It was the society where the men had the power, authority, and success in any field. So if we think it is the land of the men then we are absolutely wrong. There is a quote that “Every successful man back there will be a supporter of women”, but in the present scenario women are not only standing for the support of men they are also proving themselves as successful and best entrepreneurs, stepping out of their kitchen rooms. To know about it lets us see the 10 best Indian woman entrepreneurs of the year 2016.
And these 10 women are turned as role models for every female in India.
1. Indu Jain
Indu Jain was born on 8th September 1936 in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. Her religion is Jainism. She belongs to Sahu Jains family. Married to Late Ashok Kumar Jain, she has two sons Sameer Jain and Vineet Jain. She works for Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd. Position as Chairman and CEO. She writes spiritual columns for the philanthropic genre of the Times Foundation.
The President of India in 2003, formally launched Oneness Forum and it works under the leadership of Indu Jain. The Forum recently awarded the Mahatma-Mahavira Award to her. She is not only the founder but also President of the Ladies wing of FICCI (FLO). An International Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded by the Indian Congress of Women (ICW) to Indu Jain. Under the guidance of Indu, The Times Foundation has successfully collected national and international acclaim for it. In January 2016, the Government Of India awarded the Padma Bhushan to Indu Jain.
2. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Kiran Mazumdar was born on 23 March 1953 Bangalore, to Gujarati parents. Her father, Rasendra Mazumdar, was the head brewmaster at United Breweries. Her husband’s name is John Shaw. Kiran studied at Bangalore’s Bishop Cotton Girl’s High School then attended Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. She studied biology and zoology, graduated from Bangalore University with a B.Sc. in Zoology in 1973. She completed the degree of Master Brewer in 1975. She worked as a trainee brewer in Carlton and United Breweries, Melbourne and as a trainee maltster at Barrett Brothers and Burston, Australia. In 1978 she started Biocon.
It’s evolution spread from industrial enzymes manufacturing company to a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. Under Shaw’s leadership, today Biocon has established itself as a leading player in biomedicine research in order to focus on diabetes and oncology. Kiran is also a member of the board of Governors of the prestigious Indian School of Business and Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. From the government of India, Kiran received Padma Shri (1989) and the Padma Bhushan (2005). Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw was named among TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2010. In 2011 she was the Financial Times’ top 50 women in business list. She was listed as the 92nd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2014. In 2015, she had risen to 85th in the Forbes ranking. In 2014 she received the Othmer Gold Medal.
3. Indra Nooyi
Indra Nooyi, full name is Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi. She was born on 28 October 1955, Madras to the Saurashtra-speaking family. Her husband’s name is Raj K. Nooyi. She has two daughters. She was studied at Holy Angels Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Madras. She did bachelor’s degrees in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics from Madras Christian College in 1974 and a Post Graduate Programme (MBA) from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in 1976. In 2001 she became the CEO and president of PepsiCo. She was named as one of the 25 Greatest Global Living Legends by NDTV.
In 2007 she received the Padma Bhushan from President of India. In 2013 she received the Honorary Degree from North Carolina State University. In 2015 she received the Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. She works as a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, International Rescue Committee, Catalyst and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Eisenhower Fellowships and has worked as Chairperson of the U.S.-India Business Council. Nooyi works as Co-Chair for the World Justice Project.
4. Vandana Luthra
Vandana Luthra was born on 12th July 1959 in Delhi. Her father was the mechanical engineer and her mother was an NGO. She married Mukesh Luthra in 1980 and has two daughters. Vandana started VLCC in 1989 as a beauty and slimming services center. She is also the Chairperson of the Beauty & Wellness Sector Skill Council (B&WSSC). She received Padma Shri from Government of India in 2013. She received Asian Business Leaders Forum Trailblazer Award in 2012. She received the Enterprise Asia Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2010. Mrs. Vandana Luthra has been ranked 26th in annual Forbes Asia 2016 list.
