It’s often said that women are women’s best allies. Women of all ages and backgrounds often have shared experiences which helps in forming a sisterhood bond. They gain a better understanding of one another through shared experiences in their careers, passions, workplaces, and other areas. It becomes easier for women to face societal difficulties when they unite together or form groups.
Women's empowerment has recently become a popular subject all around the world. Allowing or encouraging women to make their own decisions and making those decisions a reality through any means they wish is the true meaning of women empowerment. The true end goal of empowering women is to provide them the courage to break free from the shackles of restrictive thinking patterns and societal or religious conditioning.
The industry and government bodies have been gearing up their efforts to improve women’s reality across all aspects of life. A key ally to this movement have been women entrepreneurs. Successful business women who are leading companies of their own are at the perfect vantage point to empower more women to step up in life.
“We have seen that creating employment opportunities for women, who have never been given a chance in life, is the first step towards helping them carve out their own identity as individuals,” believes Shailaja Rangarajan, Founder, Rimagined. Through her venture, Shailaja is empowering women financially.
Similarly, Madhavi Shankar, Founder, Space Basic believes that women’s time management and multi-tasking abilities are impeccable. Her company fosters this very culture. “Our team is made up of 50% women who have flexible work hours and the creative freedom to take control and become leaders in their respective verticals,” adds Madhavi.
Just like Shailaja and Madhavi, India Inc has several prolific women leaders and entrepreneurs who are using their voice and resources to strengthen other women.
Today, we're sharing stories about women who have built platforms and communities to empower many more women in the society and are making the world a better place for women, one step at a time.
Radhika Ghai Aggarwal: Co-founder and CBO of ShopClues
Radhika Ghai Aggarwal is an Internet entrepreneur and the first woman in India to be inducted into the Unicorn Club. She is a co-founder of the online marketplace ShopClues, which was founded in Silicon Valley in 2011. ShopClues was established in July 2011 and is headquartered in Gurgaon. This was two years before the arrival of Amazon India. Shopclues gained unicorn status in late 2015 and early 2016 and was acknowledged as the fourth Indian unicorn firm in talks for an IPO, with a valuation of $1.1 billion. Radhika Ghai Aggarwal, Shopclues Co-founder, has launched her latest enterprise, Kindlife.in, on September 6, 2021. Kindlife is thought to be a marketplace for organic products from a variety of sectors.
Some of the significant accolades she has received in 2016 include: Outlook Business Woman of Worth at Outlook Business Awards; Woman Entrepreneur of the Year at Entrepreneur India Awards; Exemplary Woman Entrepreneur of the Year at CMO Asia Awards andCEO of the Year Award at CEO India Awards.
Radhika formerly worked at Goldman Sachs and Nordstorm before joining ShopClues. In fact, ShopClues is not her first foray into entrepreneurship. She had previously founded FashionClues, which was a content portal for NRI women.
When questioned about Women and Employee Empowerment, Radhika Aggarwal says she encourages women to share their ideas, speak out about their problems, and bring up any other issues that bother them. She is known to hold conversations with her female colleagues in the cafeteria, which allows her to keep track of her female employees and their problems in order to address them properly.
Shailaja Rangarajan: Founder at Rimagined
Shailaja Rangarajan has a long history of working in the sector of business consultancy. She is a supply chain logistics expert who is currently spearheading the drive to make Up-cycling the standard in India. She wears numerous hats, including those for company strategy, production planning, product innovation and design, finance, human resources, and sourcing. She is a big supporter of Conscious Consumption, Ethical Choices, and Minimalism, and has participated in numerous forums and interviews that promote Sustainability, Conscious Consumption, and Business for Good.
Rimagined, Shailaja Rangarajan's social venture, strives to promote conscientious consumption of everyday materials while also creating jobs for women in the urban poor and rural sectors. The company creates handcrafted up-cycled objects with a team of women and traditional artists.
Shailaja Rangarajan, when asked about the company's commitment to women's empowerment, comments "We also employ men as we believe in equal opportunity. But what this employment means to women is something we need to see to believe. We have seen that creating employment opportunities for women, who have never been given a chance in life, is the first step towards helping them carve out their own identity as individuals. From someone who always had to depend on the husband or family, today these women are strong decision makers in the family. They not only have a voice, they also now have become role models to their daughters who will go on to become as strong and independent as their mothers. When women progress, society makes true progress!"
