You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

Why Entrepreneurship is the Way Forward for Women Entrepreneurship is a great way of creating impact on women as success is there to see

By Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Shutterstock.com

Devoting an entire edition to women entrepreneurs is a great way to bust myths about women and entrepreneurship and I commend you for this foresight. A great way to celebrate International Womens Day.

The women chosen to reflect changing times and the changing face of entrepreneurship in India are path breakers across a plethora of business spheres. These are women of steel and substance who have battled serious prejudices and odds to get to where they are. These are women who have not asked for any special privileges but all that they want is a fair and level playing field. All they seek is to be recognised, respected and to be taken seriously.

Entrepreneurship is a bold and daring business and irrespective of whether you are a man or a woman it is about being able to take risks, managing failures, sighting opportunities and taking ideas to the market. Ideating is easy but taking it to the market is very difficult. Each one of these women is basically doing that. They are competing in a man's world and winning. This is both admirable and inspirational. I have always encouraged women to pursue entrepreneurship because that's one field where you are only judged once you build your business after making the early mistakes and overcome initial credibility challenges. This is the story of every entrepreneur and when women succeed where men have failed, this is a huge endorsement.

Take the case of Meena Ganesh. She has made a big success of Portea Medical. The model is simple; it's almost an uberisation of medical services. Many start-ups tried this but failed. That tells you what Meena's entrepreneurial abilities are. Mitahli Raj is another woman who has inspired us with her leadership. We keep celebrating the success of our 'men in blue' but look at the resilience, the daring and the courage with which our 'women in blue' have played. Along similar lines, Mary Kom has changed a once 'unwomanly' sport into a woman's sport unleashing a whole new boxing culture.

Today, girls from all over the country want to pursue boxing. There are endless examples of what women have done, but what is important is their ability to encourage other women to pursue their paths. In the past successful women were considered an exception to the norm. Today, the fact is we have many, many more to recognise and follow.

Entrepreneurship and leadership is about influence and impact. Entrepreneurship is a great way of creating impact on women as success is there to see.

(This article was first published in the March issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Chairperson and Managing Director, Biocon

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Says This CEO Is the 'Taylor Swift' of Tech

Meta's CEO posed with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Instagram Wednesday.

Growing a Business

To Achieve Sustainable Success, You Need to Stop Focusing on Disruption. Here's Why — and What You Must Focus on Instead.

Instead of zeroing in solely on disruptive innovation, embrace a pragmatic approach to innovation, recognizing and leveraging the potential within ongoing industry shifts.

Money & Finance

5 Simple Wealth-Building Tips For This Generation's Forward-Thinkers

Explore practical finance tips for young professionals striving to overcome economic challenges.

Fundraising

Avoid These 9 Pitch Deck Mistakes When Asking Others For Money

Crafting an efficient pitch deck requires serious effort, but at least it's not wandering in the dark since certain rules are shaped by decades of relationships between startups and investors.

Leadership

What We Have to Gain By Talking About Grief and Loss At Work

I lost my husband to cancer during Covid — here's how it changed how I lead at work.

Real Estate

3 Emerging Trends Shaping the Future of Real Estate

These three innovations are reshaping the real estate industry — discover tips for effectively covering these trends.