August 2015 Woman At Work Digital

www.womanatwork.in
VOL I / ISSUE II / AUGUST 2015 / `50
GLOBAL
WOMEN
ENTREPRENEUR
LEADERS
SCORECARD 2015
Ranked 29 amongst 31 countries, India has a lot to do to
create a conducive ecosystem for women entrepreneurs
SDM/SR/142/AUGUST 2015
INSIDE
SPECIAL FEATURE: GREEN MONEY | STARTUP SMART | TRAVELUST

EDITOR’S DESK
The Indian entrepreneur is reborn. It is almost every week
that one hears of new ventures starting up in some city
in India. There seems to be a rush to be an entrepreneur.
The renewed faith in the capabilities of individuals who dare
to dream, is heartening to see. One would think that ideas,
dreams, courage and talent need not have any gender leanings.
But the Global Women Entreprenur Leaders Scorecard 2015,
released in early July in Berlin by Dell, has a different story to
tell. India’s dismal rank of 29 amongst 31 countries surveyed, is
disappointing to say the least . We have Frostian miles to go.
In our cover story on the GWEL Scorecard we have captured the findings and key areas
where we could learn a lesson or two from other countries
The role of media in changing the perception of female entrepreneurs and moving away
from typecasting them is well highlighted in the report. Woman at Work is privileged to
provide a platform to showcase women with talent who will serve as role models for the
upcoming generations and also improve representation of women in media to make a
significant social impact.
This month, we are launching a series Startup Smart which will showcase information,
insights, expert advise and more to enable those women who are venturing out on their
own. We hope that this space will be your ally and partner as you give shape to your
vision and dreams.
I would like to thank you for the overwhelming feedback we have received for our launch
edition. It gives us a lot of energy and drive to know that we are on the right path to
make a difference in your life as a woman at work.
Happy Reading!
Poornima Parameswaran Batish
Editor-in-Chief
P.S. : It is with a heavy heart that we bid adieu to the mortal remains of one of India’s
most loved and revered leaders, our former President, Dr Abdul Kalam. Very rarely has a
leader been able to touch the hearts and minds of each Indian like Dr Kalam. As he once
said, “You have to dream before your dreams can come true”. His life and work are an
inspiration to us to dream and move forward. May his soul rest in peace.
poornimapbatish@womanatwork.in
| August 2015
3

CONTENTS
16
COVER STORY
Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard 2015
Ranked 29 amongst 31 countries, India has a lot to do to create a
conducive ecosystem for women entrepreneurs
By Poornima Parameswaran Batish
9
25 27
SIMPLY SUCCESSFUL
This monthly series endeavours
to showcase and applaud
the focus and passion of
professional women leaders
who have pursued successful
professions and lived life on
their terms. Meet these four
fantastic women who are simply
successful
By Suchismita Pai
TRENDSETTERS
Engineering Dreams,
Garage-to-Globe
Meet Arundhati,
Managing Director of
Plazma Technologies,
who created India’s own
garage-to-globe story
By Poornima Parameswaran
Batish
SPECIAL FEATURE
Green Money
Doing good and making
business sense may not
seem to be ideal partners.
But for some visionaries, life
is all about doing the new
By Suchismita Pai
PROFESSIONS ON THE TABLE
Media Reporter
46

32
BY INVITATION
STARTUPSMART
By Sayali Shende
Funding your Dreams
By Neetu Ralhan
37
Legal Angle
by Advocate Manoj Wad
40
LIFE IS FUN!
45
Networking With A
Difference
34
TRAVELUST
No Boundaries
By Smriti Sinha
42
By Smriti Sinha
AFTER SLICED BREAD 7
WHEELS AT WORK 8
HOW PINK ARE OUR
WORKPLACES? 24
IN FOCUS 48
NEWSMAKERS 50
EDITOR IN CHIEF
: Poornima Parameswaran Batish
CONSULTING EDITOR
: Suchismita Pai
COVER PAGE & GRAPHIC DESIGN : Kshitij Srivastava
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY : Sanjiivv B Batish on behalf of Woman at Work Media
PUBLISHED AT : 5, Ganga Plaza, Off NIBM Road, Kondhwa, Pune – 411048
PRINTED AT
: Neha Creations, off Sinhagad Road, Pune
For your feedback, ideas and suggestions, write to info@womanatwork.in
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Note to the Reader
*All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner without prior permission is prohibited. The views expressed in the articles
are of the authors and not necessarily of the magazine. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy of information in
the magazine. But neither the editors nor the publisher can take responsibility arising out of errors or omissions in the
information provided.

YOU SAID IT
twitter @WomanAtWorkMag
I really appreciate the clearly written and thought
provoking articles specially the cover story. The
articles helps us realize that our problems are
typical and we can solve them in constructive ways.
You not just provoke a thought in the reader’s
mind but also restrict the reader from denying it,
by supporting it with well researched facts. The
magazine also had apt information about gadgets,
vehicles, books etc.
Monica Bansal
The article Simply Successful was very Inspiring.
Great to know such fantastic women who are so
relatable.
Naseha S
KunjalKamdar@kunjal23
Do explore @WomanAtWorkMag
aka India’s 1st Professional
Magazine exclusively for Working
#Women : http://ow.ly/Pnk4M
KanishaRaina@KanishaRaina
Kanisha Raina retweeted Kunjal
Kamdar
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India’s 1st ever Proff. Magazine @
WomanAtWorkMag exclusively for
working women.
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It certainly fills a niche gap in the market
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The concept and idea is simple but genius. Loved it!
Woman at Work
‏ @ WomanAtWorkMag J
It is so encouraging to have social
influencers like @khalidraza9
show their support to @
WomanAtWorkMag
Madhushree
What stuck me foremost was the strong content
value. The variety of topics covered is great and
articles have depth. Though the articles focus on
women, they do so without running down the male
gender. All in all, this is a magazine for intelligent
people not just intelligent women.
Manoj Wad
Naseha ‏ @NasehaSameen
@Sylvie_diGiusto want 2 refer @
WomanAtWorkMag,
india’s first magazine dedicated to
working woman. Interesting article
on img consulting
We would be delighted to hear your feedback, views, insights and suggestions on info@womanatwork.in
6 | August 2015

AFTER SLICED BREAD
Useful, quirky innovations....
IRON, FLIP
OVER, ADMIRE
www.nandahome.com/
UP AND ABOUT, BEHIND THE
CLOCK:
It took a woman to think of this! Gauri
Nanda, an MIT graduate, came up with
Clocky, the alarm clock with wheels. As
soon as the alarm starts, the clock literally
takes off. And not just that, it reportedly
keeps hiding till you find it to stop it. By
then, you would hopefully be too awake
to want to get back to sleep.
This one would be
loved by all those
who need to iron
their clothes but
can’t keep an ironing
board for dearth of
space. Once you
are done ironing,
you flip the board
around and have
a standing mirror
to help you get
dressed.
www.freshome.com
TWO-WAY TUBE
No more squeezing the last blob out of the
toothpaste tube. Here’s one that opens
both ways. So there’s hardly a chance of any
toothpaste getting wasted. If only ketchup
bottles also came with something like that!
ww.wackyinventions.com
RELIEF WITHIN A SNAP
This finger massager has five slots for
each finger. You slip your fingers in
and the machine immediately gives
a shiatsu massage to the pressure
points on your finger tips. The lithium
battery is supposed to last fifty
1-minute massages.
www.viralnova.com
| August 2015
7

WHEELS AT WORK
Planning To Change Your Vehicle Or Buy A New One?
Take A Look At These Options
FORD FIGO ASPIRE
HYUNDAI CRETA SUV
PRICE : INR 5.5-7.5 lacs
(expected range)
Noteworthy : With a fresh
design language, numerous features, and a
proven powertrain lineup, Ford Figo Aspire is
vying to trounce its established rivals in a battle
that is getting fiercer every passing day. Ford
Figo Aspire is not only a good looking compact
sedan inside out but it also has sound mechanical
behavior and build quality.
PRICE : INR 8.59 LACS
ONWARDS
Noteworthy : The stylish
compact crossover comes
packed with segment leading
features and a proven powertain
lineup that is derived from Verna
sedan.
HONDA AVIATOR 2015
PRICE : INR 51,000
ONWARDS
Noteworthy :
Honda says that
one in every three of
its Indian automatic scooter customers
is a woman.Visual updates come in the
form of new chrome insert on the revised
apron, garnish on console cover, revised
instrument console, clear lens indicators,
3D Honda badge and colour coordinated
grab rail.
MAHINDRA THAR FACELIFT
PRICE : INR 8.03
LACS ONWARDS
Noteworthy :
Mahindra Thar
facelift, the
offroader has been introduced and
the CRDe engined variant is available.
The dashboard is all-new and features
Bolero-style steering wheel, new triple
pot instrument console, an upright
dashboard with silver AC vents and
redesigned AC controls.
All information and photos are courtesy RushLane.com which is a leading source of cars & bikes news and reviews
8 | August 2015

