From conventional sectors to new-age businesses, women leaders are now venturing across different verticals such as technology, marketing, health, tourism and what not. Breaking stereotypes, these leaders are changing the business landscapes and making their mark everywhere. The International Women’s Day is the time to recognise some of them who are making a bigger impact across different industries. By Team Viva

Neha Bagaria, Founder & CEO, JobsForHer (Connecting portal that enables women on a professional break to restart their career)

“There has been a call for equality over the past couple of decades. The magnitude of the problem in corporate India has opened the doors to a dialogue on processes to increase the participation of women in the workplace across levels and verticals. Working women and men deserve to be treated equally and with dignity. Diversity and inclusion will be the call to action for India Inc for the next decade and increasing the number of women in leadership roles.

Training and sensitisation are important measures that companies should invest in to enable their employees — both men and women — to understand biases and the importance of having more women in the workplace”.

Puja Punj, Co-Founder, GyFTR-Vouchagram (A tech-enabled offline to online gifting startup that enables Brand Currencies)

“When it comes to women entrepreneurs, there are questions around priorities. It is always assumed that it’s difficult to manage both home and work. The mantra I follow to maintain the work-life balance is to unplug myself from the certain things that can be managed without my attention be it at home or office. It always gives a sense of responsibility and accountability to the other person. I always make sure to keep some time of the day for myself to plan and analyse my goals. I believe in excelling at work through delegating the tasks to people as per their strengths which would not only lead to good results but will also be done with positive energy on time. To work with a team of people, the key is self-motivation and letting go of perfection to a certain extent to keep the spirits high.”

Roma Priya, Founder of Burgeon Law (India’s leading boutique law firm)

At Burgeon Law, we have a team of cognisant women lawyers some of who come from smaller cities. With our collaborative synergies, we pro-actively contribute to India’s booming start-up ecosystem by supporting other women entrepreneurs in achieving their goals. It is our mission to support and enable women entrepreneurs with leveraging opportunities while getting rid of any financial and legal roadblocks.

The need for skilled talent may just be the opportunity we need to finally usher in a meaningful change in the long struggle for gender equality. It will drive companies to move more women into good jobs, keep them in the workforce and bring back those who have left as it will make more business sense than recruiting new talent and training them from scratch.

Meenal Arora, Founder Director, Shemford Group of Futuristic Schools (India’s leading school chain)

Besides being a human right, gender equality is imperative for women to realise their self-worth, take control of their decisions and fill the gap to access equal opportunities and resources as men. The impact of this parity is far beyond a particular section of the society, it sways the nation as a whole. Empowering women and giving them equal standing is the need of the hour to pull off sustainable development and economic upswing. Our battle against gender-bias is for equal respect, rights and stature in the society. The seeds of gender awareness need to be sown right from the young age of children that will make them responsible citizens with a mindset to create a nation free from discrimination.

Neha Kaul, Marketing and Brand Head, Shine.com (India’s second-largest job search platform)

“With organisations becoming more serious about cultivating diversity, the trend of building women-friendly policies and programmes is becoming more mainstream. With the shortage of skills in the tech sector, tech firms are leading the way in incentivising women to re-join the workforce. This includes programmes to support women with young children, flexible work options, and technology-enabled systems to help women navigate their careers while balancing their role as the primary caregiver for children. The need for skilled talent may just be the opportunity we need to finally usher in a meaningful change in the long struggle for gender equality. It will drive companies to move more women into good jobs, keep them in the workforce and bring back those who have left as it will make more business sense than recruiting new talent and training them from scratch”.

Dipali Mathur, CEO & CO-Founder, Super Smelly (India’s only 100% toxin-free personal care brand for GenZ)

“I am raising a GenZ daughter and as I step out of the house each day to go to work, I do that with a dream in my eyes that my little girl and many more little girls are watching me march to work knowing that working women are normal. They watch me being ambitious, voice my opinion, look after myself by exercising every day and eating nutritious food. They watch me questioning traditional patriarchal conventions, my quest for equality in more ways than one and would know that it is not an aberration to do all this, but its normal. I grew up watching my mom sacrificing her career, only looking after her children and in laws and often ignoring her own health and nutrition, never resting. I knew I had to be a part of the change to ensure the generation after me inherits an equal world.

In 2017 I realised that my daughter is a part of that massive 30 per cent of India’s population called GenZ for which not a single brand makes toxin-free products that are clinically tested specifically for their age. My friend Milan and I took things in our hands and triggered a toxin-free movement for the next-gen which was so far exposed to more harmful chemicals through personal care products as there were no options available for them. We launched India’s first and only zero toxin certified brand of personal care products for the youth with our dream of a toxin-free world for them. With Super Smelly now they have a choice to use safe and effective products which are specifically tested for their age”.

Aarti Gill, Co-Founder, Oziva (India’s first clean-label plant-based active nutrition brand)

“The seed thought behind being an entrepreneur were sown during the IIT days. While growing up, I saw a lot of health problems faced by people could have been easily avoided, only if they just had a better lifestyle. This motivated me to start OZiva. For me the challenges I faced as an entrepreneur had nothing to do with the gender, it was similar to what every entrepreneur goes through. Today, more than 80 per cent of our customers are women and we are working towards building the community of 10k women entrepreneurs who are living a healthy lifestyle and inspiring others to do the same thing. We believe if a woman is educated about fitness and healthy lifestyle they pass on the same to the family.”