Indian women have broken age-old stereotypes and are rocking the entrepreneurial scene. With a home, children and a million responsibilities to fulfil, they’ve still managed to emerge as superstars and do very well for themselves. Their relentless zeal, quench for success and hard work is what sets them apart in the male-dominated business industry.
Here’s a list of 7 women who have done extraordinarily well for themselves:
1. Indra Nooyi
Indra Nooyi is the CFO and chairperson of Pepsico which is the second largest food and beverage chain in India. She is a powerhouse and used her entrepreneurial skills extraordinarily well to help the company reach great heights. She was also awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan award for her achievements, contributions and for being an inspiration in the corporate world.
2. Vandana Luthra
We are all aware of the brand VLCC which has spread its wings to 11 different countries across Asia, Africa and GCC. VLCC was started by Vandana Luthra who hails from Kolkata and is a beauty expert but got herself well versed with nutrition, beauty and fitness before starting her own venture. She received the Padma Shri in 2013 for her contributions to the field of beauty. In 2015, she featured as the 33rd most powerful woman in business in India by Fortune India.
Related Post: Inspiring stories of Indian women entrepreneur: How they stood against the society and worked against the odds
3. Puja Bansal
Puja Bansal is a certified diamond grader and launched herself under Khandelwal Jewellers Ltd which is a popular jewellery brand. For her own online venture namely myheera.com, Puja has constantly been innovating new designs. She also specialises in manufacturing, retailing and designing. She believes that competition is required to excel and aspires to make her online portal the best in the world in the b2b gems segment.
4. Nina Lekhi
Nina Lekhi is another powerful woman who started her venture, Baggit, with some minimal investment from her mother. Today, her brand has over 44 stores across the nation and she along with her team launches an array of new designs each month for people who are fashion conscious. In 2015, Nina received the Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2015 by Rajiv Pratap Rudy and also featured in the Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women list.
5. Arpita Ganesh
Often referred to as “the Indian bra lady” of the country, Ganesh was the first woman to start a high-end lingerie brand with a variety of styles and fits called Buttercups. Started in 2008, her venture provided fitting sessions to over 3000 women all over the country. In 2016, the brand received massive funding from Kanwaljit Singh. The success of Buttercups was possible only because of this woman’s passion and hard work.
Related Post: Patricia Narayan: A success story of a woman who earned 50 paise a day
6. Richa Singh
Richa Singh co-founded YourDOST along with two other people, Puneet Manuja and Prakhar Verma. YourDOST aspires to provide mental well-being to people who are going through any kind of mental or emotional stress and respects their anonymity. They aspire to help people discuss and share issues and counsel the issues. With over 60k users, the website has 70 specialists. Recently, YourDOST raised around $400K in an angel round of funding from angel investors.
7. Shradha Sharma
Shradha Sharma has an impressive CV but she is best known for her entrepreneurial venture Youstory.com. This website is popular with everyone who is well-versed with or wants to enter the start-up ecosystem of the country. She has also launched sister platforms such as HerStory, SocialStory, YS TV, YS Research and YS Pages and caters to over 50 million readers.