SPECIAL FEATURE
SIMPLY SUCCESSFUL
This monthly series endeavours to showcase and applaud the focus and
passion of professional women leaders who have pursued successful
professions and lived life on their terms. Meet these four fantastic women
who are simply successful.
BY SUCHISMITA PAI
kabaddi champion for a mother and a cricket
champion for a father, life was full of sports
talk and sports personalities.
GAYATRI VARTAK
SPORTSWOMAN. PSYCHOLOGIST
G
ayatri Vartak has done what very few
attempt. She has switched courses
midway and succeeded in great
measure. Born into a family of sports fans,
Gayatri was exposed to all different sports
from the very beginning. With a national
“My parents never ever told me what to do
but I had watched almost every sport possible
with the exception of golf by the time I
decided to swim competitively”. She took
to water like fish and even started winning
competitions when she took a second look at
badminton. A chance event where her cousin
played badminton drew her to the sport. “It
was probably the sight of the beautiful shuttle
cock, so light and yet so strong flying through
the air that mesmerised me”, she says. Some
around her advised her not to upset the
apple cart and quit swimming at which she
was already doing so well and enter a sport at
eleven and a half years of age.
Again her parents were fully supportive and
so badminton it was. “I never had to work on
| August 2015
9

issues like fitness and stamina but I had miles
to catch up with my peers on the technique
and skills of the sport itself.” Proving the
naysayers wrong she soon zoomed ahead
of the competition and even moved to
Bangalore taking up badminton with almost
religious fervour. It was her mentor Mr.
Hemant Hardikar from whom she got her first
insights on sports psychology and mental
toughness, something that was reiterated by
Prakash Padukone as well.
“Sport was not something anyone took
seriously, so sports psychology was a far cry,
but Mr. Padukone would
tell me how psychological
strength and well-being was
essential to playing your
best.” While brain, brawn
and talent certainly take
you towards the top, the
difference at the top comes
down to psychological
wellness, she explains. But
with her focus on the game,
she paid little attention to the idea, except
to gain better insight into her own game.
She was soon at the top of the game and
represented India at several international
tournaments. It was when she was stuck
outside the game with an injury that she
started delving into psychology as a subject.
One book led to another and soon she began
identifying how psychology impacted life and
sport.
“While brain, brawn
and talent certainly
take you towards the
top, the difference at
the top comes down
to psychological
wellness”
she finished all twenty four exams. Not only
did she do well, she broke all records and
was a university topper. It was also during
this time that she interned with a sports
coaching organisation and one young man
who benefited hugely from her counselling
announced her contribution to his success, to
the world.
The world took notice and she would often
get invited to workshops and conferences.
On the way to one such conference in
Nashik, she shared a taxi with another invited
speaker, Janki Rajapurkar and the rest,
as they say, is history. What
started as a casual conversation
continued over the next couple
of days at the conference and
by the time they were on the
way back, had evolved into a
full-fledged business idea. A
week later they joined forces
and set up Samiksha, which
means critical introspection.
The venture set up in 2011, picked up
steam almost from the get go, and today
boasts of offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai
with prestigious clients. Buoyed by the
success, and wanting to do something to
promote sport in the right way among the
young, they set up Lifesport which designs
and implements lessons for developing
lifeskills in young children through the
medium of sport.
Having graduated in commerce, people
again advised her not to switch streams
midway. They told her she would find it
hard and not do well at it. Once again,
championed by her parents, she studied
psychology and within the one year when an
injury kept her from her beloved badminton,
“Sport has given me a lot, including a
supportive life partner”, she says. Married to
Aditya Madkeker, a champion tennis player,
she has found her groove. Her mantra, “If
you are prepared to come back stronger and
better every time you fall, nothing can stop
you”.
10 | August 2015

the responsibility as the point person for Tata
Swach, a water purifier that does not require
electricity or running water. The low cost, almost
zero maintenance water purifier is among the
most awarded products, but more importantly
serves the health needs of rural India.
AMRITAA DEY
PATENT HOLDER.MARKETING
EXPERT
Born into a family of physicians and
physicists, Amritaa was the first in her
family to study commerce. “I was tired
of discussing OHMS law at dinner”, she laughs
referring to the heavy scientific
conversations that were part
and parcel of her growing up.
No light-weight herself, Amritaa
was also the first in the family to
have a patent to her name. Nor
was she one to stop at just one.
At the age of 34, she already
has four patents for water
purification technology to her name. “A warm
and encouraging family atmosphere can work
miracles”, she states.
“What drives me is purpose”, says this
passionate marketing professional and a
commerce graduate from Narsee Monjee.
While she was working at Tata Chemicals, she
heard R. Gopalakrishnan, the Vice-chairman
say, “A career has always been a way to serve
the community, serving a larger purpose – work
to me is learning, fun, full of excitement and
constant discovery – and incidentally getting
paid”. This stuck with her.
While at Tatas, she stepped up and took
“When you have
the right spine
backing you, you
can attain your
purpose”
Everybody has the right to clean water,
asserts Amritaa and to this end, she visited
over 600 households across 4 states in
India during the trial and test phase of the
product. “What I learnt cannot be taught in
management Institutes”, avers the Goa Institute
Of Management MBA. Often depicted as easy,
laid back people who spend their days under
the local banyan tree, rural folks are anything
but that, she says. Even in the most backward
villages of Orissa, she found that people were
extremely self- aware and knew
what they wanted. “They can give
management experts a run for their
money in how they organise their
frugal resources. A simple rural
woman divides her time so that
she can get all her chores done
efficiently, or else she will not be
able to get food on the table and
care for her family”.
Moving from one award winning project to
another is just the norm for Amritaa and her
current stop as Head, Corporate Marketing for
Mahindra World City – a pioneering sustainable
city-building business from the Mahindra Group
within their Real Estate Arm – Mahindra Life
Space Developers Ltd, is based on the vision
of transforming urban landscapes by creating
sustainable communities. “City planning and
urban living are set to get a never before focus
as India is slated to witness a tremendous
population shift, from rural to urban areas”.
It is imperative she stresses, that it is done in
a methodical manner. It is a turning point in
| August 2015
11

urbanization and she is excited to be part of
it. It also ties in very well with her interest in
travel and frequenting lesser known places
even within her city itself.
A proud Mumbaikar, she knows the city
better than most and has explored little
known spaces like Bhaucha Dhakka, a
dockside Ferry Wharf terminal, where anyone
can have ferry ride on the sea in Mumbai. An
avid reader, she also loves spending time with
her parents and younger sister, all of whom
make up for a very strong backbone, she says.
“When you have the right spine backing you,
you can attain your purpose”, she ends.
“When something like that happens, you
know that it cannot get worse and all that can
be done is to pull yourself up from the deep
chasm of grief, disbelief and sorrow that you
have been flung into. Hitting the deep-end so
early on means that you have to look inward
and find the strength to cope”. She learnt to
swim in the troubled waters even while staying
afloat seemed difficult, with a child on the way.
Armed with a Bachelore of Arts, Marathi
medium from Mumbai University, she made
the rounds of the offices, even as she strived
to master English. In the coming years she
had quickly honed her skills to include Neurolinguistic
programming and post graduate
qualifications in Literature and Journalism.
RAVIEBALA KAKATKAR
NLP TRAINER.FACILITIES
MANAGER.SKYDIVER
worst day of your life is also
the best day”,
“The
says Raviebala
Kakatkar. The first blush of
marriage is probably the best
time of a young woman’s life.
It’s the time to dream the
largest dreams and begin to put
together a life as she imagined it. But barely
15 days into her marriage, Raviebala lost her
husband to the 1971 war.
12 | August 2015
Can you make
a difference in
someone’s life?
She worked with the sales office of Cummins
India for twenty years and consolidated her
position as their Manager Facilities , that gave
her the ground of financial stability. During this
time, she also began her journalistic foray and
authored over 450 articles that have appeared
in leading dailies of Maharashtra like Sakal,
Loksatta, Lokmat, Maharashtra Times.
“After facing your worst fear early on, you
feel free to do anything as you are no longer
afraid of what might happen”, she says talking
about her love of skydiving. She holds the
distinction of being the first Maharashtrian lady
Skydiver from The Indian Skydiving Federation,
Agra and has completed five para
jumps from a height of 4000 ft.
Well ahead of her times in her
school and college days, she led
the Republic Day Parade at New
Delhi in 1970 and was best NCC
Cadet from Maharashtra, Goa, Diu and Daman.
Having completed the basic Mountaineering
course under Mr. Tensing Norge in 1969,
she went on to complete 11 High Altitude

treks in the Himalayas, including Kailas -
Mansarovar Yatra, Amaranth Yatra, Pindari
Glacier. In one such trek, she met her soul
mate and partner.
Her adventurous spirit also led her to
strike out on her own. Post 1993, she
started holding workshops as an NLP
Master Trainer and Counsellor and Softskills
Trainer. Her workshops specialize in
Emotional Freedom Therapy and Stress
Management, weaving in her personal
journey.
Raviebala lives by the tenets she learnt
from NLP and the life changing quote
from Anthony Robins, ‘Can you make a
difference in someone’s life?’ governs all
her actions. Being crowned Mrs. PUNE
in February 2009 is just a small footnote
in the life of someone who started life
from the worst day and went on to make
it better not just for herself, but for many
others along the way.
care and attention create magic.
Starting out in the primarily male domain of
stockbroking, Madhvi grew her family business,
Bharat Bhushan Equity Traders Limited almost
from ground up to become one of the most
trusted and reliable companies in stock
broking. A third generation entrepreneur, she
was drawn into the business by her mother
when the business environment was going
through some changes. “Putting processes and
people into place to ensure that the company
could keep up with the times, was a challenge
worth taking up”, she says. It was one that
she stayed with for thirteen years till the
time assured of its stability and strength, she
decided to shift gears and focus on her love of
writing.
Augmenting her passion and natural talent
for writing with two prestigious courses, one
at the University of Oxford and the other at
the NYU, she ventured into creative writing
with her own firm ‘the writer’s web’ in 2013.
The writing team boasts of a diverse body of
work with pan-India clients including some of
the most illustrious corporate houses and topnotch
professionals. TWW’s strength lies in its
ability to create highly engaging, customized
and impactful content. The company handles
all aspects of content writing from online
content, marketing and product collateral to
effective e- commerce solutions.
MADHVI AHUJA
STOCKBROCKER.WRITER
Madhvi Ahuja straddles two worlds.
One populated by numbers and
figures that change at the blink of an
eye and the other where words picked with
Though the solo writer-single client firm
has grown to a large team with over 30 elite
clients, Madhvi is not one to rest on her laurels
and believes that there is much to be done.
“This is just the beginning. Small steps. I am
in no hurry, I am not competing with anyone
but ‘the writer’s web’ itself”, she asserts. One
of the steps forward is a book of fiction that
will be out in 2016. The book which she is coauthoring,
is a fictionalised account of what it
is like to be a single mature woman in the India
| August 2015
13

