Here are the 20 most empowering women entrepreneurs in India who have aced in their entrepreneurial journey and have been inspiring thousands of young entrepreneurs in every compatible field.
1. Aditi Gupta – Co-founder of Menstrupedia
Aditi Gupta is an Indian author and co-founder of Menstrupedia Comic. She carried out comprehensive research regarding the lack of knowledge about menstruation in India and how it affects women’s and girls’ living. Being the Ford Foundation research Scholar, she then did a study; she and her husband, both National Institute of Design Alumni, co-founded Menstrupedia Comic in 2012. She was named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 2014 list. She was also featured in Shark Tank and received the funding of 50 Lakhs INR with 20% Equity sharing of the company.
2. Ashwini Asokan – Founder, Mad Street Den
Ashwini Asokan is the CEO & founder of Mad Street Den®. Ashwini and her team teach machines to see and experience the world as humans do. After more than a decade, Ashwini returned to India from Silicon Valley to bootstrap her startup, founded with her husband, Anand Chandrasekaran, a neuroscientist. As a product designer and cultural researcher, she explores how Artificial Intelligence can be brought out of the Science and Tech labs of the world, applied meaningfully and put in the hands of people across the globe. Ashwini, a trained classical dancer, has been featured in Fortune’s 40 under 40 lists. She also got featured in several publications like Vogue, TechCrunch, Nikkei, etc.
3. Chitra Gurnani Daga – Co-Founder of Thrillophilia
Chitra Gurnani is the co-founder of the adventure tours and travel company Thrillophilia Tours Pvt. Ltd., which started in 2009 after much brainstorming. Chitra is passionate about travelling, seeking more knowledge and experience from different parts of the world. The Ministry of External Affairs also awarded her remarkable contribution to travel and tourism.
4. Divya Gokulnath – Co-founder of Byju’s
Divya Gokulnath is a co-founder of Byjus, India’s most extensive online learning program. At first, the company offered in-person education to support school education, and in 2015, it launched an online app with video lessons. Divya has appeared in videos as a teacher. Divya also writes online, including about the future of education, parenting, and women’s participation in STEM fields. She has also spoken with Mint Startup Diaries about challenges for women entrepreneurs and co-written an opinion article with Byju Raveendran in Vogue India about educational technology in India.
5. Falguni Nayar – Nykaa
Falguni Nayar (born 19 February 1963) is an Indian businesswoman and billionaire who is the founder and CEO of the beauty and lifestyle retail company Nykaa Nayar is one of two self-made female Indian billionaires. Soon after Nykaa went public, Nayar became the wealthiest female billionaire in India, with net worth rising to the tune of $6.5 billion, and entered the list of India’s top 20 wealthiest people.
Investment banker Falguni Nayar launched beauty and fashion eCommerce platform Nykaa from her father’s office when she was 49. A decade later, after Nykaa’s IPO was oversubscribed nearly 82.5 times, India’s richest self-made woman billionaire says she is only getting started.
6. Ritu Kumar – Fashion Designer
Ritu Kumar, one of the leading fashion designers of India, is a role model and inspiration to the youth who wish to pursue a career in the fashion industry. She is a successful entrepreneur and a live example of what an Indian woman can achieve. Ritu Kumar was not the first to introduce the boutique culture in India; however, she took the chances and performed outstandingly. She is a true example of a pioneer in the fashion industry, thus making a remarkable position in the present era. NIFT, Kingfisher group, etc., have awarded Ritu Kumar. The government of India awarded her the prestigious Padma Shree award in 2013.
7. Malini Agarwal – Founder, MissMalini
Malini Agarwal, known MissMalini, is an Indian digital influencer, TV host, entrepreneur and best-selling author. Formerly a radio jockey on Mumbai’s Radio One (India) and Head of Digital Content for Channel V India, she founded her blog MissMalini.com in 2008, covering gossip and current events in Bollywood, Indian television, fashion, beauty and lifestyle. Aside from radio and her blog, she has also guest anchored several television shows, including CNN-IBN’s Tech Toyz and UTV Bindass Style Police, and two seasons of her show, MissMalini’s World TLC and Inside. Malini is also one of India’s premier digital creators and social media influencers, regularly partnering with top millennial-focused brands. She has authored a book titled To The Moon: How I Blogged My Way To Bollywood.
8. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw – Founder, Biocon Ltd.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the quintessence of hard work, dedication and honesty. Her entrepreneurial journey speaks of courage and perseverance. Her company Biocon Biologics recently got an investment of over 1000 crore rupees from American investment bank Goldman Sachs. Shaw is considered one of India’s foremost leaders in global circles. She favours women pursuing their careers, building entrepreneurial ventures and doing business. She speaks about her entrepreneurial journey and encourages more women to contribute to the country’s economy.
9. Jaya Jha – Founder, Pothi.com and Instascribe.
Jaya Jha is the co-founder of Pothi.com, a leading POD-backed open publishing platform. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur and IIM Lucknow, she is an avid reader, a book-lover and an occasional writer. Jaya worked with Google India in product management before starting Pothi.com in 2008. Jaya believes in the disruptive power of technology, which is reinventing and will continue to reinvent the industry. But at the same time, she sees publishing as an essentially human endeavour, an act of expression and communication. This is what has inspired her entrepreneurial ventures in the industry.
