Tag: Female Entrepreneurs

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Startup

5 Top VC Funding Firms Focusing On Women-Led Startups

5 Top VC Funding Firms Focusing On Women-Led Startups
5 Top VC Funding Firms Focusing On Women-Led Startups

Gone are those days when women were confined within the four walls of the kitchen. Today, from sports to business, women are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the world; dominating every sphere unabashedly and fearlessly.

And as more and more women are realizing the significance of being financially independent, India is experiencing a great surge in the number of female entrepreneurs. However, the number of female entrepreneurs is still low as compared to men as seven out of 100 entrepreneurs in India are women.

Nonetheless, female entrepreneurs are excelling with their ideas and execution techniques. Some are even becoming business motivational speakers to help others who are trying to make a mark in their respective fields. But despite their good ideas, they are facing challenges when it comes to funding. Here is a list of five VC funding firms that are helping women entrepreneurs in India:

1. Kalaari Capital

Founded by a true leader Vani Kola, Kalaari Capital is a leading VC that strives hard to help founders succeed and flourish in the business world. Vani is referred to as The Mother of Venture Capitalism in India, and there is a reason behind it. Kalaari Capital is an early-stage, technology-focused venture capital firm with $650 Mn in assets. Based out of Bengaluru, it has been empowering visionary entrepreneurs since 2006. Not content with being one of the first homegrown VC firms in India with a steadily growing list of startups in its portfolio, Kalaari launched Kstart, a seed fund initiative, in 2016.

Kstart focuses solely on seed-stage funding and differs from other funds in that it doesn’t set a valuation at the time a startup is raising funds from it. Kalaari has built a reputation for picking the best young minds and mentoring them to build successful enterprises, some prime examples being Myntra, Urban Ladder, Zivame, Power2SME, YourStory, and Bluestone, among others.

2. LetsVenture

Founded in 2013, LetsVenture provides a common platform for startups and investors alike to connect. LetsVenture works with startups and investors on discovery, syndication, and closure. This involves managing due diligence and paperwork closure. There are 12000+ startups and 2200+ investors on the platform. Founded by Shanti Mohan LetsVenture has enabled more than 100 startups to raise over $40mn. Since its inception in 2013, LetsVenture has facilitated over $100 million in investments. Startups like Testbook, DailyNinja, Wishberry, MyUpchar, and Ketto as part of its portfolio, have 3,700 members.

3. Saha Fund

Founded by Ankita Vashista, Saha Fund is a Bangalore-based venture capital and private equity firm. Saha Fund is India’s (and Asia’s) first venture capital fund that promotes women’s entrepreneurship and is dedicated to making investments in women-led companies across different sectors. Saha is keen on companies that use technology to scale. If you too have a startup and are looking for funding, you can watch this video by Dr. Vivek Bindra- the best motivational speaker in India: 

4. She Capital

According to research conducted by She Capital, when women business owners pitch their ideas to investors for early-stage capital, they receive significantly less – a disparity that averages more than $1 million – than men. Hence, to encourage more women to participate in the Indian startup ecosystem and take on the boys’ club in the Indian unicorn ecosystem, Founder and former CEO of Mydala, Anisha Singh launched an early-stage venture capital fund, She Capital. The company was founded with a belief to help the next generation of phenomenal female-led businesses scale to their maximum potential.

5. Qualcomm Ventures India

Founded in the year 2000, Qualcomm Ventures is the $1 billion venture capital arm of global tech giant Qualcomm, and the arm is highly optimistic about India’s technology-driven startup ecosystem. The firm believes in diversity and encourages different points of view and aims to help connect entrepreneurs to the resources, relationships, and deep industry expertise they need to succeed in the entrepreneur journey.

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Business motivation

Feeling Low and Demotivated? Here Are 7 Inspiring Quotes by the Most Influential Women Entrepreneurs That Will Boost Your Confidence

Women Entrepreneurs in India (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

The world is changing and modern times are now witnessing more and more women entrepreneurs taking up different types of businesses and succeeding like never before. Women-led businesses are rising beyond all levels and these females are proving themselves worthy of everything with each passing day. The only thing that keeps them going is- not giving up and not settling for anything less.