of today. It took three years and 20 rewrites to
reach the editing table, so meticulous is she
about her research and writing. “It may just be
a writer thing, but I am almost always my own
worst critic and while it can be a good thing, it
also means writing consumes a large portion of
my mind space at any given time”, she laughs.
One of three siblings, she was not the
one slated for most academic success
she admits good-naturedly and adds that
her grandmother would joke about the
celebrations to follow when she graduated. But
she took to her courses at Oxford and NYU,
like a duck to water and went from strength to
strength.
you in your head at all times and you can do it
even in your pyjamas. I have been inspired in
the middle of a movie”, says the self-confessed
movie buff.
So when does the self-critical perfectionist
call it done? “Never”, she laughs.“That is what
deadlines are for!”
A head for business and a body for woe
have meant that she is a stickler for fitness and
health food. A trained Muay Thai fighter, she
brings energy
and fervour not
It may just be a
just to her work
writer thing, but I but any space
am almost always she inhabits.
Her golden lab,
my own worst
Maximus, might
critic
have been a
happy surprise,
but she held back on getting a dog till she
knew that she was ready to care for him in the
way he needed to be cared for. He is also part
of a world populated by her beloved nephews
and nieces, where camaraderie, friendship,
sibling love and laughter abound. It is the
world in which the only woman member of the
BSE Brokers Forum, which negotiates with one
of the toughest financial regulatory bodies in
the country, dons another avatar. “The good
thing about writing is that you carry it with
14 | August 2015

COVER STORY
GLOBAL WOMEN
ENTREPRENEUR LEADERS
SCORECARD 2015

COVER STORY
If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith,
said Albert Einstein. India seems to have caught the
entrepreneurial bug. Indians are waking up with dreams in
their head and are willing to risk everything
to make them a reality.
BY POORNIMA PARAMESWARAN BATISH
It is the time to be born as an entrepreneur
in India. The India startup story is in fashion.
As per NextBigWhat, over $1.65Bn was
invested just in the second quarter of 2015
in Indian startups. New ventures, innovative
ideas to make life simple, technology blending
with utility – these are the toast of many
conversations. All positive stories inspiring
many more.
What is a big cause of worry though is that
the clichéd gender bias, hitherto heard of at
workplaces, seems to have seeped into the
entrepreneurial ecosystem. As per a YourStory
report, when we look at businesses with
women at the helm - startups founded and
run solely by women, the number is small and
when we talk of the ones who have received
funding, it does not even cross single digits.
It is then not a surprise to see India ranked
an abysmal 29 of 31 countries in the 2015
Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders (GWEL)
Scorecard. Only Pakistan and Bangladesh rank
lower than India. The scorecard, sponsored
by Dell, was presented at the Texas-based
computer giant’s sixth-annual Dell Women’s
Entrepreneur Network Summit in Berlin in July..
The U.S. ranked highest among 31 countries
surveyed that include Sweden, Brazil, China,
Japan, Jamaica, Chile, Poland and more. The
study gave each of the 31 countries evaluated
an overall score, based on several parameters
( See Box for GWEL Framework ).
“It’s a globalized market out there. Without
women participating equally, innovating,
creating and scaling businesses, countries are
going to miss out. It’s about being a leader,
not a follower”, says Dr. Ruta Aidis, Project
Director, Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders
Scorecard.
| August 2015
17

COVER STORY
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
USA
Nigeria
micro businesses. However, the social and
economic frameworks limit the number of large
businesses run by women.
India
18
GENDERED ACCESS
The U.S. and Sweden received the highest
overall score for Business Environment. The
relatively high R&D investments, strong
innovation ecosystem, and availability of capital
combined with relatively low levels of business
regulations, corruption and market monopolies
creates favorable conditions for innovative
businesses to start and scale. In general all
high-ranking countries provide good business
environments with the exception of Chile
where market monopolies are strong and can
crowd out newcomers. In countries such as
India and Pakistan, women are likely to start
India
UK
Pakistan
28
It is surprising that such large gendered gaps
still exist between countries in terms of access
to fundamental resources such as education,
the Internet, bank accounts and Small and
Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) training
programs. These resources form the foundation
for high-impact female entrepreneurship
development.
18 | August 2015

COVER STORY
Pakistan receives the lowest overall score for
access to resources and the lowest scores
for three of the indicators that make up this
category. In Pakistan, only 19% of women
have some secondary education, only 3%
of women have a bank account and there
are impediments for women accessing SME
training programs The UK emerges with the
highest overall score for this category driven
by the universal access to education for
women (100% of the female population has
access to secondary education) and providing
SME training programs that are accessible,
affordable and culturally appropriate for
women to participate.
LEADERSHIP AND RIGHTS
USA
Pakistan
India
28
26 other countries in the world, the husband
has veto power by law and he is the final
decision-maker for the household. In countries
such as India, Pakistan and Tunisia, there are
unequal inheritance rights for women and
work restrictions limiting their access to startup
capital and collateral critical for business
startup and growth. A recent study by Women
Business and Law shows that more gendered
legal restrictions results in fewer female-owned
businesses. Removing these barriers would
make a big difference.
The U.S. comes out as the highest scoring in
this category. Beyond ensuring legal rights and
freedom of movement, one of the additional
areas that is positive is women’s access to
private sector employment and the ability to
move up the ranks because that experience in
those networks can be directly translated to
business development. Often, an individual’s
job serves as their ‘business incubator’. Women
with executive experience further benefit from
this experience as entrepreneurs.
A large gap exists for the 31 countries in our
Scorecard especially in terms of equal legal
rights for women. In Egypt and Malaysia, as in
This category also looks at the acceptance of
women as business executives by a country’s
female population. These results provide
THE GLOBAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR LEADERS SCORECARD FRAMEWORK
(1) Business Environment
Less Market Monopolies
Innovation Ecosystem
Low Corruption Prevalence
R&D Investments
Ease of Doing Business
Capital Availability
(2) Gendered Access
Access to Secondary Education
Access to the Internet
Access to Bank Accounts
Access to SME Support Programs
(3) Leadership and Rights
EquaI Legal Rights and Movement
Acceptance of Female Executives
Prevalence of Female Managers
and Leaders
Female Professional Social Media Profiles
(4) Pipeline for Entrepreneurship
Startup Skills
Opportunities for Startup
Entrepreneur Ecosystem
Females Startups (M/F ratio)
(4) Potential Entrepreneur Leaders
College Educated startup owners
Growth - oriented startup owners
Market expanding startup owners
| August 2015
19

COVER STORY
insights into cultural attitudes towards women
in leadership positions similar to those held
by women in scaling businesses. India has the
lowest percentage of 26% acceptance which is
a decrease from 31% in 2006.
In contrast, Japan, which is one of the top
scoring countries for business environment,
receives the lowest overall score. In Japan,
both men and women are found to be less
entrepreneurially oriented and see few
opportunities to start a business.
PIPELINE FOR
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
POTENTIAL ENTREPRENEUR
LEADERS
Nigeria
Japan
Australia
Brazil
India
31
India
28
In all 31 countries, women are significantly less
likely to know an entrepreneur. Research shows
that individuals with ties to other entrepreneurs
are more likely to become entrepreneurs
themselves. Further in all of the nine high
performing countries, women are significantly
less likely to feel they
have the skills to start
a business than men.
Nigeria is the highest
scoring country
for this category,
which measures
the Entrepreneurial
Spirit for the
female population.
Nigeria has a high
rate of female to male startups (9 female
startups for every 10 male startups) and
women here feel they have the skills and see
opportunities to start businesses and have
contact with entrepreneurs. However Nigeria’s
weak business environment limits their
ability to translate this high level of female
entrepreneurship experience into scaling
businesses.
Australia is the top scoring country
for developing Potential Entrepreneur
Leaders. Over half of Australian women
who start businesses are college-educated
which provides them with networks and
experiences that they can leverage for
growing their businesses. Australia’s annual
list of the top
30 female
entrepreneurs
with revenues
over $25
million a year
created by
Smartcompany
helps raise
the profile
of female
executives and high growth female
entrepreneurs in Australia.
Brazil receives the lowest score based on
a very low level of female startups that are
market expanding i.e. reaching beyond
Brazil’s domestic market. In addition, few
college-educated women are starting
businesses in Brazil.
20 | August 2015

COVER STORY
TAKE ACTION
The GWEL Scorecard presents several clear opportunities for governments, businesses and the
media to support women entrepreneurs. Here are some of the ways that we could all make a
difference.
GOVERNMENT
Gendered Public Procurement Policy
Public procurement accounts for more than 30
to 40% of GDP in developing countries and
10 to 15% of the GDP in developed countries.
However, globally, only an estimated 1% of public
procurement contracts are awarded to womenowned
businesses. Most procurement officers
focus on price and prefer trusted suppliers, which
unintentionally excludes new diverse suppliers which
may be female.
Gendered Data collection : If countries do
not collect data on women entrepreneurs and
women’s participation in government funded
entrepreneurship programs they will not be able to
benchmark change. Surprisingly, even countries with
specific programs targeting women entrepreneurs
do not collect data on women’s participation in all
the entrepreneurship programs that are funded.
MEDIA
Only 25% of global
media coverage features
women as subjects in print, radio
and television. This proportion
constitutes only a 1% percentage
point increase from 24% in
2010. Moreover, 46% of these
coverages tend to reinforce gender
stereotypes while just 6% challenge
them.
The media plays an important
role in changing the perception of
high-impact female entrepreneurs.
Journalists and media can take
action by increasing coverage of
high-impact female entrepreneurs
and promoting a balanced image
of successful businesswomen.
ENTREPRENEUR
LEADERS
Leaders need to leverage their
unique positions using their
expertise, experiences and
networks to raise awareness
and act as role models,
mentors and investors
INDIVIDUALS
Individuals can play an important role as advocates and
investors for change by exercising shareholder rights to push
for the need for diversity in C-suite and board positions. They
could also speak up and ask local and national governments
and international organizations to collect and provide data
on women’s entrepreneurs and women’s access to publically
funded entrepreneurship programs.
PRIVATE SECTOR
Corporations can play an instrumental role in providing women access to leadership
and creating role models for future generations through two specific initiatives.
Leveraging buying power by increasing the number of women-owned business vendors in
their supply chain. Diversifying their leadership in the C-suite, improving the pipeline for
women to senior positions and increasing the number and proportion of women on boards.
| August 2015
21