10. Khushboo Jain – Co-founder of ImpactGuru.com
Khushboo Jain co-founded the crowdfunding platform ImpactGuru.com in July 2014 and has since served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. In addition, she heads ImpactGuru’s Marketing arm, Communications and Design teams. Khushboo is actively involved in the company’s marketing and communications strategies, community building activities, the ImpactGuru product users’ experience, and ImpactGuru’s work with non-profits. Khushboo was recently featured in India’s Fortune 40 under 40 lists and was amongst the Top 15 winning women entrepreneurs at NITI Aayog & United Nations, 2019 Women Transforming India Awards.
11. Richa Singh – Co-founder of YourDOST
Richa got together with Puneet Manuja, IIM-B alumnus and Prakhar Verma, a computer science graduate from BMSCE, Bangalore, to start YourDOST. YourDOST brings emotional wellness solutions to users who seek support from psychologists and other experts while staying completely anonymous. In November 2015, the company raised Rs.2.5 Crore in an angel funding round, which they invested in marketing and expansion initiatives. She is a social entrepreneur who truly changes several people’s lives.
12. Mahek Sagar – Co-founder of WedMeGood
She is the Co-Founder of WedMeGood, India’s favourite wedding planning company. WedMeGood is an expensive alternative to the outdated wedding planning process. A one-stop shop for all things weddings, one can find inspiration, ideas and vendors according to their budget. Before joining this company, she worked with companies like American Express, GlaxoSmithKline & others. She holds a MA degree from the Delhi School of Economics.
13. Isha Choudhary – Co-founder of Zolo Stays
Isha Choudhry is the co-founder and heads the Human Resource Department at Zolo. She graduated from St. Xavier’s college. ZoloStay was founded in Bengaluru in 2015. The startup aims to help students find accommodation with wholesome food.
14. Priyanshi Choubey – Co-Founder of InstaCar
She is the Co-Founder & COO of InstaCar. She worked with companies like Aspricot as a Business Analyst. She is Alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi & Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. Instagram makes it simpler to get car rentals. Instagram is a marketplace for outstation taxis and cars. She has been awarded prestigious awards like the ‘Women Entrepreneur of the Year’ in Travel & Hospitality by SheSparks 2018.
15. Richa Kar – Co- Founder of Zivame
Shattering the taboo around lingerie shopping by curating a successful retail empire that makes it possible at the click of a button, Richa Kar has genuinely transformed the way we look at lingerie shopping. The founder and former CEO of the successful lingerie e-retailer, Zivame, brought a much-needed spotlight and efficient solution for battling the discomfort Indian women felt around lingerie shopping.
16. Neha Motwani – Co-founder of Fitternity
A fitness enthusiast and a go-getter by nature, entrepreneur Neha Motwani is the founder and CEO of Fitternity, India’s first and largest discovery and booking platform for fitness services. Fitternity combines information, e-commerce and hyper-local search to find, book, and buy over 30,000 fitness services and products across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune.
17. Farah Nathani – Co-founder of The Mumum Co.
Farah is the co-founder at The Mumum Company (www.mumumco.com), a natural, fun and wholesome range of snacks for children. Before founding The Mumum Co, Farah worked at Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, focusing on international business and strategy. Farah began her career as a management consultant at Bain & Company’s New York office, working in various industries ranging from consumer products to private equity. Farah holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A-B.Sc. Magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and College of Arts and Sciences.
18. Meghna Agrawal – Co-founder of Indiqube
Meghna co-founded IndiQube with Rishi, a co-working space provider that onboarded companies like Bluestone, KPMG, Freshmenu, Cohesity & TMF at the initial stages. IndiQube is ranked #20 in Economic Times India’s Growth Champions 2020 & Ranked #112 in the Financial Times list of 500 high growth companies in the Asia Pacific region.
19. Naiyya Saggi – Founder of BabyChakra
Naiyya is the CEO & Founder of BabyChakra. Babychakra is the fastest growing platform for parents to discover care for their families. Discover all you need as a parent: doctors, playschools, events, daycares and more. Connect with experts and other parents to make better decisions.
She is a graduate of the Harvard Business School (MBA 2012), a Fulbright and J.N.Tata scholar. She received her BALLB (Hons.) from National Law School, India. Before Babychakra, Naiyya was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and the Bridgespan group (Boston). She worked extensively on her areas of passion: maternal & child health and education.
20. Sairee Chahal – Founder of Sheroes. in
Founded in 2014 by Sairee Chahal, Sheroes curates work from home jobs in India and helps women seeking careers while still giving time to their homes. The portal also helps women find relevant resources and mentors. It organizes community meets, job fairs, special workshops and programs, coaching, mentoring, community resources to help women professionals. She also co-founded Fleximoms, a platform for flexible jobs and returning professionals. Sairee is a well known TED speaker and a finalist for Cartier’s Women’s Award Initiative for 2012.
