From Homebound to Securing Wings: Women Founders Turn the Tables

The entrepreneurial space in India is a rapidly growing one, where opportunities for women are at a rise with govt led initiatives and support. Sectorally, the industries which are coming to the forefront of the startup ecosystem are fintech, software and IT services, consumer products and durables, healthcare solutions, and mental health as well, considering the high stress environment in the current times. International Women’s Day on March 8 brings a fresh wave of optimism for women entrepreneurs worldwide. These women are the torch bearers of a larger societal shift, in which women are coming out of private spaces and abolishing complete dependency on their counterparts.

Garima Juneja, Founder, Lightroom Therapy & Counseling

Garima Juneja is based in Chandigarh, but there was a time when she left her banking career to look after children. During this phase, she had decided to pursue a master’s degree in psychology where she spent time learning more about therapy and psychology behind things. Her journey was one of courage to take the risk to reinvent her life however she liked. During the emergence of COVID-19, she had the new-found opportunity to support individuals suffering from mental health issues and this led to her finding “Lightroom Therapy & Counseling” singlehandedly. This initiative has helped several since the difficult times of pandemic.

Dr. Jothi Neeraja, Founder, Chairwoman & Managing Director, People Tree Hospitals and Maarga Mind Care

The journey of Dr. Jothi Neeraja has been a fascinating one. From her humble beginnings in a small village of Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh to successfully achieving the feat of becoming one of the most aspiring entrepreneurs in Bangalore, is a vision fulfilled. As a first-generation doctor herself, Dr. Neeraja started her career as an obstetrician and gynecologist but slowly moved to roles beyond her professional expertise. She is a successful healthcare entrepreneur in India who has successfully founded institutions like People Tree Hospitals and Maarga Mind Care, which have delivered immensely good results in the domain of healthcare and the mental health space. Her journey is a learning experience that nothing can become a barrier if the spirits to work are high.

Faye D’Souza, Founder and Editor, Beatroot News

Faye D'Souza had a long and successful career in journalism before moving out to start her own venture. In 2020, she started Beatroot News, which is a youth-oriented online journalism platform that seeks to bring forth clear and factual journalism with the utilization of social media platforms. She has worked across various television channels such as CNBC-TV18 and Mirror Now, where she also led the channel as the Executive Editor. D’Souza has started the venture with the idea of making the citizens more informed.

Aditi Gupta, Managing Director, Menstrupedia

The story of Aditi Gupta is one of turning personal adversity into a mission to overcome menstruation taboos in India. She herself has faced it as a taboo growing up in Garhwa, Jharkhand. However, she founded Menstrupedia when she was at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Menstrupedia, founded in 2012 together with her husband, Tuhin Paul, began as a thesis project for her. It is a website that uses comic book-style content to inform young girls about puberty and menstruation. What inspires about her is how a taboo has been turned to awareness through cartoons which are easier for the young girls to decode.

Aditi Awasthi, Founder and CEO, Embibe

Aditi Avasthi was able to turn a personal challenge into a mission to make a difference in education in India. She was born in Ludhiana but founded Embibe in 2012. Motivated to start a business after she realized how hard it was for students to prepare for competitive exams, she founded a business that uses artificial intelligence and data science to enable students to prepare for exams such as IIT JEE and NEET. Embibe was her journey to provide to students what she never had.

The entrepreneurial journey of women entrepreneurs such as Faye D'Souza, Aditi Gupta, Aditi Avasthi, Garima Juneja, and Dr. Jothi Neeraja is a mirror of how women entrepreneurship in India is evolving. Through their entrepreneurial ventures, their experiences, challenges, and changes in their careers, women entrepreneurs are creating a significant impact in various industries such as media, education, healthcare, and social awareness. Their entrepreneurial journey is sign of courage, innovation, and their ability to move beyond their comfort zones. Women entrepreneurs are inspiring a new generation of women to embrace entrepreneurship as a form of career.