INTERVIEW
Woman At Work speaks
to Dr. Ruta Aidis, founder
CEO of ACG Impact and
Project Director of the 2015
Global Women Entrepreneur
Leaders Scorecard.
Why was the need felt to do
a gender specific study for
entrepreneurs?
Do you feel investors look
at women entrepreneurs
differently?
Women experience additional
impediments to starting and growing
businesses. In the past, it was often
thought that fewer women were business
owners out of choice. However, in recent years,
research has shown how gendered starting
and growing a business really is and that
women face additional obstacles ranging from
gendered legal restrictions (such as property
ownership as well restrictions on movement),
access to key resources (such as education,
networks and finances) and gendered attitudes
(such as women needing their husband’s
approval for a bank loan, dismissive attitudes
towards women’s abilities and skills and sexual
harassment).
Yes absolutely! That is one of the major
impediments to grow their businesses.
A main reason this happens is most
investors are men (venture capitalists and angel
investors) who are wary of financing women’s
businesses. Research by Babson College in the
US found that VCs with women partners are
more than twice as likely to invest in companies
with a woman on the executive team, and
more than three times as likely to invest in
companies with female CEOs.
Do you see things changing for
the better?
Unfortunately, the percentage of VC
firms with female partners has actually
22 | August 2015

COVER STORY
been decreasing. Women-owned companies
only receive a meagre 5% of VC funding in
the US and statistics don’t even exist for most
other countries. Fewer women executives in
the financial system results in fewer women
entrepreneurs receiving the funding they need.
As female entrepreneur Brit Morin, founder
and CEO Brit & Co. noted, “there will be more
female entrepreneurs if there are more female
venture capitalists”.
One of the positive highlights of
the report is a call for action.
Yes. We provide actionable steps
on how countries can improve the
conditions for growth oriented female
entrepreneurs starting
tomorrow. No silver
bullet exists since no
single action, program
or policy will level the
playing field for women
and a multifaceted
approach is necessary
including actions at the
government, corporate,
entrepreneur and
individual levels.
There are many
examples of new
initiatives to support women entrepreneurs
and I want to highlight two recent examples.
Vicki Saunders, a serial entrepreneur, launched
a new initiative, Radical Generosity, which is
one-part business competition and one-part
unique funding model to make it easier for
women-led businesses to get the financial
support and advice they need. To create a
fund for women entrepreneurs, Vicki is inviting
professional women to donate $1,000 with
the goal of 1,000 women contributing to a
$1 million fund. The second is the increasing
VCs with women partners
are more than twice as likely
to invest in companies with
a woman on the executive
team, and more than three
times as likely to invest
in companies with female
CEOs.
recognition of governmental leaders of the
impediments for women entrepreneurs and
support for programs to address them. In July,
President Obama announced a 500 million
USD investment in creating three women
entrepreneurship centers in the African
countries of Kenya, Zambia, and Mali.
What would be your key advice
to women starting up or
scaling up?
Find support and surround yourself
with women and men that inspire you.
If you can’t find support or inspiration
nearby, then tap into the internet and watch
inspiring presentations (such as TED talks) to
connect with other likeminded
women on the
internet, follow blogs,
read magazines such as
yours. Buddha, though
not an entrepreneur,
provides very relevant
advice when he said,
“the mind is everything:
what you think, you
become”. Focus on your
vision and passion. Don’t
internalize rejection
and failure. Rejection
and failure happens to
everyone especially entrepreneurs. Learn from
them and move on.
| August 2015
23

HOW PINK ARE OUR WORKPLACES?
Source : Livemint 2015
Source : #workatflipkart
24 | August 2015

TRENDSETTERS
ENGINEERING DREAMS,
GARAGE-TO-GLOBE
It is not very often that one hears about the field of robotics. So
when Arundhati, a management graduate, decided to co-found an
engineering solutions company with Hughen (a scientist & patent
holder) in the 90s, there were naysayers galore. Today her company has
a towering presence across the globe. A maverick at heart, she doesn’t
carry a surname as she feels that surnames create stereotypes.
BY POORNIMA PARAMESWARAN BATISH
Having an entrepreneurial dream was
nothing less than a nightmare in the
1980s and 1990s. And if you happened
to be a woman, you would be dismissed of
as out of your mind. Arundhati believes that
she inherited the entrepreneurial genes from
her father. Born in an upper middle class
Maharshtrian family where girls were educated
and groomed to be good bride material,
Arundhati had different plans.
After her college, she
enrolled into a German
language class. Here she met
a bunch of engineers who
had come to learn German
to converse better with
their clients. She ended up
doing German translations for
engineering companies and in return she got all
the practical engineering knowledge they had
accumulated over the years. She also pursued
A young woman
trying to market
an engineering
product was
unheard of
an MBA in Marketing in this period.
She now was clear that marriage was not
the next option. She wanted to work. She quit
home in, what she says, Bollywood style. Armed
with her CV and a bag of clothes, she landed
in Mumbai. She just wandered her way into an
exhibition on engineering and left her CV in
kiosks of companies she was interested in.
Like they say, if you have a
strong desire, the stars will
conspire. To her own surprise, she
landed a job. The exhibition was
also where she met her business
and life partner Hughen. An
engineering college dropout who
was not happy with theoretical
knowledge and a 9 to 5 job, Hughen
was at the exhibition to get ideas. The two
clicked and decided to stick it out together.
| August 2015
25

Arundhati, who had a job, became the
financier and marketer and Hughen, the creator
and innovator. They got some space outside
the garage of a generous mechanic in Mumbai’s
Marol pipeline area and started their venture.
Hughen wanted to design simple affordable
machines that were easy to operate. Arundhati
had the task of getting the first client.
To see a woman on the shopfloor was a
wonder. And a young woman trying to market
an engineering
product was
unheard of. But
Arundhati did not
give up. Her passion
and conviction
finally got them
their first order.
They moved out
of the garage to a
small rented place.
Plazma
Technologies was born. There has been
no looking back since. From 1994, Plazma
Technologies has maintained long-term growth
of turnover & profit, based on continuous
development of self financed proprietary
technology innovations. Hughen and Arundhati
share their passion with over 1,200 Plazma
machine and 48 Global robotic system users.
Arundhati’s vision has built enviable
intellectual property value for her company in
the form of numerous homegrown technologies.
That Plazma has filed in for patents, copyrights
and trademarks every two years in the last two
decades reflects the company’s phenomenal
tryst with imagination and ingenuity. But as
Arundhati rues, it took global recognition to be
acknowledged in your own country.
Plazma has won worldwide IPRs and today
the company’s value chain comprises over 1200
users and customers including mega PSUs,
Giant Indian Corporates, MNCs as well as
SME players across India, USA, Africa, Kuwait,
Mauritius, Oman, Dubai, Abudhabi and Sri
Lanka.
Arundhati takes a month off the grid every
year to follow her heart. She loves music, dance
and scuba diving. Books are her constant
companions.
Arundhati believes
that bonds in
families are not to
stifle the freedom
of individuals but
to encourage
and support
their dreams.
Her daughter
Skye is a strong
independent
individual who has
chosen to pursue creative arts.
Arundhati strongly believes that children
need to be groomed into STEM fields like
Robotics from an early age as she believes that
unadulterated minds of children in rural areas,
who don’t have as much exposureto technology
and gadgets can be great innovators. She is
now working on a state of art “RoboPlazma
Technology Training school” devoted to
better appreciation and application of physics,
software and robotics.
As Arundhati has proven, practical knowledge,
deep yet simple customer insights and right
partnerships driven by passion to innovate can
create history and write the future.
www.plazmasolutions.com
26 | August 2015