We are all facing the COVID-19 pandemic and amid the uncertainties all around, these quotes from these great inspirational ladies will truly cheer you up. Inspirational quotes from successful people can help you reframe negative thoughts during tough times and change your attitude for better things in life.

Here are 7 motivating quotes from the most powerful women in history

  1. “There is nothing like a concrete life plan to weigh you down. Because if you always have one eye on some future goal, you stop paying attention to the job at hand, miss opportunities that might arise, and stay fixedly on one path, even when a better, newer course might have opened up.” ― Indra Nooyi
  2. “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes—understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” -Arianna Huffington
  3. “You will be defined not just by what you achieve, but by how you survive.”―Sheryl Sandberg
  4. “I invented my life by taking for granted that everything I did not like would have an opposite, which I would like.” -Coco Chanel
  5. “I don’t believe in failure. It’s not a failure if you enjoyed the process.” -Oprah Winfrey
  6. “If you push through that feeling of being scared, that feeling of taking risk, really amazing things can happen.”- Marissa Mayer
  7. “Growth and comfort do not coexist.” ― Ginni Rometty
  8. “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” ― Arianna Huffington

It has never been easy for women to prove themselves, but they have fought against all odds in the stereotype male-dominated society and made a place for themselves. Females have made important contributions as businesswomen, entrepreneurs, actors, leaders among several other fields.

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Business motivation

10 Inspiring Books Every Female Entrepreneur Should Read to be Successful

Inspiring Books for Women Entrepreneurs| Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)
Inspiring Books for Women Entrepreneurs| Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

In today’s world that is slowly moving towards gender equality, more and more women are taking up entrepreneurial roles. Defying the age old orthodox barriers of society and religion, several women are leading the business world effectively and effortlessly. Married women and mothers who left their career midway to fit in the household role are also making a comeback with impactful start-ups and business ideas. They are leaving no stone unturned to prove their worth and capability to a male-centric and patriarchal society. 3 Marketing Techniques for Start-Up to Follow During Initial Business Stages.

Amid the complexities and challenges of the business world and the constant struggles to keep with the at the family front as well, many female entrepreneurs start losing their motivation and find it difficult to hold on the spirit of moving ahead. To pull out the women entrepreneurs from such situation and bring them back on the track of success, here are some inspiring books : 4 Startup Ideas That Housewives and Moms at Home Can Consider and Earn a Good Amount.

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal

Shark Tales by Barbara Corcoran

The Gift of Struggle by Bobby Herrera

What You Can Do, I Can Too by Helen Vallaeys

Connect The Dots by Rashmi Bansal

Dare to Be: 14 Fearless Women Who Gave Wings to Their Dreams by Rinku Paul and Puja Singhal

Superwomen: Inspiring Stories of 20 Women Entrepreneurs by Prachi Garg

In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs by Grace Bonney

Million Dollar Women: The Essential Guide for Female Entrepreneurs Who Want to Go Big by Julia Pimsleur

She Walks, She Leads: Women Who Inspire India by Gunjan Jain

From incubation to implementation of the business, entrepreneurs have to go follow a long and difficult journey. Constant source of motivation and appraisal is required to keep moving ahead towards the achieving success without giving up because of small hurdles.

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Finance

5 Schemes to Financially Empower Women Entrepreneurs in India

Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs | Representative Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)
Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs | Representative Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

The start-up ecosystem has been blooming in India without any gender disparity, more and more women are also establishing and running their own businesses successfully and independently. In many sectors, the women-led businesses have outshone the male ones. Even the government through its various organisations, several private and public sector banks and other non-banking financial institutions are progressively supporting the women-led initiatives. They are providing loans and funds at easier and flexible terms of repayments and lower interest rates to female entrepreneurs so that they easily overcome the financial bottlenecks and a smooth and efficient functioning of business is undertaken.Women-Led Businesses in India Get Major Boost As Visa Announces Grants To Empower Budding Businesswomen.

Here are 5 schemes to financially empower business women :

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

Under this central government scheme, loans ranging between Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 Lakh are offered to women entrepreneurs at easy terms of repayments. It is managed by the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) and offers loans to production, trading and service sector businesses.

Stree Shakti Package For Women Entrepreneurs

Under this scheme offered by the State Bank of India, women who have at least 50 per cent of the ownership stake can avail a discounted rate of interest by 0.50 per cent if the loan amounts is Rs 2 Lakh or more. The applicant should however taken part in state run Entrepreneurship Development Programmes.