5. Naina Lal Kidwai
Naina Lal Kidwai was born on 1957 and she married Rashid K. Kidwai. She runs an NGO named Grassroot Trading Network. Kidwai completed Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Delhi in 1977 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1982 and she was the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School and also the first woman to guide the functioning of a foreign bank in India. Kidwai has also worked as the Manager of West India Investment Bank from 1984 to 1987. She worked at Price Waterhouse & Co. from 1977 to 1980. She shows her interests in microfinance and livelihood creation for rural women and environment. Currently, she is the Country Head and Group General Manager of HSBC Group India. And she received a Padma Shri award for her contributions in the field of Trade and Industry from the government of India.
6. Chanda Kochar
Kochhar was born on 17 November 1961 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. She did her schooling from St. Angela Sophia School, Jaipur. She then completed her bachelor’s degree from Jai Hind College,Mumbai. Then in 1982, she studied cost accountancy and later completed a master’s degree in management studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. For Excellence in Management Studies, she received the Wockhardt Gold Medal as well as she received in Cost Accountancy the J. N. Bose Gold Medal.
She married Deepak Kochhar and has two children. By The Asian Bank under her leadership,ICICI Bank won the “Best Retail Bank in India” award in 2001 to 2005 and “Excellence in Retail Banking Award” in 2002. At the Asian Business Leadership Forum Awards in 2011, Kochhar was awarded the “ABLF Woman of Power” Award. In Forbes’ list of ‘The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, 2013’ Kochhar was ranked as the most powerful businesswoman in India. By the Time magazine Kochhar was selected in the list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World 2015. In 2015,in Asia Pacific, Kochhar was ranked first in the Fortune List of 100 Most Powerful Women. By India Today, Kochhar ranked 40th in‘High and Mighty Power List 2016’ in 2016. In the same year,in the Forbes Asia she was in the 22nd position in the‘50 Power Businesswomen List 2016.
7. Ekta Kapoor
Ekta Kapoor was born 7 June 1975 and she is the daughter of Jeetendra (father) and Shobha Kapoor (mother). She did her schooling at Bombay Scottish School, Mahim and attended college at Mithibai College. She has changed the face of Indian television by the establishment of the Balaji serials and Ekta Kapoor is the single woman who founded and made Balaji Telefilms as the household name in the today’s world. For her contribution to the Indian television industry, she has won the Hall of Fame award at the 6th Indian Telly Awards during 2006. In 2012 she won Asia’s Social Empowerment Award- Freedom Through Education.
8. Suchi Mukherjee
Suchi started Limeroad in 2012 along with Manish Saksena, Ankush Mehra, and Prashant Malik. From Lightspeed venture partners, Matrix partners and Tiger Global the company fund has raised to $20 Million. Suchi did her graduation from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and completed her post graduation from London School of Economics. Suchi received K.C. Nag Economics Prize for best student in Economics under 40. Suchi was selected as 1 of 15 women worldwide ‘Rising Talents”, high potential leaders. Suchi is an ex-employee of eBay, Skype, and Gumtree.
9. Richa
Richa is the first women founder of online lingerie store named as Zivame. In 2002 she did her engineering in BITS Pilani. In 2007 she completed her Master degree in Narsee Monji Institute of Management Studies. Before starting of Zivame.com she worked as a retailer for the global technology company. For intimate wear and shaping consumer behavior Richa played a role in India for educating women across the country.
10. Aditi Gupta
One of the things in a woman’s body cycle is Menstruation so society needs to accept the fact and should talk openly about it. For this Aditi Gupta has taken an initiative step. Aditi was born in Garhwa,Jharkhand. Aditi Gupta did her graduation in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering and post-graduation in New Media Design from National Institute of Design. So during her post –graduation at NID she got the idea for Menstrupedia.com. In 2012, Aditi Gupta with Tuhin Paul co-founded the Menstrupedia. This company provides information for the women to stay healthy and active during their menstruation.
Hats off to all of these women entrepreneurs!