SPECIAL FEATURE
GREEN MONEY
Doing good and making business sense may not seem to be ideal
partners. But for some visionaries, life is all about doing the new. Meet
India’s eco-entrepreneurs who are building their businesses on the
cornerstones of enviornment and sustainability.
BY SUCHISMITA PAI
SAMUCHIT ENVIRO TECH
“Designing an efficient cooking stove
for rural kitchens is far more difficult
than designing a rocket engine”,
laughs Dr. Priyadarshini Karve of Samuchit Enviro
Tech Pvt Ltd. The physicist turned inventor, turned
entrepreneur confesses that it was her easy-going
nature that propelled her into the rather unusual
field of creating rural technology that can be used
on an everyday basis in the villages of India. “Soot
kills far more people than any other kind of air
pollution. Being boxed into an ill-ventilated rural
kitchen for years is as good as being on death-row
for a crime you never committed”. Worse, says
Dr. Karve, it is a slow
death as your lungs
bear the brunt of all the
billowing smoke that
you inhale as you cook.
a project to submit as part of her course work
that she hit upon the idea of a cooking stove
using bio-fuels. The daily dose of smoke over
those three months as she engineered a stove
made out of sawdust and sand converted her
into a lifelong crusader for eco-friendly and
sustainable energy that also was safe for
everyone.
Germinating from a college project
Appropriate Rural Technologies Institute was
born of the conviction that rural India too
should have access to energy and technology
that was more suitable and sustainable in
the long term. In Nandal village alone, all
Hailing from a family
of reformists and social
workers, Karve always
had the freedom to
choose her career
path and was drawn
to physics from a very
young age. It was while
at college, looking for
| August 2015
27

the earlier wood stoves were replaced with
Bharatlaxmi stoves that cut
emission by over 80 percent.
Her focus on local materials,
bio-waste and sustainability
got her the 2002 Ashden
award for Renewable Energy
from agricultural waste.
While awards have never
driven Karve, it was extremely
helpful to have the money,
some fame and recognition
that also brought in some sponsors as well,
she admits. “Even Coke has an advertising
budget” she grins. With her very first product
well on its way, she turned to examine the
issue even more minutely. “A good product
alone does
not guarantee
commercial
success” she
admits.
While the
impact of her
work could be
seen in many
places with her
initial earthen
stoves going
on to sell over
75,000 units,
there were
many marketing
lessons she
had to learn.
Adopting
the lessons
learnt along
the way, she started Samuchit Enviro in
2005 broadening her focus on providing
environmentally sustainable energy and waste
management solutions to rural and urban
28 | August 2015
“Designing an
efficient cooking
stove for rural
kitchens is far
more difficult
than designing a
rocket engine”
households and establishments in India and
other developing countries.
Today Samuchit markets a
number of products that
address the problem of indoor
air pollution in rural kitchens,
where wood and biomass are still
prevalent cooking fuels. In a bid
to reduce dependence on LPG,
Samuchit also promotes clean
biomass fuelled cooking devices
suited to urban lifestyles.
Customised waste-to-energy solutions to
solar energy devices, and research on any
energy saving, pollution reducing alternatives
to traditional non-sustainable devices,
Samuchit does it all. “Today we need it more
than ever before”
says Karve who
custom designed an
easy carbon footprint
calculator with the
Indian consumer in
mind.
Doing good
does not end with
inventions and
entrepreneurship.
Karve also teaches
and mentors others in
her spare time. “It is
not about you or me”
says this remarkable
lady who has saved
many women in rural
India from slow and
painful air poisoning
and health problems.
“Sustainable businesses are the only way we
can save the planet. It is the only one we have
so far”.

I LOVE COMPOSTING
How do you start a business? Find
something you like to do, gain some
skills at it, try doing it within limited space and
means, mention it casually to your husband
while he is at his
computer and bingo,
you have it!
Dhanashree
Chauhan never
imagined herself as
a business woman.
Fresh from a course
on composting at
the Agarkar Institute,
she tried her hand at
the technique in her
flat balcony. The stipulations were that it should
look good, have no nasty smell, work efficiently
and fit into a small space.
Armed with a plastic bin and a compost
starter recipe, she figured out a way to do all
that she needed.
On a whim she
decided to rope
in a couple of her
extended family
members into
the experiment.
Soon she had
requests from
her friends and
family asking
that she do
the same for
them. “Whoever
we spoke to
about composting would get interested and
many would ask how they could do it in their
homes. I would get them started and ended up
educating and troubleshooting for them”, she
laughs.
Relating the day’s events one night over a
casual conversation, Dhanashree idly mentioned
to her husband Rakesh that if she ever started
a composting business, it would be named
‘Ilovecomposting’. “Rakesh happened to be
working on his laptop
at the moment and a
few minutes later he
remarked that I was all
set to go. He had bought
the domain name and
had a part of the business
even before I realised it
myself”, she admits.
Hesitant yet, it was
at a friend’s urging
that she booked a spot
for herself in a garden
show. Not sure if it would amount to much,
she took the help of friends to ready the kits
which comprised of all the tools to start a smell
composting pit on a small space. It had a bin,
a compost starter, a rake etc. To her surprise
her product was a hit and she got invited by a
large reputed retailer
to display and sell
her product at their
store.
“People would buy
my product and call
me to demonstrate
it. Soon I was
invited by groups to
educate them about
the ‘what and why’
of composting”.
Wanting to give
it some structure,
she decided to have regular workshops and
found that it was a great way to teach people
about the planet and why they must start
conservation. Explaining to young children was
a challenge and so she created her characters
| August 2015
29

out of all the components of compost like Fungi
and bacteria.“The kids love it and it is like a
cartoon show for them”, she smiles. They also
end up retaining the information better she
says.
From there it was just a short step to
doing workshops at corporate offices
and today, Dhanashree is a sought after
Composting Guru. I Love Composting is a
success and the reason says Dhanashree,
“If you follow your passion, success follows
you. Work does not seem like work. It is
a lot of fun”. The best part is that you
can leave a better planet for the future
generations.
ECOFEMME
In a country where 87% of women
are completely unaware about
menstruation nor have any knowledge about
its purpose and 75% of girls do not know
about the material to use to absorb the flow
(Unicef MHM) you might be tempted to believe
that standard sanitary pads are an end to all
menstruation problems. But what if they were
just the beginning? “The main reason for
using disposable sanitary pads is that we value
convenience over environmental, health, and
economic value. It could also be the disgust a
woman feels at the idea of washing menstrual
blood out of the pads” says Kathy Walkling of
Ecofemme cloth pads. Her journey as a cloth
pad entrepreneur began with her own quest to
dispose off the use and throw pads in an ecofriendly
and inoffensive manner.
When burying the pads did not seem to work,
she decided to experiment with making her
own pads. “It is empowering in many ways to
have full control of your own waste” she says
apart from recounting the health benefits of
natural cotton cloth pads. Women throw away
an average of 125-150 kg of sanitary pads in
their menstruating life. If every one of the 300
million women of menstruating age in India
used pads this would mean an estimated 58,500
million pads that end
up in the landfill every
year. “Also, if you
are squeamish about
taking charge of your
own waste disposal
imagine how terrible
it must be for a waste
picker to take charge
of someone else’s
garbage” she says.
“My real passion
is women’s
empowerment
and integral rural
development” states
30 | August 2015

Walkling. So moving
from just making pads
for personal use, she
began experimenting
with designs and
started producing
them for other
women in Auroville,
Puducherry as well as
for friends overseas
who were inspired to
sell the products in
their own countries.
Without really trying,
she stumbled into
entrepreneurship along
with Jessamijn Miedema who had herself
been part of several large scale livelihood
projects and was inspired by the idea of women
supporting women in a producer-consumer
relationship. With the help of local women selfhelp
groups, Ecofemme today
exports the cloth pads to
over 14 countries all over the
world. “Profits from the sales
help sustain our educational
outreach programme in rural
communities and enable us
to give pads at a subsidized
rate to economically
disadvantaged women”, she
states.
This all woman team has
grown over time and today
Ecofemme has 18 dedicated
members dealing with
production, marketing, gifting etc. The product
line has also grown to suit different needs. The
foldable pads at first sight can pass off for a
piece of cloth while drying on the clothesline, a
feature that was important to some consumers.
The other pad looks like a regular sanitary pad
“The main
reason for using
disposable sanitary
pads is that we
value convenience
over
environmental,
health, and
economic value”
with buttons to hold it
in place for women who
prioritised body fit.
The business provides
employment to local
women, who after the
initial training work on
their own, enabling
them to carry on with
their everyday chores as
well. Even if one were to
discount the environment
end economics, what
about personal health?
Do you know what is
in your sanitary pads?
Categorised as medical devices, sanitary pads
need not have labels that tell you about all
that they contain. So what you do not know is
that you are exposed to dangerous chemicals
which are there to enhance the appearance
and performance of the pad.
Feminine hygiene products
are made primarily from rayon,
viscose, and cellulose wood fluff
pulp. They have plastics and
gels to ensure that they do not
leak. These chemicals have been
linked to many illnesses including
cancers and hormonal disruptions.
“If it is good for the body,
good for the planet and good
for the dignity of others, why
would you not want to adopt
it?” asks Walkling. The creators
of Ecofemme certainly need not
pad up their claims. Chalk one up to economic,
planetary and personal health!
| August 2015
31

BY INVITATION
HAVING IT ALL?
Sayali Shende is a Corporate Trainer and
Founder of Crackerjack, a training &
development solutions company. She has
rich and diverse experience with corporates
and academia in USA and India. She is a
professional brand strategist, a prolific writer
and a blogger. She likes to write on a variety
of subjects right from branding to emotional
intelligence to women empowerment.
Women and multitasking have long
been mentioned in the same breath
and with good reason. We cook,
clean, go to office, get the children to study,
run errands, pay utility bills and generally do
it all. We lead successful careers, are excellent
wives, daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law,
sisters, counsellors, next door neighbours
and faithful friends. Sure, we get lauded for it
too. We all have read odes composed on us,
admiring us for our superwomen capabilities.
On an average each woman receives at
least 4 such messages, more from men than
women, reminding her, that she is a wonderful
creation of God, without her the world would
stop existing and how she completes a man’s
world. Not that women get impacted by these
rave reviews from their better halves, nor does
it stop them from achieving super human
feats, day in and day out! A stressful day for a
man is just another routine day for a woman.
But where are we going with all this? In an
age where technology is supposed to make
our lives easier and more convenient, bring
our loved ones closer and give us time to sit
back and relax with a book and a hot cuppa
steaming coffee, do you ever wonder when
was the last time you did just that? Caught
up with a friend, giggled like a silly school girl
and went ballistic over a half eaten chocolate?
I bet every woman out there is the
uncrowned Multitasking Queen. We are
so good at it that women have begun to
symbolize this apparently lofty achievement.
What is true in our personal lives is true in
our work/professional lives as well. We are
multitasking on multiple projects. In several
organizations because of agile technologies,
customer demands and rapidly changing
trends, multiple projects are on the floor at
the same time. We have to please them all,
32 | August 2015

the biggest customer being our boss.
Multitasking appears to save us precious
time and to do what we always want to do,
relax and destress. But pause for a moment
and think, does multitasking
indeed get the job done?
Israeli physicist Dr
Eliyahu Goldratt in his path
breaking book Critical
Chain proves otherwise.
According to his study,
multitasking wastes
time instead of saving it.
Through a very interesting
demonstration he proves
that multitasking erodes
the quality of work, takes
more time to complete a task and in fact
leaves you with no room to breathe. Result?
More work, more stress and perennially
being behind the deadlines and so more
multitasking! Before you know, it’s a vicious
loop you are in.
“Through a
very interesting
demonstration he
proves that multitasking
erodes the quality of
work, takes more time
to complete a task and
in fact leave you with no
room to breathe”
So what do we do now? Simple, it’s time to
start Monotasking. Monotasking is the ability
to focus on one activity, complete it and then
move on to the next. This will enhance the
quality of the task, get it done in optimum
time and the best is, leave
you feeling happy about it.
Be the woman who
is smart, sassy, and a
monotasker. Think MONO,
think TIME. It will let you
escape to that spa whose
doors you haven’t entered
since you got married,
exercise, which you never
did since you started
working, or better still catch
up with your children, whom
you never met peacefully since they arrived in
this world. Want to do it all? Do it now, stop
multitasking, start monotasking, Slow down
and get a life, woman!
crackerjackco
| August 2015
33

