Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs And Leaders Of India
Indian is moving along with the world and uplifting women from social barriers & limitations. Indian women are unstoppable and are achieving newer endeavours around the world. They are not only operating businesses but becoming world-class entrepreneurs & influential leaders. And as far as ‘Bhartiya Nari’ prospect is to be covered, they are nailing it at balancing their house and career.
Indian government classifies women entrepreneurs as an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman having a minimum of 51% financial interest and giving at least 51% of employment generated in the enterprise to women.
We have prepared a list of few women who are no political figure but their only concentration is business organizations:
1. Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd, a biotechnology-based company. She was marked as the richest woman in India in 2004. She has completed her schooling from Bishop Cotton Girls School, Bangalore and graduated from Mount Carmel College in the city.
Initially, she faced difficulties in starting her business as her loan applications were declined by financial institutions for her business belonged to a rarely known field, back in the 1970s. She started her business initially with Rs. 10,000 in her garage in 1978. The company lacked assets, but today, her company is the biggest biopharmaceutical firm in the country.
2. Ekta Kapoor
The creative head of Balaji Telefilms, Ekta Kapoor is the daughter of Jeetendra and sister of Tushar Kapoor. After the success of her most famous venture ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ which aired in the 2000s on Star plus, she has been the known face of Silver Screen in India. She has been awarded the Hall Of Fame award at the 6th Indian Telly Awards 2006 for her contributions to the television media.
3. Neelam Dhawan
The Managing Director& leader of Microsoft India, Neelam is a graduate from St. Stephens College from 1980. Further, she posts graduated from Delhi’s Faculty Of Management studies in 1982. The biggest irony is that she wanted to work in FMCG majors like Hindustan Lever and Asian Paints. However, both FMCG giants rejected her because they were not in a mood to appoint women for marketing and sales. Now she is the chairman of Microsoft and making marvels every day.
4. Naina Lal Kidwai
Kidwai was the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School. She has been on the list of Fortune magazine’s Worlds Top 50 Corporate Women from the year 2000 to 2003. As per a report by the Economic Times, she is the first Indian woman to head the operations of a foreign bank in India (HSBC).
5. Indu Jain
The prime face of the most powerful & largest media house of India, Indu Jain has been the chairman of Times Group which sells Times of India, the most widely selling newspaper in the world. Apart from being a leader women, she is also known as a spiritualist, a humanist, an entrepreneur & an educationist. She is the perfect picture of the successful Indian Woman entrepreneur.
6.Priya Paul
Priya is one of the strongest businesswomen in India and the chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, a subsidiary of the Apeejay Surrendra Group. Her company operates ‘The Park Hotels’ chain of hotels in India and foreign countries. She has a bachelor’s degree with a specialisation in Economics from Wellesley College, USA.
7. Simone Tata
Coming from one of India’s biggest business family, Simone Tata has entrepreneurship in her blood. She has been a key instrument in changing the face of Tata Oil Mills’ subsidiary business of cosmetic production into the largest cosmetic brand in India ‘LAKME’. She became a part of Lakme during 1961 and has been responsible for turning the company into one of the biggest fashion brands in India. At present, she is the Chairperson of Trent Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Group which has stores across India by the name ‘Westside’.
8. Mallika Srinivasan
She is the Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), a tractor major incorporated in 1960 at Chennai. After she joined the company in 1986, she worked to escalate the turnover. As a result, currently, their turnover has been brought up from 85 crores in 1986 to 2900 crores present day. And that too within a span of merely 3 decades.
Apart from this , she is a Board member of AGCO Corporation – United States, Tata Steel Limited and Tata Global Beverages Limited, a member of the Executive Board of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, the Governing Board of the Rural Technology And Business Incubator of the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai and the Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Trichy.
She has been honoured with the title of Businesswoman of the Year during 2006 by the Economic Times.
9. Preetha Reddy
Preetha is former Managing Director & Vice President of Apollo Hospitals, Chennai. Apollo hospitals are one of the largest healthcare conglomerates in India. She is one of the pioneer businesswomen of India in the segment of Health Care Industry. She has graduation in Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from Madras University and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Annamalai University.
10. Ranjana Kumar
She is currently the Vigilance Commissioner in Central Vigilance Commission after she retired from the post of Chairperson of NABARD- (National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development) and holds history as a prominent Indian Banker.
She became the first woman to become head of a public sector bank in India after her appointment as the Chairperson and Managing Director of The Indian Bank by Government of India. When she joined the office, the bank was submerged in huge economic losses and during her tenure, ensured the turnaround of the Indian Bank.
