In our country where females have historically ben disadvantaged and discriminated against , but where women cricketers are praised by the enlightened minority for World Cup success, nearly all readers of this review will know a woman who has made a success of her chosen profession. This makes this book a valuable guide regarding what motivates these exceptional ladies. One need look no further than the polymath author Kiran Manral herself, whom three pages of this book reveal her exceptional accomplishments as a versatile author, journalist, lecturer and social activist, who started two companies and was a consultant for others.
In her introduction she writes; “there aren’t enough stories about women being told and they have not been told enough… they spotted problems and turned them into opportunities.” In this book, one of her many non-fiction works, she examines the pioneering success of 14 women in various fields ranging from healthcare to clothing, the female brains behind Menstrupedia, Metropolis Health , Map my genome . A a z o l , Fablestreet, Babychakra, Blue Tokai, Akasa Air, Gynoveda, Heads Up for Tails, Lxme, Suta, and Sugar Cosmetics. What is common among these cases, and is there a uniform open sesame to pioneering success? How have these women broken through the glass ceilings that exist in our male dominated society and when only two percent of investment capital is entrusted in the hands of women? If there are similarities and common experiences to be discerned among these cases, they are the pertinent learnings to take away from Kiran Manral ’s mini-biographies. The first requisite appears to be having educated and encouraging parents. Education and higher education for daughters, often in IITs and IIMs that encouraged creative thinking, is extremely important, though one successful woman noted that “the Indian education system failed me terribly.” Many of these successful women benefited from study and work experience in a developed environment abroad, which stood them in good stead on return to India. A supportive family and husband are great assets – though Namrata Asthana of Blue Tokai is an exception and says categorically, “I don’t think spouses should work together… you are under so much stress to succeed.” Online and social media skill is clearly important, as is the feeling of creating an ecosystem to support and mentor other female entrepreneurs through networking with them. Being able to balance work, keeping fit, running a household, willingness to innovate, attend to child care and family life as part of the everyday routine plays an important part in these narratives, as does unruffled dealing with bias based on gender, unmarried status or youth. There is the ability to take risks, trust in one’s instincts over the opinion of others; “Even the hardest days bring lessons” says Rashi Sanon Narang, owner of Heads Up for Tails. Most leaders have the ambition and urge to be a frontrunner. Naiyya Saggi of Baby Chakra worked till the day before she had her baby and returned to work two weeks after delivery. Age is no bar – some of the profiled achievers were only 25 when they started as entrepreneurs and others as senior as in the 50s. And most moved from online to offline but the reverse is also true, like Blue Tokai that commenced in a café in New Delhi. All these innovative companies have wide cross-gender impact though usually female oriented. A m e e r a Shah , chairperson of Metropolis Health, admits “my personality is to be a big fish in a small pond versus the other way… I know how lonely my journey has been.” But as Apurva Purohit co-founder of Aazol put it, “if you persevere you can succeed in whatever you choose to do… for scale, you have to be willing to add resources and take risks.” Many women profiled readily gave up comfortable jobs and monetary benefits to embark on their new ventures; “life was extremely comfortable in the US” says Naiyya Saggi, owner of Baby Chakra that supports mothers at a crucial phase in their lives, “in the sense that it is almost predictable, but life in India was so unpredictable…I chose to move forward more out of insane optimism… Entrepreneurship and investment is a people game.” Many ladies in this book started minimally, such as Namrata Asthana, co-founder of Blue Tokai, from the terrace of her parents’ home in Gurgaon. Neelu Khatri, co-founder of Akasa Air, stresses the importance of mentors – “sometimes your mentors see in you what you don’t.” She continues, “building relationships and networking with individuals are crucial… women are much stronger than men, they can multitask, tolerate more pain.” For Rachana Gupta, her eureka moment was when her husband was cured by ayurveda of psoriasis and herself of dengue, so she evolved a tech-based app for women’s health and gynecological problems called Gynoveda which uses ayurveda. For Rashi Sanon Narang, it was her pet dog that led her to start an online store for pet products. Ridhi Doongursee felt that every woman should have equal access to wealth management as a male, which led to Lxme,” a revolution to transform the relationship women have with money,” the first Indian financial platform for women who previously only managed household budgets. Photography of clothes by sisters Taniya and Sujata Biswas led to queries about the clothes and thence to Suta, an online store for young women for “soft breathable saris” without borders and starch. The sisters were initially cheated by suppliers but learned that “whatever happens in the night, you have to show up in the morning… we learned never to say no to anything.” Vineeta Singh, owner of Sugar Cosmetics is practical; “the only way to learn how to start a business is to start a business… you learn how to sell by selling something.” This book is well edited, with useful photos of e a c h wo m a n profiled. No doubt, such a collection of success stories is not inclusive; there are many more with lessons and experiences to share. But Kiran M a n r a l h a s brought forward salutary tales of s u c c e s s f u l endeavours of bold and talented Indian women which should lead to w i d e r perception of the asset that females bring to Indian society, n o t o n ly i n entrepreneurship, b u t i n e ve r y domain of life. The reviewer is a former foreign secretary