TRAVELUST
NO BOUNDARIES
BY SMRITI SINHA
is like riding a bike”, says
Navneeta Joshi. “When you ride
“Life
a two-wheeler, the trick lies in
continuing to move. The moment you stop, you
fall. So is with life”, she adds.
What makes a woman want to ride a bike?
“And what stops a woman from wanting to?”
asks Navneeta.
In our society,
there is so
much that has
been forced
onto women
for so long that
we have come
to accept it.
For instance,
riding a bike
is still very
much a ‘boy
thing’. Gearless
scooters have
been accepted as a popular and cheap mode
of conveyance for women, not 500cc bikes for
sure!
Look at all the ads on bikes and you would
know what we are talking about. It is so
stereotypical to see a woman riding pillion that
it makes us cringe now. That’s why it is almost
refreshing to see women riders like Navneeta
for whom riding constitutes a huge part of their
lives. Also refreshing is her attitude towards it.
She doesn’t ride just because she can; she rides
because she wants to. Not a surprise that her
pet name Nobo stands for No Boundaries!
Navneeta has been riding for more than
twelve years now. Her first bike was a Yamaha
RX 100. Now she rides a Royal Enfield 500cc,
which is what ‘serious
riders’ choose. Taking
time out of her full
time job at a leading
MNC in Gurgaon, she
usually makes two trips
every year. Navneeta
prefers riding in a
group when she sets
off on one of her long
trips. Navneeta has a
group of bike riders
who do trips together.
“Sometimes you are
in such a treacherous
terrain that it’s comforting to know that if you
skid, help is at hand”, says Navneeta.
She recalls how during one such trip to Shoja
Valley (Himachal Pradesh) in 2013, the road was
covered in black ice. It was -3 degC and the
engines wouldn’t start. To add to their woes,
they had about 700 kms to cover in a day as
most of them were joining their offices the next
day. So the group decided that whoever slipped
34 | August 2015

on the road would honk and continue to do so
because the sound would echo and one of them
was bound to hear. As luck would have it, one
guy fell but on the other side of the horn. So
he couldn’t honk as had been decided. And he
was recovering from a hand injury so couldn’t
do much for himself either. Thankfully, the group
had conducted a headcount and knew who was
missing. Navneeta rode back, helped her friend
up and they carried on.
of elbow- and knee-pads and helmets, they are
lugging big backpacks and all kinds of things
they might need in case their machines need a
quick fix. Like common electrical wire comes in
handy if the clutch wire breaks. You may not be
able to speed but it is good enough to take you
the nearest garage which may be hundreds of
miles away. “That’s another thing riders know.
We know our machines and also how to fix
minor glitches”, says Navneeta.
Navneeta even found the love of her life,
Nilesh, on one such trip. This ‘rider’ duo had
bikes on their big day as well; the groom
reached the venue on his bike and his bride
rode pillion after
the ceremony. The
bridal finery stopped
Navneeta from riding
her own bike, she tells
us.
That makes us
wonder, how does a
woman rider cope with
the stares and gawks that
she would invariably invite from other roadusers?
“See, a woman riding a bike could be
an alien alighting from a UFO. So cat-calls or
someone overtaking you for the sake of it are a
given. But serious riders don’t do any of that”,
shares Navneeta.
It was another trip last year December with
her husband, 500-odd kms from Delhi to a
village on the Indo-Nepal border, Bilai, where
Navneeta woke up to some very harsh realities
of life. The small hamlet near Moradabad, with
200 or so people, didn’t have basic amenities,
like a primary school. It moved the couple so
much that they adopted the village and started
a small school there.
But for riders like
Navneeta, riding a bike is
way more relaxing than
driving a car. In a car, you
are cocooned.
For a bigger problem with the bike, she
needs to visit a mechanic and that is something
she doesn’t relish, even after all these years.
Navneeta says she is yet to meet a mechanic
who would take her
seriously. “They’d rather
take me for a ride. I rode in,
didn’t I? So, I should know
what I am talking about
and yet they prefer arguing
with me, telling me how I
can be so sure about what’s
wrong…” she rues.
Women riders are still a rarity
in India and we are yet to see them crowding
our roads. But for riders like Navneeta, riding a
bike is way more relaxing than driving a car. In a
car, you are cocooned. On a bike, you can turn
your head, look around and enjoy being a part
of the scenery unfolding before your eyes, she
adds.
As Dr Seus said
“You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!”
Navneeta is already planning her next trip
to Uttaranchal where she wants to visit a cave
temple, Bhadrakali. Have bike, will ride!
Navneeta mentions that riders carry a lot of
weight, literally. Apart from their protective gear
NoboneetaJoshi
| August 2015
35

36 | August 2015

STARTUP SMART
FUNDING YOUR DREAMS
BY NEETU RALHAN
The Indian startup ecosystem is growing at a
scorching pace. According to data compiled
by YourStory, In the first half of this year, Indian
startups have raised $3.5B funding and the
number of deals in Q2 2015 has increased by
50% from the previous quarter. Another online
report indicates that close to
90 Indian startups raised
funds from various sources
in June 2015 alone.
In spite of the
encouraging aggregate
numbers, only a fraction
of this capital has been
allocated to women-led
ventures. The Dell Women’s
Global Entrepreneurship Study that surveyed
women entrepreneurs across India, the
U.S. and the U.K. found that securing funds
remains a challenge for a majority of women
entrepreneurs across these geographies. While
Indian women startup entrepreneurs cited angel
investment as the easiest source of funding,
personal savings and informal loans from friends
and family were seen as the main source of
startup capital for those interviewed.
“…The difference between funding issues
between them and male entrepreneurs is
that they have issues even in approaching for
funding,” observed Dell’s Chief Marketing
Officer Karen Quintos.
“The difference
between funding issues
between them and male
entrepreneurs is that
they have issues even in
approaching for funding”
“I have seen it’s more our mindset that holds
us women back than the lack of opportunities.
Indeed funding is not gender-specific and
investors are not looking for only male-founded
startups. It’s just that women have a tendency
to underestimate themselves, and thus end
up restricting their own
potential”, says Bhawna
Agarwal, award-winning
Serial Entrepreneur, Startup
Mentor, and CEO, Luxury
Retail Services Pvt. Ltd.
Bhawna has been very
active in the Indian startup
ecosystem for over sixteen
years and is an Advisory
Board Member to a number
of ventures.
So where does someone get funding from?
There are multiple funding avenues available
to startups today and many small and mediumsized
businesses are thriving on these.
VENTURE CAPITAL is one of the most
media glorified sources of funding. A venture
capitalist or VC is a professional investor
(individual or firm) who puts money in a
startup as a business investment and seeks
substantial returns on investment, along with
key involvement in strategic planning. Because
| August 2015
37

STARTUP SMART
VCs want your business to be profitable,
they provide all the support you need to
get to the top and stay there. SAIF Partners,
Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners and
Kalaari Capital are some of the several VC
firms currently active in India. In May last year,
Embibe, an online test prep startup by Aditi
Avasthi,
raised $4
million from
Kalaari
Capital and
Mumbaibased
VC
fund Lightbox
Ventures.
opportunity to get your idea funded directly
by the public or a group of people. However,
this mode of startup funding is still at a nascent
stage in India. Some popular crowd funding
sites are Wishberry, Catapooolt, Indiegogo and
PikaVenture. A two-year old startup company,
RHL Vision, raised about 77 lacs in 2014 in just
43 days
through
Angel
investing is
catching very
rapidly across
sectors. An
angel investor
lends his or
her personal
capital to
a promising
business in exchange for equity (stake in
ownership). Compared with venture capital, an
angel investment may come with less stringent
terms and conditions, and is often a source for
initial stage funding (seed funding). The Indian
Angel Network is amongst the prominent and
leading platforms that connect an investor to a
venture. Urban Tailor, co-founded by Lavanya
Venkatraman in 2015, received an undisclosed
amount of seed funding from a group of angel
investors this July.
CROWD FUNDING is one of the
upcoming ways of funding one’s venture.
A crowdfunding platform gives you the
crowdfunding
site Indiegogo from people across the world.
BANK LOANS work for companies that
are just starting out and testing waters. Most
Indian and foreign banks provide startup loans
to women especially in the Micro and SME
space. The Bharatiya Mahila Bank, which is also
the country’s first women’s bank, now provides
collateral-free loans for up to Rs.1 crore to
women entrepreneurs.
There are some pros and cons of each method
of funding. “Banks often have stringent criteria
that your business must fulfil to be able to
secure a loan. Furthermore, angels and VCs
also act as mentors for startups, and add value
38 | August 2015

