There are many success stories about women leaving corporate jobs to start their own businesses, but rarely are we presented with stories of women intrapreneurs leading the companies they work for with the same entrepreneurial flair. Women Entrepreneur’s exclusive team rendezvous with one such inspirational leader, Shradha Agarwal, Deputy Director, Myntra, who is leveraging her entrepreneurial skills to tap into the power of intrapreneurship to creatively solve problems and compete in a highly digital and increasingly automated business world.

Shradha, since her childhood, always had an entrepreneurial bent of mind and an insatiable passion for creating something of her own. In her early 20s, she built a patented formula that removes the impurities from fruits and vegetables and makes them fit for human consumption. The product was exclusively recognized by Emami Frank Ross and was branded as Rosscare Veg & Fru. Moreover, she has extensive experience across multiple sectors including but not limited to Women's Hygiene, Digital Marketing, Iron & Steel, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency, and FMCG - where she has lent her expertise in various projects as a Business Development Consultant.

Currently, as the Deputy Director of Myntra, Shradha is weaving her love for fashion into brand/label curation  for the particular yet ephemeral digital shopper. Her fervent dedication to her role is palpable, and she considers herself woven into the intricate tapestry of the organization's value system. Her bold spirit is driving her team to take on challenges and seize new opportunities while ensuring a smooth end-to-end onboarding journey for the brands, and enabling people to revel in the pure joy of fashion. Let’s hear it from Shradha.

How has your Alma Mater ISB aided your evolution as a business leader?

For me, only having seen a traditional family-run business and having done a brick & mortar startup of my own, ISB was a transformative experience that opened up a world of possibilities for me. The foremost thing that ISB taught me was to choose and manage my priorities within the time that was available; the second being that the only option one has is to be a good team player, for even if one falters in holding up their end, everyone loses. Moreover, the freedom to experiment, learn, fail, and again try, for me was the biggest enabler, for ISB offers an unending list of ingredients to brew your own cocktail of learnings. I believe that as a leader, humility and fearlessness in how one tackles a challenge set the course for their team’s success, and in an environment like ISB, one is acquainted with larger-than-life challenges that one takes on in collaboration with minds that hone immense potential, who come from all walks of life and are chosen for their individual excellence.

Introduce us to Myntra. Tell us about the various responsibilities you shoulder as the Deputy Director.

Myntra is a beautiful amalgamation of fashion and technology with innovation at its core. One’s choice in fashion and beauty is a very individual expression of themselves, and democratizing something as personal as this via technology for an ever-evolving palette in an era of instant gratification is where Myntra makes magic. I shoulder the responsibility to solve for selection/ assortment for the marketplace model. Myntra is a curated platform catering to needs, wants, and forevisioned aspirations which call for reading the right demand patterns, identifying the gaps, forecasting the upcoming shift in choices, and matching it to the supply side with the brand/label which makes the right fit. Expanding on the existing brands/labels in a category, or penetrating a newer category calls for a brand outreach program or an inbound onboarding request assessment, both of which go through meticulous evaluation criteria. This ensures absolute synergy among the brand, Myntra, and the customer’s needs.

What are some of the most critical challenges you encounter as a business development & vendor onboarding professional? What steps do you undertake to overcome them?

Curation is the key in the fashion e-commerce industry for it requires marrying the customer's needs with the right brand/label assortment available on the platform while managing the expectations of every stakeholder involved. To enable this curation, studying and incorporating trends and innovation in fashion and beauty is another area that we work on to forecast customers tomorrow's taste. Even then, fashion can be a bet, for there are numerous factors that can influence one's choice. To zero in on a brand's fitment, one has to identify whitespaces and needs across categories which can be influenced by price points, occasions, fabrics, the latest trends, and several other factors that build CVP. As a guardian of the brands/labels that resonate with the CVP, my team ensures that Myntra’s platform maintains its sanctity through objective and subjective selection parameters, quick TAT, and high-quality products. The sheer volume of onboardings within the expected TAT and through the process can be challenging for we have to acknowledge that with each brand/label, this is an intensive relationship-building exercise that continues year after year for symbiotic growth.

"No matter how challenging the goal is, If you are clear on the ‘why’, the ‘how’ Presents itself to be the most exciting Part, and ‘why not’ is the attitude that I Encourage the most"

What would be your advice for aspiring women leaders/entrepreneurs?

My take is to be comfortable in your own skin and gender, to take the societal challenges head-on while being true to your individual self, and to carve your own identity. As a leader, be patient with yourself, for the balance between empathy and assertiveness comes with experience; I am still learning to walk this tightrope. Moreover, it becomes equally important that you be mindful of the opportunity you pursue and once you have done that, tackle it with your own entrepreneurial flair. What has worked for me is my internal operating mantra: 'Make it Happen'. No matter how challenging the goal is, if you are clear on the ‘why’, the ‘how’ presents itself to be the most exciting part, and the ‘why not’ is the attitude that I encourage the most.

Shradha Agarwal, Deputy Director, Myntra

Shradha heads Business Development & Vendor Onboarding for the Marketplace at Myntra. She holds a Patent and has also practiced Business Development Consultancy for companies across diverse sectors, armed with an MBA from the Indian School of Business (ISB) and other certifications from LSE (UK), NUJS & ICAI & MIDAS SoE.