Women’s Entrepreneurship Day 2023: 7 Indian women founders disrupting different industries

Women’s Entrepreneur Day is on November 19, and it is an occasion to acknowledge the strides taken by women across different verticals and industries.

Photo Courtesy: PR Handout

From technology to fashion and education, women have been redefining various verticals through their innovative approach and foresighted acumen. Here we look at seven Indian women founders who are disrupting different industries.

Kanika Vohra and Anuradha Chandrashekhar - Fashion

Kanika Vohra and Anuradha Chandrashekhar, who joined forces as founding members of AJIO.com, are redefining the Indian fashion industry with their unique creative strategy firm ICH. Within a short time, the company has already scripted success stories in fashion/lifestyle retail for industry giants like Tata Cliq Luxury, Myntra, Amazon India, Pantaloons, etc. Kanika, a fashion brand specialist, and Anuradha, a design & content wizard, have founded ICH NEXT, India’s first Indian wear fashion forecaster, subscribed to by major players for trend insights. The duo is redefining the domestic fashion industry.

Rachna Jaiswal – Lifestyle

Rachna is the director of AKJ Industries Pvt. Ltd, a tannery-based Manufacturer and exporter of leather products based in Kolkata, India. Rachna has manufactured for the most prominent global luxury brands in the USA and Europe. Besides this, she has its own brand PIPABOX, which deals in lifestyle products like Leather handbags, pearl jewellery, Inspirational Notebooks, etc. Pipabox focuses on incorporating cultural aesthetics into its durable products made in India. Despite a lack of support, Indian products have proven to be superior. We should encourage and promote Indian products to build confidence in the brand.

Aastha Sharma, Workplace Cloud

From her beginnings in the beauty and lifestyle sector to leading a global SaaS venture, Aastha consistently challenges the status quo. She’s proven it’s possible to pivot, innovate, and lead, all while staying true to one's essence. Her ventures, including the impactful feminine wellness brand Imbue, now acquired, highlight her versatility and drive. Aastha is a leading voice in the tech world, reshaping the narrative of Enterprise SaaS within Workplaces. As the founder of Veris, she’s breaking ground – Operating in 22 countries, Veris is transforming workplaces with cutting-edge technology that intersects seamlessly with employee needs. For her, it's not just about digital transformation; it's about thriving workplace experiences that Veris is known to build. Millions of employees, have seamlessly adopted the Veris platform, which supports communication in nearly 20 languages. Veris is at the forefront of revolutionizing workplace management, seamlessly blending security and enhanced experiences.

Prof Supriya Pattanayak - Vice Chancellor, Centurion University of Technology and Management

An educationist and an edupreneur, Prof Supriya Pattanayak has been making a remarkable difference in the education domain for over a decade by pioneering skill-integrated higher education. She is the Vice Chancellor and co-founder of Centurion University in Odisha, the first university in the country to be recognized as a Center of Excellence by the Ministry of Skill Development. It is a university where self-sustainability is at the core; for example, all waste created on campus is recycled and reused, while water conservation is used to cultivate barren land. Besides, the university even manufactures essential components of HAL and ISRO, with student participation.

Komal Agarwal - Wearable

Komal Agarwal is the co-founder of Pebble, the fastest-growing smartwatch brand of India. Even though Komal had an MBA from IIM Calcutta, she was reluctant to join her family's power inverter manufacturing company. As a 20-year-old, she realized that smartphones were drained out of power within no time, thus needing a power bank. India had few choices for quality-assured power banks at the time. The company, which began with just five SKUs, now boasts over 100 goods, including smartphone accessories like speakers, Bluetooth earphones, and smartwatches. Pebble's recent collaboration with Warner Bros to bring out GoT-inspired smartwatches and Pepe Jeans Edition smartwatches has struck a chord with youngsters. With Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff as their brand ambassador, they truly create ripples, one Pebble at a time.

Karunya Sampath - Technology

A Wall Street tech wizard with a spiritual bent of mind, Karunya Sampath co-founded Pagoda Technologies, a company shortly after the advent of the dot com era. The company has been transforming how businesses across scale and verticals leverage technology. A software engineer by education, Karunya has worked extensively on diverse technical roles with product and platform teams at leading global entities. Outside work, she is spiritually inclined and has practised meditation for over 15 years.