9 Inspirational Success Stories of Women Entrepreneurs in India

Women entrepreneurs in India who are growing successful businesses       
1. Vineeta Singh – Founder, Sugar Cosmetics 
2. Richa Kar – Founder, Zivame 
3. Tara Kapur – Co-founder, Vitamin Stree 
4. Aditi Gupta – Co-founder, Menstrupedia 
5. Hemlata Pal – Founder, Chachi Cross Stitch 
6. Ridhima Arora – Founder, Namhya Foods  
7. Vakula Sharma – Founder, PulpBrew
8. Falguni Nayer – Founder, Nykaa 
9. Subhra Chaddha – Co-founder, Chumbak 

Entrepreneurial drive and passion – Vineeta Singh 

As an entrepreneur, you try, and try and try again. And one of those tries might just change your life. Vineeta Singh, one of the most famous woman entrepreneurs in India, founded Sugar Cosmetics on her third attempt at starting a business.

Even though there were initial challenges like breaking their last ₹30 lakh fixed deposit, their brand today sees more than ₹2 crore sales in ONE day.

VIneeta says she was inspired by her father who had this “irrational passion”. Even though Vineeta once did not understand her father’s sentiments, today she wholeheartedly believes in it. She now has her own successful eCommerce business built on her passion – building a consumer business that catered specifically to Indian women!

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Challenging taboos – Richa Kar
 

In Indian society, a lot of conversations happen behind closed doors. One such conversation is about lingerie. Reports suggest more than 82% of Indian women just did not get a professional expert’s opinion when buying undergarments for their size.

Richa Kar recognized this gap in the market and faced it head-on. Despite several social backlashes, an initially unsupportive social circle and struggles in funding, Richa did not give up.

Today, she is the founder of a multi-million dollar enterprise – Zivame. An online store for lingerie and nightwear. Richa has not only de-stigmatised the concept of wearing fashionable but comfortable innerwear, she has also made women who want to sell clothes online be more confident in making these choices openly.

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Empowerment through videos – Tara Kapur 

There are multiple societal and financial factors that hold women back. What are they and how do they solve it? By building a video-based empowerment platform called Vitamin Stree.

Tara Kapur along with her brilliant co-founder Ankita Shetty decided that it was time women got a content platform that answered their questions. The research and analysis based-videos talked about important topics like menstruation, gender pay gap, beauty standards, relevant laws and policies and so much more.

“All I want to do is keep building. I realise now how similar I am to my father. Irrational passion must be genetic.” – Vineeta tells Forbes.

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Enreprenurial educator – Aditi Gupta

Menstruation is a very normal heath process for women. But, it is still often shrouded in secrecy. The discussions always take place behind closed doors or using censored language.

This results in young girls not knowing about their bodies or about important reproductive health issues till much much later in their life.

Aditi Gupta, the co-founder of Menstrupedia is breaking these norms. Menstrupedia is a comic series that uses illustrations and cartoons to help young girls understand more about what periods are, and why they are not “shameful” or “embarrassing”.

women entrepreneurs in India
Today, Aditi’s comics have now also been circulated in schools around the world to educate young girls on their changing bodies. Her efforts have impacted more than 13 million girls worldwide!

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One stitch at a time – Hemlata Pal

Another story of age not standing a chance in front of passion. Chachi Cross Stich is an online store on Instamojo that has been founded by Hemlata Pal, a 50+-year-old woman entrepreneur in India, who wants to share her designs and creativity with the world.

With beautiful cross-stitching products in the store, she also has DIY products that can encourage other people to take up this age-old form of embroidery.

Hemlata started this business after reconnecting to the art form after a gap of about 35 years! But her love for the art and her desire to build a business around it has our heart!

“You don’t need a certain age to start something new.”

Indeed you don’t. Hemlata’s energy and vigour for her small online business are why she is our very own Mojo Star!

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Healing and medicine – Ridhima Arora 

In a world full of all kinds of medicines for all kinds of illnesses, how do you recognize the ones that are actually beneficial for your body?

The founder of Namhya foods – Ridhima Arora, does just that. She founded a company based on the belief that human bodies should be nurtured. And that means people should be aware of what they are intaking.

Ridhima saw her father go through a grave illness. But today, he is a healthy happy man who is even regularly going to the office. This change was brought upon by the herbal and natural ingredients that Ridhdima ensured her father got during his treatment.

The real-life example of her father inspired Ridhima to take this further.

“Since I always knew about the health benefits of herbs, I realised that it was important to share the knowledge with others,” says Ridhima to The Weekend Leader. Ridhima left her cushy corporate job to ensure she was creating an online business that changed lives for the better."

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Mompreneurs and nutrition – Vakula Sharma 

Fitness around the globe is a thriving industry. Thousands of products that target fitness enthusiasts often claim their products are “going to help you lose weight”, “has natural ingredients”, “fast results with minimal efforts” etc.

Vakula Sharma, the founder of PulpBrew is trying to encourage people to actually break down these statements claimed by brands. She wants people to actually investigate and know what exactly are in the  “healthy” foods that they are eating.

Being a mom, and being a businesswoman is definitely a challenge. But Vakula wants her child to grow up in a world where fitness is a lifestyle.

Her online store on Instamojo sells healthy smoothies that follow a zero-waste policy, no sugar and zero preservatives.

Vakula is introducing India to a nutrition brand that advocates clear transparency about ALL its ingredients. And this is why she is also our Mojo Star!

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Revolutionizing eCommerce in cosmetics – Falguni Nayar 

It is often said, “Age is no barrier”. But proving it is a whole different challenge. A challenge that Falguni Nayar, one of the most successful woman enterpreneurs in India, absolutely smashed!

She started her eCommerce venture of selling cosmetics online when she was 49. The online store – Nykaa, is now valued at more than $13 billion dollars! From an investment banker to becoming an extremely influential entrepreneur at 50, Falguni is an inspiration to every woman out there who wants to start a business in the later stages of their life.

Falguni expertly deflected negative statements and discouragement. Her innate passion to build something from scratch and her efforts to build a team that supported her vision are reasons that Nykaa today is arguably one of the biggest eCommerce websites in India.

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Embracing quirkiness – Shubhra Chadha 

Who knew quirkiness could be made into a business. Not just any business, one of the biggest lifestyle DTC brands in India is based on it!

Subhra Chadha, the co-founder of Chumbak started this venture with the aim of creating products that were unique, individualistic, artistic, and had an Indian touch.

Her vision for her brand was so captivating that she even sold her house to raise funds for the business. Chumbak today has over 50 stores all over India and more than 100 categories! 50% of their overall sales actually come from their online eCommerce website.