STARTUP SMART
with their expertise and experience. Perhaps
that explains why new entrepreneurs prefer to
raise capital from these
sources, even though it
means a certain loss of
autonomy over how you
run the business,” says
Saswat Mishra, AVP, SMC
Investments and Advisors
Pvt. Ltd, a leading
financial services company
headquartered in New
Delhi.
Many first-generation startup entrepreneurs,
for example, Flipkart founders Sachin and
Binny Bansal, and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar
Sharma, have taken to mentoring innovative
startups, providing financial as well as strategic
support. Noted industrialist Ratan Tata has
invested his personal funds in several startups,
the most recent one being Nidhi Agarwal’s e-tail
fashion portal Kaaryah. Bhawna thinks that it is
imperative that women shed their inhibitions
and reach out to mentors, industry advisors,
incubators, and startup accelerators. She
strongly believes that associating with industry
experts gives one strategic insights which are as
valuable for a startup as is the funding.
She strongly believes that
associating with industry
experts gives strategic
insights which are as
valuable for a startup as is
the funding.
“We’ve seen some highly successful big game
Indian startups with women as co-founders
or key employees, but
fewer with women at the
helm. With recent success
stories such as Zivame,
Limeroad, CashKaro and
MobiKwik, in the next five
years we will hopefully see
more and more women
entrepreneurs become
‘pro-funding’ and make
the most of the growth
opportunities available to them,” concludes
Bhawna. The long-awaited arrival of womenonly
venture capital funds and angel networks
would be a definite boost in this direction. And
we hear they’ll be here soon!`
Today there are numerous online resources
you can access for information on current
funding trends, which investors to approach,
and how to make a winning pitch. Every
interaction, even a rejection, brings a fresh
perspective. Moneyed investors are always
scouring the startup world for the next big
thing. If you believe in your idea, and if you are
serious about growing your business, go out
and share it with those who can help you scale.
The key here is to show up and be persistent.
A worthy proposition is bound to get someone
interested sooner or later.
| August 2015
39

STARTUP SMART
LEGAL ANGLE
Mr Manoj Wad is a leading Corporate Lawyer
and Partner at J S Wad & Company. In his career
spanning 27 years, he has practised in the
Supreme Court and is on the legal advisory board
of leading Multinational and Indian companies.
He specialises in consulting startups and has
advised them through many a legal challenges.
When an entrepreneur decides to start
a venture, there are many things
buzzing in her head. Product or
Service Quality, Marketing,
Branding, Financial Planning
and more. Usually, the legal
angle is not given due
thought because most
start ups are busy starting
up and want to focus on
what they think is a mustdo.
But It is imperative that
new ventures proactively
understand the areas they
should do due diligence
in because the result of
not doing it might cause
potential litigations.
One of the first areas I
would urge startups or new ventures to focus
on is about choosing a business partner. By far
the most important but ignored issue is that of
finding the right business partner. It is a cliché
that one should do
business with the
“like minded”. The
point really is that
in a country of such
cultural diversity as
ours, it is only logical
to expect that the
first generation
entrepreneurs
would bring to the
business table, the
reflection of their
social backgrounds
and therefore
work cultures. In
my experience in
handling multitudes of cases for Startups and
Litigation of any kind is
a huge drain both on the
personal and the corporate
finance, apart from being
a huge emotional drain,
depriving the parties
of valuable time and
energy that could have
been deployed more
constructively in business.
40 | August 2015

STARTUP SMART
SMEs, the legal tangles can even lead to survival
challenges to many a venture.
I would advise every startup entrepreneur to
ask these fundamental questions to herself while
choosing a partner.
1. Does my prospective partner share my vision
of growth of this business ?
2. What is my partners family, social, and
financial background ?
3. Have I made some enquiry about my
partner’s interaction with his/her colleagues
either as co-employee or as erstwhile
business partner ?
4. Does my partner understand the concept of
sanctity of a written contract in the context
of avoiding friction and disagreements in the
future ?
5. Does my partner agree that world over,
one of the pillars of successful businesses is
effective and timely advice from qualified and
experienced professionals ?
6. How important is it to my partner that
there should be complete transparency
between the partners and a hundred percent
compliance with ALL applicable laws ?
The National Company Law Tribunal (
NCLT), was a court created in 1988 to take
over the specific and limited jurisdiction of
the High Court to deal with disputes between
shareholders or partners of a company. A
Rs.100 crore company died a slow painful death
because of such a litigation and because the
co-shareholders could not settle their disputes
even though they were from the same extended
family. ‘Business ethics’ are far from evenly
distributed even amongst people related
to each other. An overwhelming majority of
the disputes could have been avoided if the
partners had asked themselves the questions
listed above.
The importance of the questions above
get magnified when one is looking to doing
business within the ‘family’. Given the emotional
undercurrents in a litigation involving family,
amicable resolutions in such cases have been
rare to come by.
Litigation of any kind is a huge drain both
on personal and corporate finance, apart from
being a huge emotional drain, depriving the
parties of valuable time and energy that could
have been deployed more constructively in
business. So a positive start in getting the ‘right’
person to partner with you could go a long way
in shaping your dream venture.
manojwad@jswad.in
| August 2015
41

STARTUP SMART
THE NETWORK
WITH A DIFFERENCE
You utter the word ‘Networking’ in a
room full of women and you can see
many, if not most, of them cringing. For
some it conjures up images
of being thrown in the deep
waters without having learnt
to swim well. For others, it is
a necessary evil because all
leadership lessons classify it
as a success mantra. Some
view it as a professionalized
kitty party.
But as an African proverb
aptly puts it, ‘If you want
to go fast, go alone. If you
want to go far, go with
others’. For those women
who venture out to start
new businesses, business networking becomes
mission critical. Knowing more people, getting
clients, learning from other entrepreneurs is a
basic for survival.
However, studies & surveys have shown
that many women do not like to be seen as
Most networking
groups also tend to
be ‘old boys’ focused
where the men of the
group huddle together
and a woman is often
left wondering on
how to approach such
closed groups.
‘selling’ or bragging about their business. They
also feel uncomfortable in directly asking for
leads or references. Most networking groups
also tend to be ‘old boys’
focused where the men of
the group huddle together
and a woman is often
left wondering on how
to approach such closed
groups. And one common
fear that women have is of
not wanting to be seen as
‘pushy’ or ‘gatecrasher’.
But here is an organization
with a difference.
Networking no longer
need be daunting or
a nightmare. Business
Network International (BNI)
was founded in 1985 by Dr Ivan Misner. Called
the ‘Father of Modern Networking’ by CNN
and one of the ‘Top Networking Experts to
Watch’ by Forbes, Dr. Misner is considered
one of the world’s leading experts on business
networking. BNI now has over 7,000 chapters
throughout every populated continent of the
42 | August 2015

STARTUP SMART
world. Claimed to be the largest business
networking organization in the world, BNI has
its presence in 63 countries with member base
of around 1,83,000 members.
What makes BNI different? The mission of
BNI is to help members increase their business
through a structured, positive, and professional
‘word-of-mouth’ program that enables them to
develop long-term, meaningful relationships.
The philosophy of this organization is built
upon the idea of “Givers Gain®”: By giving
business to others, you will get business in
return. This is predicated on the age-old idea
of ‘What goes around, comes around’.
has had a long term impact on both the quality
as well as quantity of business generated. The
immediate effect of increasing our visibility
and translating that into business was the
easiest and measurable part of it. We received
over 40 lacs of business in the first year of our
joining itself”.
Belonging to BNI is like having dozens of
sales people working for you. If a person in
your network meets someone who could use
your products or services, they recommend
you. BNI provides a structured and supportive
system of giving and receiving business. It does
so by providing an environment in which you
develop personal relationships with dozens
of other qualified business professionals. By
establishing this ‘formal’ relationship with
other people, you will have the opportunity to
substantially increase your business.
BNI conducts its network events in a very
structured and professional way and makes
optimal use of the members’ time and is
focused on business growth. The business
exchanged between members is tracked and
reported through accounting systems. The
success of a chapter and the network depends
on the business generated by the chapter
members for each other.
In her testimonial of how BNI India has
shaped her success, Poonam Bhat, Cross
Global Travels, Bangalore says, “Joining BNI
was easily the one decision that I made, that
BNI India is one of the leading countries
in the BNI fraternity. Bharat Daga, Executive
Director of the world’s top region, Pune East,
proudly says, “women entrepreneurs are an
important part of BNI and we recognise that
women are in fact better networkers and we
have much to learn from them. At BNI, we
have got rid of barriers women typically face
in networking with our well defined structure
and policies and we see our lady entrepreneur
members leading the way ”. BNI provides
training on how to network more effectively
and build a referral marketing system. They are
keen to learn and BNI provides the know how.
| August 2015
43

STARTUP SMART
BNI conducts special events to invite
business women to have a
first-hand experience of the
network chapter. Over the
last one year, there has been
a steady rise of women in
various chapters because
the spread and reach of BNI
and its highly focused and
systematic way of working
makes it a very conducive
network for women who
prefer a professional and
secure ecosystem for
networking.
Kavita Shah, owner of
House Of Ideas, a customised handicraft
venture and member of BNI Champs, Pune
East, has had very positive experiences. “When
I moved from Bangalore to Pune, I didn’t
have to go far to start off in a completely new
city. Being a part of BNI is like having a large
group of family and friends across cities and
countries. Its not just about business. We help
At BNI, we have got
rid of barriers women
typically face in
networking with our
well defined structure
and policies and we see
our lady entrepreneur
members leading the
way
each other even at personal levels. The sense
of security and trust in
networking is key for any
woman entrepreneur”.
Dr Ivan Misner, Founder
BNI, drives home the point
when he says, “Networking
is more about ‘farming’
than ‘hunting’. It is about
cultivating relationships”.
Here is an organisation
that believes that business
growth is built on
relationships and mutual
trust and is not a predatory
mission. And isn’t that just
what women need!
www.bni-india.com
44 | August 2015

