Seven practical lessons from women entrepreneurs on running a business

Breaking the glass ceiling is important, but one cannot ignore the hard truths on what it takes to launch, sustain and grow your own company

For 38-year-old Samyukta Ranganathan, the bug bit in 2015 when she could not plan her holiday from Dubai to Lebanon with ease. “I worked really hard at planning my own itinerary because I wanted to see Lebanon, not as a war-torn country but really experience it as a local,” says Ranganathan. For 46-year-old Pallavi Swadi, it felt like the most natural thing, “I had witnessed my father build an international chemical business completely from scratch,” she shares. Sarah Sham, 35, worked hard at several jobs in search of a passion, only to accidentally discover her future profession. “I had worked some 12 different kinds of jobs and hated them all. Everything from working at Saffronart to working at a hedge fund and being a news anchor at Bloomberg,” she shares with a chuckle. At 37, Sanjana Patel is now wiser than she was at 14 when she actually began working towards her goal. “It was in 2018 when we decided on trying the business a bit more smartly and yet at the same time to execute it with more passion,” she explains.

Four women at different stages of their professional life–all in different professions–have one commonality. Ranganathan, Swadi, Patel and Sham are all entrepreneurs who have chosen to run their own businesses despite the odds. While Patel is a qualified chef and chocolatier and co-founder of La Folie which launched operations in Mumbai nine years ago, Sham has been the heart and soul behind Essajees Atelier, an interior design firm with a growing national footprint. Swadi, who began working life as a financial professional at Fidelity Investments in Boston after graduating in the United States, now runs two indie fashion labels, Coocoo and Pallavi Swadi, whereas Rangnathan is at the beginning of a promising career as the CEO of a travel experiences start-up Urbanaut, that was almost toppled over by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Entrepreneurship among Indian women is on the rise

The 2022 WII (Women In Investing) index states that the big shift observed is in the career aspirations of professionals who joined the [investment] industry in the last two years. These recent industry entrants have a remarkably high preference for launching their own firms, as compared to women with a similar level of experience in 2020–a small but encouraging step towards female entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship among women is key towards boosting the economy through job creation as well as transformational social and personal outcomes for women. A Google, Bain and Company report (2019) states that India has 13.5 to 15.7 million women-owned enterprises that represent 20 per cent of all enterprises in the country. These are primarily single-person enterprises which provide direct employment for an estimated 22 to 27 million people. Accelerating the quantity and quality of entrepreneurship towards creating better opportunities can create over 30 million women-owned enterprises.

Being an entrepreneur is a brave and lonely path that can yet be very fulfilling. Take the case of Nykaa’s founder Falguni Nayar who decided, at 50–a milestone when most folks have about a decade left as employed professionals–to take the biggest risk of her life and invest her own money to start a beauty aggregator. Her daughter Adwaita who, at 31, is now CEO at Nykaa Fashion, shared an important insight with The Established, “You have to be incredibly thick-skinned,” she emphasised.

The business owners that The Established spoke to were candid, practical and clear-minded about the principles they follow and the learnings they have imbibed. They share with us six lessons they have learned through their professional experiences.

Follow the opportunity

Ranganathan, who worked with Puma in India and the Middle East as a marketing professional, feels her work experience led her to entrepreneurship. “I always had the desire to start my own company but never wanted it to be a small business. If I wanted to start something, it had to be big. I stewed over a lot of ideas. While with Puma, I was exposed to a very cool world of creative people. But I quit my job as I wanted to be my own boss. It was while planning a holiday to Lebanon through Instagram posts that I knew there was something cooler waiting for me in Lebanon than the regular lists being thrown up by the Internet. It turned out to be one of the best holidays I’ve ever had.” The holiday research led Ranganathan to resign from her job at Puma, which had a promising growth map, to start Ubernaut in 2019 for insider tips, offbeat discoveries and popular spots so you can explore a city just like a local would.