Orient Mahila Vikas Yojana Scheme

Under this scheme offered by the Oriental Bank of Commerce, women who have at least a 51 per cent of the ownership stake can avail loans ranging from Rs 10 Lakh to Rs 25 Lakh without any collateral security. With a payback period of seven years, a concession of up to 2 per cent is also given on the loan. Business Confidence in India Improves As Economic Activities and COVID-19 Vaccination Drive Gathers Pace: NCAER Survey.

Stand-Up India

Under this scheme offered by the Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI), loans are offered to manufacturing, trading and service sector businesses. Loan amount ranging from Rs 10 Lakh to Rs 1 Crore are offered to the applicant. It can be repaid within seven years from the date of issue.

Bharatiya Mahila Bank Business Loan

Under this scheme, loans are offered up to Rs 20 Crore for businesses in the manufacturing and production sector. It also provides, a concession up to 0.25 per cent on the interest rates is also provided. Under it, one can avail a loan up to Rs 1 Crore without any collateral security.

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Startup

Women in Business: 5 Tips for Female Entrepreneurs to Establish Successful Start-Ups

Women in Business| Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)
Women in Business| Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Women are increasing taking up various entrepreneurial roles with the bloom in start-up ecosystem. Not only has the female participation in the work fold has increased, women are increasingly starting their own businesses and becoming financially independent. To promote women entrepreneurship, the government has also introduced various schemes to provide financial support to their business at the entry stage as well as during growth phases. The wave female entrepreneurship  is not restricted to urban areas only, more and more rural women are starting their businesses.5 Habits of Highly Successful Leaders and Entrepreneurs.

From idea generation to establishment and running of business operations, women all over the country are single handedly driving their start-ups to growth and success. Here are some tips for women entrepreneurs to be successful in business :

Know Your Business 

Before starting the business, the women entrepreneurs should gain proper and adequate knowledge about the nature of business, market conditions, nature of products and services offered, strategies of competitors, consumers’ tastes and preferences and choose the most profitable positions for the product. Awareness and clarity on different aspects of markets help to boost confidence of the entrepreneurs.

Be Decisive 

Another important characteristic a woman in business needs to have is decision making. As an entrepreneur, women face various challenges, both business related as well as socially constructed. She needs to be upfront with all the difficulties and follow her heart. Woman entrepreneurs need to be highly decisive, trust their decision making process and stand by it. Top 21 Books That Every Entrepreneur Should Read In 2021.

Networking 

To grow in business, support and collaboration is important. This is even more important for women who are new to entrepreneurship as in most cases they lac support from their immediate surroundings. Connecting with already established and successful business women strengthens young female entrepreneur psychologically and provide much needed motivation and guidance.

Seek Feedback 

Feedback and reviews from customers help in understanding the market better and making necessary changes. Entrepreneurs should read reviews, find articles about their business, and interview their customers. They need to pay particular attention to negative reviews and ask people specifically what they wish they were getting out of the product or service they’re using from your competition.

Be Positive and Believe in Yourself

Businesses take time to establish and experience success. It is a long process. There are certain bottlenecks take keep popping up in the journey. However, a women entrepreneur should never be afraid of failure and always remain positive. She needs to trust herself and have full faith in their dreams to becoming a successful businesswoman.

Women are regularly scaling newer heights in all aspects of life. In business as well, various female entrepreneurs have proven their immense worth while many others are on their way to success. Self belief and determination with adequate knowledge are the key to success.

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Startup

Planning to Start a Business? Here are 4 Tips for Women to Become Successful Entrepreneurs

Women Entrepreneurs (Photo Credits: Pexels)

Starting a business is not easy. One has to really think out of the box to become a known and successful entrepreneur. When it comes to creative thinking, women are no less! Female entrepreneurs can do wonders if they are given the right guidance and motivation they need. Right from picking up a business idea, creating a business module to funding, a woman can become a successful entrepreneur in no time.

According to research, entrepreneurship rates among women increased by 13 percent versus 5 percent for men, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), which monitors 40 economies from around the world. Female entrepreneurship is growing with each passing but it still has a long way to go. Here are four tips that will empower you to get started today. 5 Schemes Focused on Development of Women Entrepreneurs in India.

