of funding from Seedfund in February 2013 GROWTH Targeting to launch 15 own kiosks in 2013 and have a presence in every major airport in India

Neelam Chibber | Co-founder, Industree Crafts WHAT DOES IT DO Founded: 1994 Works with artisans to handcraft ethnic products that it retails through Mother Earth, launched in 2008 FUNDING Raised undisclosed amount of funding from Future Ventures and Grassroots Business Fund REVENUE 30 crore Targeted by the company in FY2013

Young India is looking at new ways to express their Indian-ness and Chumbak caters to this demand BHARATI JACOB founder-partner, Seedfund

Karmic has global delivery locations. I see every reason for this business scaling not just nationally but also globally SAURABH SRIVATSAVA Member-Indian Angel Network

Radhika P Nair ET1303222