Dream big, start small

It was while working at her family’s fourth-generation business of antiquities and curios that Sham was encouraged by a client whom she was advising to switch professions. “I had completed my undergraduate degree at Duke in the United States and Oxford. When I returned home, I was not the most hireable person with an art history major. I started working at my dad's company. I liked the work but I wouldn't say that it was my calling or that I loved it. I just felt lost. Then a client, who had bought some lights from us, asked me for design advice. She just kept calling me repeatedly and eventually asked me to design her house.” While Sham felt thunderstruck at the suggestion, she came to realise her calling. “I began my design career with a single bedroom!” After going back to study interior design, Sham launched her own firm in 2014 and has completed 50 projects across Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Surat, Goa and other cities in India.

Staying steady

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in full force in March 2020, many businesses were undergoing changes. In Patel’s case, she narrowly missed a business disaster when she decided to close down the La Folie cafés that had been launched as a brand extension. “I needed to focus on my passion for chocolate. We had, in a short time, established our brand but the attention was getting diffused owing to the cafés. We were lucky to realise this early on in our journey and decided to shutter the cafés in order to focus on our core strengths. I was also reaching a burn-out point,” she candidly shares.

In Ranganathan’s case, Urbanaut launched in 2019 and a few months later, along came the pandemic. She shares,“Before COVID, I was a planner, the pandemic has taught me to stay steady, focused and realise that not everything can be planned for.”

Pivot when you need to

When Swadi moved back to India 15 years ago, she thought the future lay firmly in the financial sector. She could not have been more wrong. “I had worked in financial brokerage but there was nothing similar in Mumbai then. Since I was deeply interested in art, I started researching art as an investment option which led to me starting an art advisory service aimed at early investors. Then the art market crashed and I had my two children and by the time I was ready to plunge back into work, that world had changed drastically. Also with the birth of my children, I saw the yawning gap in the market for kidswear.”

With no background in textiles or the apparel industry, Swadi put together a range of clothes targeted at young kids of both genders. “The collection sold out,” she reminisces. With the launch of Zara and H&M’s affordable kidswear in India, Swadi decided to go Indian for her kids range called Coocoo. In 2019, she pivoted further into the adult-wear market with her eponymous label and then came COVID. “Who was going to buy quality workwear that would stretch into evening wear during that time?” Swadi swiftly took her father’s advice and pivoted into breathable face masks, bagging several orders in the 18 months or so, with corporate clients lapping up the product. “I needed to think on my feet, as I wanted to keep paying my staff,” she declares.

Delegate responsibilities

Sham quickly realised that her business would not grow if she continued to hog all the responsibilities. “It was my husband who pointed out the obvious to me. I was very possessive about my work because it felt like my design. He made me realise that I needed to share the work. I took it one step at a time and now one of my biggest pleasures in life has become watching how my team has grown, watching them interact with clients and improve their skill sets. As an entrepreneur, you cannot hoard everything for yourself. You're only as good as your team,” she states emphatically.

Seek guidance

While Swadi sought advice from her Ayurvedic doctor, Patel and her husband, who is also her business partner, sought help through more structured resources. “Both of us have different mentors and this has really helped us to grow the business as well as not bring home the work. In my case, I consult a psychologist who specialises in consulting with entrepreneurs like me.”

Ranganathan sought guidance when faced with the pandemic and was advised by investors to stay strong and committed to the big idea. “It was a question of riding out the storm.”

Supportive partnerships

All entrepreneurs will concur that collaborations both in their personal and professional spaces can keep morale high and nose to the grindstone. While Ranganathan credits her husband with keeping the home fires burning, Patel acknowledges her spouse’s role in helping her grow the business. For Sham, the support has poured in from family and from growing her network, “I'm a big believer in collaborating with designers and have started several groups with folks both in India and overseas. All of us help each other. Expanding my design community has been very beneficial,” she asserts.

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