Love What You Do

When you are planning to start a new business, keep in mind that you will have to pick a business that you love. Ultimately, you will work with passion for things that you love and wish to do. So, choose a business that you think you will never lose your interest in! As yourself, what are you completely and absolutely passionate about? Maybe it’s a hobby or maybe there is something you’ve been longing to do. When we feel completely and utterly passionate, there is no room for judgment.

Believe in yourself

Sometimes, we doubt our own skills. We often underestimate our talent that leads to failure and rejections. You should always let your passion burn brighter than your fears. Keep in mind that the only thing that you have that no one else has is ‘you’. Your dreams, your passion, your power and the world will be yours. You just need to do one thing- that is, to believe in yourself.

Never give up

Failure is just a part of the deal. If you are afraid of rejections, you will always face hurdles in your business because you are not open to learning new things. This will however, hinder your growth in the long run. For becoming a successful entrepreneurship, all you need to do is keep trying. The formation of great companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google are classic examples of motivating us never to give up on our ideas. Don’t quit. Keep going.

Get feedback

Where there is love and inspiration, you can never go wrong. But you should keep on asking people for feedback. Feedback is critical to validate your business and its reach. It can also help you understand what customers want. You should read reviews, find articles and interact with them to develop and good understanding. Pay particular mind to negative reviews and ask people specifically what they wish they were getting out of the product.

 

Categories
Startup

5 Schemes Focused on Development of Women Entrepreneurs in India

Women Entrepreneurs in India (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

The Indian startup ecosystem is thriving successfully. For the past few years many entrepreneurs have emerged and established their business across the industries with much success, giving tough competition to the existing stalwarts. Not only men, Indian women are progressively moving the bandwagon on entrepreneurship forward. Women have been fraying well in the start-up community, starting, sustaining and succeeding in various businesses ranging from food to clothing, entertainment to event planning, tech to handicrafts. They have been proving their worth in the business sphere.

Keeping in view the enthusiasm and determination of the women entrepreneurs, the government has launched various schemes to support and encourage them. The aim is to motivate more and more women to enter the business sector, have their start-ups and fulfil their dreams. Quick finance, loans and other facilities are provided to women at easy and flexible terms and conditions, so that they can start and sustain their businesses.

Here are five schemes that are offered for the development of women entrepreneurs in India-

  1. Stree Shakti Package For Women Entrepreneurs

The scheme is offered by the State Bank of India and its branches. Under this loans up to Rs 50 Lakh are sanctioned to women entrepreneurs who have at least 50 per cent share in the ownership of a firm0020vvvv0072 or business and have taken part in the state agencies run Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDP). If the loan exceeds Rs 2 Lakh, a 0.50 per cent concession is granted on the rate of interest.

  1. Annapurna Scheme

Offered by the State bank of Mysore, this scheme is available to women entrepreneurs who have started or plan to start a food catering business. The loan can be utilised for buying various goods required in the business including kitchen equipments. A loan up to Rs 50,000 is sanctioned under the scheme. The loan can be paid back in 36 instalments. The interested charged as per prevailing rates. To secure the loan the candidate needs guarantor and has to offer some asset as collateral.

  1. Dena Shakti Scheme

The scheme is offered by Dena Bank. Under this, women who plan to start businesses in various sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, micro-credit, retail are provided loans. A loan up to Rs 20 Lakh can be sanctioned under this scheme There is a concession of 0.25 percent on rate of interest. Under the scheme, loans up to Rs 50,000 are offered under the microcredit category.

  1. Udyogini Scheme

This scheme is offered by Punjab and Sind Bank to the women entrepreneurs involved in Agriculture, retail and small business enterprises to get loans for business at flexible terms and concessional interest rates. The maximum amount of loan under this scheme for women between the age brackets of 18-45 years is Rs 1 Lakh but the candidate’s family income is also taken into consideration and is set at Rs 45,000 per annum for SC/ST women. For widowed, destitute or disabled women from SC/ST categories, a subsidy of 30 per cent of the loan, up to Rs 10,000, is provided.

