The Success of Women Entrepreneurs Kanika Gupta Shori

Pre 20th century, small business was operated by women to supplement their income. In most cases, the loss of their husbands led to zero income and hence to avoid penury, they operated a small business. In those days, these ventures were not considered entrepreneurial. Most had to focus on domestic responsibilities. Females became more tangled in this world only after the idea the women can be part of a business venture became palatable to the society; though there certainly were a lot of women entrepreneurs before that. 

Only a few months back, Niramai, a Bengaluru based company, that has been founded by Nidhi Mathar and Geetha Manjunath, two women, received through highest funds among all other startups. This company is working on breast cancer detection that is non-invasive. 

Women Entrepreneurs and business owned by women are certainly on the rise, however, there are many challenges and hurdles that they need to face on a daily basis. The hardest and most prominent one being gender roles. It has been internalized by the society that entrepreneurship is a male-dominated field. And it is very difficult to excel these views. Females still form a very tiny proportion of the business ecosystem; though the environment is certainly improving. And the women who are being successful are being successful are working on groundbreaking areas.

Recent studies on International Studies have to lead many to believe that most women who enter the business world are from countries with low to moderate-income, eg; Philippines and Russia) It might be concluded from this that these women from low-income countries seek to increase their income by starting their own business. 

According to Venture Intelligence, a research firm, among the top150 Indian companies that are privately funded, the ones led or founded by females were at 6% (2016), 8% (2017) and 7% (2018). They start-ups of 2018 which beat all odds we're Rivigo, Zest-Money, IndiQube, NSPIRA Management, LivSpace and Nykaa. As co-founder of LetsVenture, an angel investment network, Shanti Mohan said, "Entrepreneurship is tough in general and is extra difficult for women. But we need to remove the gender out of the equation in our approach."

Tanuj Shori and Kanika Co-founder of Square Yard, a prop-tech start-up was asked by the investor whether she had children and how she plans to juggle both work life and her duties as a mother. 

There is certain progress in the industry which cannot be neglected, as Ashwini Asokan, co-founder of Mad Street Den pointed out, "For the most part, I'm the one that does the fundraising today fir Mad Street Den. And it is incredible to see what a difference four years has made in the industry." Then there are women who start a business from home which eventually heads to tremendous success and yet they choose to keep it small and domestic. These incredible women should not be neglected even. "We need to celebrate their success too", said co-founder of Indian Angel Network, Padmaja Ruparel. 

The most important step that needs to be taken is that we need to talk about the challenges women face and celebrate their success. 

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