Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Divya Gokulnath, Dipika Pallikal Karthik, Shilpa Rao and other stars light up Day 1 of Women on a Mission 2022
A galaxy of stars descended on Day 1 of HerStory’s Women on a Mission Summit 2022. Nothing but authentic, unfiltered, unapologetic and bold conversations with the very best!
At the heart of HerStory lies the belief that women are the formidable force that drive the world. Being true to our nature, we brought together women who have time and again with their grit, fearlessness and power proven, they run the world—today and always. Our flagship event, Women on Mission 2022 was our dedication to womankind.
The event kicked off with an introductory address by Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO, YourStory Media, who inaugurated the two-day event, while giving a glimpse of what’s in store as women from different walks of life deliberate, discuss and speak on topics close to their hearts.
Day 1 was graced by several prominent personalities such as Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, MD, ; Co-founder Divya Gokulnath; 's Naiyya Saggi and Priyanka Gill; Mallika Sardana of ; Singer Shilpa Rao; Radhika Ghai, Co-founder at ; Shilpa Karkeraa, Founder & CEO at ; Indian squash player Dipika Pallika Karthik, just to name a few. These incredible women came together to share their journeys, their learnings, challenges and what it takes to be the forces they have become today.
The storytelling gala began with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, MD, Biocon who spoke about her father’s influence in her life, the early days of Biocon and why women need to prioritise to become successful. As a qualified brewmaster, she recalled how no company was willing to give her a job. She took the rejection in her stride and started Biocon 40 years back in the garage of her rented house in Bengaluru with a seed capital of Rs 10,000.
“I didn’t have a large organisation to send people off for marketing and sales. I had to do it myself. I took buses across the country and met customers. My early days taught me to fend for myself and be brave,” she said. The entrepreneur signed off by offering some pragmatic words of advice to women entrepreneurs.
BYJU'S Co-founder Divya Gokulnath took the stage next to talk about diversity and inclusion for 21st century global companies. Divya spoke about how the company is building a global product, localised to every country, personalised to every learner. The edtech startup has empowered 12,000 teachers, all women, working from their homes in the last year. Women who are teaching from India to the world!
“Strong people fit, strong product fit and strong team fit is what has propelled our growth forward. It’s not about valuations, it’s about creating value and that is what we have focused on in the last decade,” she said.
An interesting panel discussion with women in the alco-bev industry was up next. Varna Bhat (Blisswater),Kasturi Banerjee (Makazai) and Priyanka Save (Fruzzante Wines), discussed their respective decisions to enter the “boys club” and create a differentiator with their unique products.
In the end, it is all performance driven. Whether you are a man or a woman, when you are building out a company of scale, performance is what matters, shared Radhika Ghai, Co-founder Shopclues, and Founder, Kindlife. Radhika advised women to show up, preserve their energy and find their tribe!
India's squash star Dipika Pallikal Karthik added another feather to her cap by turning entrepreneur last year. With no background in interior design, she smashed the word impossible out of the court and encouraged women to try what they want, without the fear of failure.
She further spoke about her comeback and pushing the boundaries.
“A lot of women have taken up sports and want to because of role models. Those dreams and aspirations have skyrocketed over the last few years because there are so many women in sports doing really well and I’m happy to be a part of this era,” she said.
Olympic athlete Ekta Bhyan, and Devika Malik, Asia representative, Commonwealth Children and Youth Disability network, poured their hearts out while chronicling their journeys.
“The confidence that was instilled in me to believe in myself as a larger identity than just my disability empowered me to take a voice as an advocate for other people with disabilities,” said Devika, who represents the Wheeling Happiness Foundation
Arunachalam Muruganantham, India’s ‘padman’, who revolutionised the menstrual hygiene industry in India, took us through his journey of building India's first lost-cost sanitary pad making machine. “A girl told me that she forgot she was on her period because of the comfort the pad gave her. It was a Eureka moment for me,” he shared.
We heard some interesting stories of new-age content creation from Mansi Gupta (Magsplay) and Gautami Kawale (Slayy Point), and fashion creator entrepreneur Masoom Minawala Mehta.
Cap. Anny Divya talked about being the youngest commander in the world to fly a Boeing 777, and also recalled instances of bias and how she dealt with it, while singer Shilpa Rao discussed women’s representation in the Indian music industry.
“There was a phase where female vocals were reduced to just maybe two lines in a song or the little second antra (para). But in 2021, there have been massive female-led songs, albums and credit for this goes to the female artists as they never gave up. We were not getting songs so we made them and created a niche. We created our own albums and videos and we kept the female voice literally and metaphorically going on,” Shilpa said.
Don’t let others impact the confidence in you. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent, marketing Wizard Maria Bartolome Winans shared. Always be your own biggest advocate, know what you deserve and don’t compromise, she added.
Don’t forget to log in tomorrow as the excitement continues and many more enthralling conversations take place on Day 2 of Women on Mission 2022!
A shout out to the sponsors of Women on a Mission Summit 2022, an Initiative by HerStory, by YourStory - BYJU’S, the presenting partner, and other sponsors - Kyndryl, Sequoia Spark, Zilingo, Atlassian, Akamai, Freshworks for Startups, and Netapp Excellerator.
Edited by Ramarko Sengupta