  1. Mudra Yojana Scheme for Women

This scheme is offered by the Government of India for women who want to start small new enterprises and businesses including beauty parlours, tailoring units, tuition centres, among others. There are three schemes under it each with different criteria for loan sanction. Firstly, Shishu Scheme, where loan up to Rs 50,000 is sanctioned to women to fund the initial stages of the business. Secondly, Kishor Scheme, here the loan amount ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 Lakh and is offered to well-established women enterprise. Lastly, Tarun Scheme here loan amount is Rs 10 Lakh and is offered to established business looking for expansion and diversification.

Apart from them, various other schemes for the development of women entrepreneurs are being offered by several organisations in the markets. The main aim of such schemes is to ensure financial support to women entrepreneurs to help establish the business and keep it afloat in later stages.

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Business motivation Strategy

Visa, IFundWomen Announce Grant Programme to Empower Women Entrepreneurs in India

Entrepreneur (Photo Credits: Pexels)

Mumbai, September 21: With an aim to empower women entrepreneurs in India, Visa along with its global partner IFundWomen on Monday rolled out a grant programme to boost the morale of women entrepreneurs across the country. According to a report by IANS, the digital payments technology leader will seek applications from women entrepreneurs across all sectors till October 20, 2020. IfundWomen is the go-to marketplace for women-owned businesses. The applicants need to submit details about their business and online presence, along with a short video about their business to www.ifundwomen.com/visa-india. Three winners will be selected and receive grants of Rs 7 lakh each and training from leaders within the Visa and IFundWomen network.

Women-owned businesses constitute around 14 percent of the total entrepreneur base in India. To spread the word, Visa said it has partnered with FLO (the ladies’ wing of FICCI) and Instamojo as digitisation partner for the programme in the country. T R Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa, said, “We want to see this number increase but our interactions with women entrepreneurs show that access to capital to fund, run and grow their businesses remains a challenge”.

The Visa and IFundWomen grant programme in India, the first outside of the US, “aims to boost female entrepreneurship and empower budding businesswomen through our network, guidance, financial support and resources to help achieve their dreams”, he added.

Visa’s partnership with IFundWomen is specifically designed to help women entrepreneurs secure the funding they need through a series of grants. This year in June, Visa had committed to supporting 50 million small businesses globally to power recovery and enable them digitally. In August 2020, through the first India edition of Visa Everywhere Initiative, it awarded three fintech startups with monetary awards and technological support to take their solutions to market, the company said.

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Business motivation Leadership Building Motivational Powerful Personalities

7 Motivating Quotes By The Most Powerful Women That Will Boost Confidence of Female Entrepreneurs

Female Entrepreneur (Photo Credits: Pexels)

Modern times have witnessed more and more women entrepreneurs taking up different types of businesses and succeeding like never before. Female entrepreneurs are rising beyond all levels and proving themselves worthy of everything with each passing day. There are times when people are let down, but the wisdom lies in not giving up, and not paying heed to what the world says! One should believe in oneself and the rest of the things will fall in place! However, at time we just need the positivity and the motivation to get us going.

The quotes from these great inspirational ladies below are truly words of wisdom. Inspirational quotes from successful people can help you reframe negative thoughts during tough times and change your attitude for better things in life

The wise and beautiful words from the most positive thinkers will get you in the right mindset to tackle the hurdles that you face. Inspirational quotes and motivational quotes that will inspire you to achieve your dreams. Read these quotes by these empowering women, launch your business, and becoming a girl boss.

Here are 7 motivating quotes from the most powerful women in history

  1.  “I don’t believe in failure. It’s not a failure if you enjoyed the process.” -Oprah Winfrey
  2. “If you push through that feeling of being scared, that feeling of taking risk, really amazing things can happen.”- Marissa Mayer
  3. “I invented my life by taking for granted that everything I did not like would have an opposite, which I would like.” -Coco Chanel
  4. “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes—understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” -Arianna Huffington
  5.  “If people are doubting how far you can go, go so far that you can’t hear them anymore.”- Michele Ruiz
  6.  “You never lose in business, either you win or you learn.” – Melinda Emerson
  7.  “If you are starting your own business, the best shortcut is to find a good mentor.”- Kim Kiyosaki

Throughout history, it has never been easy for women to prove their mettle. However, women have fought against all odds in the stereotype male-dominated society and made important contributions as businesswomen, entrepreneurs, actors, leaders among several other fields. Some of the most talented and successful women have believed in history and the world has seen what they are capable of. So never give up on dreams and keep hustling.