Suchi Mukherjee- Founder at LimeRoad
Suchi Mukherjee is the proud founder of LimeRoad.com, a portal aimed at women that provides a fun and exciting way to find, share, and shop for lifestyle products! Suchi, a woman of substance, has always envisioned establishing and expanding businesses focusing on simple yet strong consumer products, and she has successfully brought this ambition to fruition not only in the past but also most recently at LimeRoad. She recognised that internet product discovery was a serious issue for many Indian women and wanted to do something about it. She not only realises her aim of developing the most comprehensive fun discovery platform for lifestyle products with LimeRoad, but she also addresses a problem for many people. She has a Bachelor of Arts with a specialty in Economics and Maths from the University of Cambridge, as well as a Masters Degree in Finance and Economics from the London School of Economics.
Sairee Chahal- Founder & CEO at Sheroes
Sairee Chahal is the Founder and CEO of a women's online career destination. SHEROES members have access to high-growth career resources, mentorship, and support. SHEROES works with companies to link them with female talent in the form of employees, partners, customers, and company owners. Sairee is India's leading advocate for women in the workplace, and she previously co-founded Fleximoms. She is also the Convener of The SHEROES Summit, and she has been essential in bringing together businesses and women professionals on a single platform.
She has been nominated for the L'oreal Femina Women's Award Editor's Choice, is a Cartier Women's Award Initiative for 2012 alumni, a TED speaker, Business Today's Most Powerful Women in Indian Business 2012, and has been on series such as Young Turks, Pioneering Spirit, and What Women Want. Sairee was nominated and accepted as an Aspen Fellow, which is a worldwide leadership fellowship. Work-life reform advocate, serial entrepreneur, mentor, occasional writer, and mother of a 9-year-old. Sairee began her career as a journalist with Advertising & Marketing magazine before moving on to establish the world's first daily for mariners.
Sairee has worked in research and consulting roles in both start-ups and large corporations. Setting up a Russia and CIS practise for Heidrick & Struggles HSII www.heidrick.com and the Confederation of Indian Industry www.cii.in is part of this. Sairee pursued an M.Phil in International Relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University and a PG in business management at IMT, Ghaziabad.
Madhavi Shankar - Founder at Space Basic
Madhavi Shankar, an IT doctoral candidate, founded Space Basic, the first technology forward, an interactive networking platform for day-to-day conversations and task management within Student Housing & Co-living Communities. Madhavi's venture seeks to assist students experience digital and secure living while also providing them with unbiased equal access to possibilities from worldwide corporate partners through the company's 'Corporate Connect' offering.
The company is also a member of the Pledge 1 percent initiative, in which the organisation commits to investing 1% of its profits, time, and software into the community and educating women each year. The Government of India and the United Nations named Madhavi Shankar one of the top 30 women transforming India.
Madhavi Shankar, when asked about the company's contribution to women's empowerment, says, "SpaceBasic is a women led company. I believe that women are born with managerial DNA as well as primary caregiver DNA. When we combine the two, we make fantastic managers and leaders! Here's how: Take working women, for example. They are dedicated to keeping their home in order, ensuring their families are well-fed, and that their kids are well educated, and they manage to do all of this while working jobs. Their time management and multitasking abilities are impeccable. We foster this culture; our team is made up of 50% women who have flexible work hours and the creative freedom to take control and become leaders in their respective verticals."
Anisha Singh's-Founder at MyDala
Almost everyone who shops online is familiar with MyDala. Anisha Singh created MyDala, one of India's leading online coupon and discount sites, in 2009. In just a few years, it has expanded to a daily transaction volume of over 200,000 transactions and a customer base of 400 million people in over 200 cities.
Anisha Singh, the founder, graduated from American University with a master's degree in political communication and an MBA in information systems. Prior to joining MyDala, she worked for the Clinton administration, where she raised funds for women's business development.
To empower each other means to value, uplift and celebrate each other. This world presents us with enough challenges; competing, envying, dominating, or judging one another should not be added to the list. Let us all commit to encouraging and inspiring one another. Women are far more powerful when they stand together than when they stand apart. We've all had women in our lives who have shaped us into the people we are today. It's now our turn to be that role model, guide, and cheerleader for another woman.