LIFE IS FUN
BY SMRITI SINHA
We spend our lives working towards
that first job, as if it will be the last
hurdle in our life. Little do we know
that a job in a bigger city is just the beginning
of a steeple-chase, if you will.
I remember my first job interview over a
decade ago. A newspaper was hiring and I
was one of the chosen few for Delhi. With an
offer letter in hand I felt invincible. It didn’t
take long for the reality to
sink in, that a job also meant
leaving the college hostel
and finding a hovel of my
own.
My parents thought
it would be safe if I
was put in a working
women’s hostel. I
had had enough of
hostel-food and didn’t
want any more of it, I
complained. Did I have a better option, I was
asked. So we turned up at one of the best
working women’s hostels in town. It was all
hunky-dory till the Warden burst my bubble
with, “The gates close at 8 pm sharp and
are reopened at 6 am.” At which my parents
pointed out that every other week I would
return around 3 am. “She could then sleep in
her office for 3 hours and come here at 6!” the
lady offered.
ROOM WITH
A VIEW
Then I heard from a friend’s friend how an
Aunty in the posh Hauz Khas Extension was
letting out rooms to ‘paying guests’. The house
was huge, with four rooms on the first floor,
each to be shared between two girls. Each had
an attached bathroom. With a common kitchen
and a terraced garden, and the promise of
three meals a day, what more could I ask for?
And that was a grave
mistake, as I was to learn.
We were never called down
for meals; in fact we tossed
a coin as to who would go
groveling for it. And even
then, leftovers were dug
out of the fridge and
microwaved right before
our eyes. When we
got bread, it would be
so stale it crumbled in
our hands even before
reaching our mouths.
We were specifically instructed to call her
Aunty in case we bumped into any of her
guests. Just so we could keep up the charade
of being her friends’ kids.
She played her role to the hilt; so much so
that she would borrow cosmetics or would get
one of my flat mates to pluck her eyebrows.
Our next option was to look for a small flat
on rent. Most of them were either too far or
too small or both. Coming from Lucknow,
the city of Nawabs, it was beneath me to
live in a pigeonhole passing off for a 2-room
apartment.
She also never took the rent through cheque.
We paid in cash and got no receipts. One
month at Aunty’s and those pigeon holes near
office started looking like luxury apartments.
I moved out in another fortnight. How the
mighty fall!
| August 2015
45

PROFESSIONS ON THE TABLE
MEDIA REPORTER
With myriads of channels on air, electronic media continues to be a hot
favourite amongst those who like to face the camera. The profession of a
Correspondent or TV Reporter is seen as a glamorous and exciting career
for those interested in the medium. We speak with Liza Roy, one of the
leading Correspondents with the Zee group of channels, who gives us an
inside out account of the profession.
How does one get into this
profession? Are there any
essential qualifications?
To get into any form of media,
especially electronic or print, you need
to be qualified in mass communication
and journalism at a graduate level. You could
pursue masters and other
specialised courses post
your primary degree. These
courses are available at
most leading national and
international universities.
What is the
primary role of a
correspondent?
A correspondent is
essentially responsible for finding out
newsworthy incidents or happenings
in her given area and then creating an
interesting or compelling story of the incident.
How does a correspondent
work on a day-to-day?
When I started my career with a media
giant in Kolkata, I was assigned a
geographical area. I had to slowly
build my network of information sources over
a period of time and maintain good relations
with those
people
so I could
get news
about an
incident or
occurrence
as close to
real time.
When I
moved from
Kolkata to
Mumbai to work for Zee, I had to start all over
again. Given that I had a larger area, I had to
smartly ensure that my team and I cultivate the
right information network. You have to have
46 | August 2015

your ears and feet on the ground, always!
Who should get into this kind
of a profession?
First, you should be articulate in
the language of the channel and be
able to present news or stories in an
interesting manner. You should also have the
confidence to speak in public.
You need to very
passionate about media.
It is a 24 by 7 job and
doesn’t have fixed hours.
You could be on your way
home after a story and
then suddenly you might
get a call about another
coverage you need to
do on a breaking story.
So you have to be ready
to roll anytime of the
day and night. When I
was covering the 26/11
Mumbai attacks, I was reporting for more than
72 hours at a stretch.
Many people tend to perceive
this as a glamorous profession.
Well, there is of course the element
of glamour and entertainment in
a job like this. You get to meet
and interview celebrities and top notch
entertainment professionals. Also because
you are on TV screens reporting news, a lot
of people recognise you. Recognition means
a lot to many people. But all stories are not
about entertainment. Crime, unpleasant
incidents, natural catastrophes like floods,
earthquakes also make for news. So one has
to be open to covering all segments as a
correspondent. Over time, you might find
You could be on
your way home after
a story and then
suddenly you might
get a call about
another coverage
you need to do on a
breaking story.
your niche’ but for many years till then, it is
going to be broader coverage.
What is your advice to
budding women professionals
in this field?
Over the years, I have seen many
women entering this field. But few
stay on. While unpredictable hours of
work are a key reason which impact women
with small children, many
women are also unable to
take the stress of being alert
24 by 7. So if you love the
adrenalin rush of a story,
want to give your viewers
newsworthy bytes and don’t
mind the erratic schedules,
only then should you choose
this line of work.
Any learning
tips for
professionals?
You need to have a nose for news.
Don’t miss reading newspapers
and digital media reports on a daily
basis. There is a lot of preparation work
required for a story. You also need to be a
great teamplayer because you work with
your crew to report any news. Every story
is different and new. If you like doing new
things everyday, this is the profession for
you.
| August 2015
47

IN FOCUS
MUMBAI
Viira Cabs is a ladies taxi
service with highly trained
women chauffeurs Viira
Cabs is an answer to the
demand for door-to-door,
safe, reliable and ecofriendly
transport service
in Mumbai. A Green Fleet
Service for Women and by
Women. Inclusion of women
in transport services has
a two-fold aspect – they
provide a safe transport
system for women and more
significantly, provide an
employment opportunity for
women from low economic
backgrounds.
Courtesy : Viiracabs.com
SAFETY
ON
WHEELS
Courtesy: Rushlane
THANE
GWALIOR
Tata Motors has partnered
with Laxmibai Mahila
Nagrik Sahakari Bank and
SGS Motors in Gwalior to
launch the Veerangana
Express – an affordable,
comfortable, convenient
and safe cab service for
women, by women in
Gwalior. The Veerangana
Express will use the Tata
Magic IRIS for commuters
who depend on threewheelers.
Following a series of reports of sexual
abuse of women, harassment, rude
behaviour by male auto drivers,
Mumbai Metropolitan Region
Transport Authority (MMRTA) has
sanctioned ladies special autos to
Thane Transport Department. Initially
50 auto rickshaws driven by women
to ferry women commuters will be
launched.
KERALA
She Taxi – an out-of-the-box innovative business
model is re-engineered to enhance the safety
parameters for the women populace. The
overwhelming challenges facing women in
society triggers an unprecedented demand
for a safe environment for women. Unlike the
existing conventional driving culture, She Taxis
exhibit and promote ‘NextGen’ women driven
entrepreneurship model; cabs owned and
operated by women powered by holistic safety
systems in place.
Courtesy: Rushlane

#DESPITE BEING A WOMAN
“I am happy that the prime minister of
Bangladesh, despite being a woman, is
openly saying that she has zero tolerance
for terrorism. I would like to congratulate
Sheikh Hasina for her courage to deal with
terrorism with zero tolerance.”
PM Narendra Modi at
Dhaka University
# DOWNHILL
Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, who is
facing sexual harassment changes, was
removed as the chief of The Energy
and Resources Institute (Teri), by the
institution’s governing council.
# WRONG SIDE
A Mumbai court has for the second time
rejected bail for Janhavi Gadkar, the lawyer
who rammed her Audi car into an oncoming
taxi while driving on the wrong side of the
Eastern Freeway in an allegedly drunken state.
The 35-year-old corporate lawyer has been
booked for culpable homicide not amounting
to murder, which carries a penalty up to 10
years in prison.

NEWS MAKERS
#TOUCHTHEPICKLE WINS
MINDS AND HEARTS
P&G India’s “Touch the Pickle” campaign for
sanitary protection brand Whisper won at the
Cannes Grand Prix this season. This series
encourages women to defy tradition and
taboos related to menstruation by touching
the pickle jar literally and metaphorically.
CREATING HISTORY
Sania Mirza became the first woman tennis
player from India to win the Wimbledon
women’s doubles after she and her doubles
partner Martina Hingis defeated the
formidable Russian pairing of Ekaterina
Makarova and Elena Vesnina at Wimbledon
Centre Court
#100 SAREEPACT
The #100SareePact is a challenge that women
are taking to wear 100 sarees in 365 days.
This is a brainchild of Anju Kadam and Ally
Matthan, two regular urban Indian women
yearning to wear their sarees. A turn in the
conversation about how their precious sarees
lying in cupboards, unworn and unseen, led
them to form the #100sareepact.
CHART TOPPERS
Women candidates bagged
all the three top slots in the
prestigious Civil Services
examination.Ira Singhal
topped the examination
followed by Renu Raj and
Nidhi Gupta, who secured
second and
third positions respectively,
according to the results
announced by UPSC.
In the final chartered
accountancy (CA)
exam, Delhi girl Shailee
Chaudhary stood first in the
country with 75.75%, a position she shared
with Rahul Aggarwal.
50 | August 2015

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