“Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world”- Hillary Clinton. Women in India in the present day are well educated, talented and go-getters. They are now coming to the fore as an entrepreneur in their own right in a previously male-dominated environment. Women are not allowing the boundaries set by society in the past to stop them from using their own grit. They are determined to change the start-up landscape of India.
Here are a few of the many successful women entrepreneurs of India:
Revathi Kulkarni Roy – Hey Deedee
Launched on 7th March 2016, Hey Deedee is an initiative to empower women. Here delivery of food, groceries and even medical reports is done by women on scooters. It is a simple solution for all parcel delivery problems. Hey Deedee is at present operating in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, and Bengaluru. It plans to expand its operations to Kolkata as well as in cities in UP, Bihar, and Jharkhand. Originally started with pre-seed funding from a California-based company, Hey Deedee plans to pitch to investors in India soon.
Falguni Nayar – Nykaa
Founded in April 2012, Nykaa is an online retailer based in Mumbai. An e-commerce website, Nykaa offers beauty and wellness products from leading cosmetic brands. The company has now its own inventory spaces in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. As of 2018, Nykaa had a gross merchandise value of INR 100 crore. The net revenue was INR 570 crore in the financial year 2018.
Rashmi Daga – FreshMenu
Rashmi Daga tapped into the $50 billion food industry with FreshMenu. The concept of FreshMenu includes skilled chefs preparing fresh food in cloud kitchens on the basis of orders received. Deliveries are done within 45 minutes by its own in-house delivery team. It caters to as many as 12,000 orders per day. In the Financial Year 2018, FreshMenu saw operating revenues of INR 122.3 Crore.
Vandana Luthra – VLCC
VLCC was founded by homemaker Vandana Luthra way back in 1989. Today it is a beauty and wellness giant. Currently, it has a global presence in 11 countries across Asia, Africa, and the Gulf Cooperation Council. VLCC employs medical doctors, physiotherapists, nutritionists, and cosmetologists and works towards weight loss solutions and a therapeutic approach to beauty treatments.
Richa Kar – Zivame
Founded in 2011, Zivame helped women break norms and shop uninhibitedly for innerwear. Launched in 2011, Zivame is an e-commerce company which initially started with lingerie and then branched out into multiple categories. As of 2018, Zivame had a net worth of $13.59 Mn (INR 100 crore).
For Your Information
IIM Bangalore has established a Women Start-Up Programme to help women start their own venture. They help prospective women entrepreneurs from ideation to implementation stage and also provide initial financial support.
