Radhika Ghai on wellness, the joy of entrepreneurship, and the frustrating experience of being a ‘woman’ entrepreneur

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a more realistic understanding of health and wellbeing among the world’s population. 

For the longest time, wellbeing was associated with losing weight and looking slim, entrepreneur Radhika Ghai remarked at the HerStory’s Women On a Mission conference. 

When Radhika embarked on a journey to seek mental, physical, and spiritual well-being three years ago, she had to navigate through secret Facebook and WhatsApp groups or connect separately on phone calls to access the right information.

“Why the secrecy around it, the information was all over the place,” she asked, while she shared a personal experience that led to her second entrepreneurial journey with kindlife,  a New-Delhi based venture aiming to build a wellbeing ecosystem, complete with an ecommerce marketplace and a community.    

"It has very interesting AI and VR features that enable you to make better decisions and ultimately, we are also building out brands that will be targeted towards consumers who are looking at making wellbeing an integral part of their daily lives,” she added.

The co-founder of Shopclues – India’s fourth unicorn – and two-time entrepreneur in the ecommerce space is confident that India’s consumption economy is here to stay - driven by conscious consumers who want to buy better for themselves and for the environment.

She said consumers are also exploring, giving rise to new categories of products like nutraceuticals supplements, functional food and drinks, and healthy snacks. 

Stating that Kindlife is well-positioned to tap these factors of growth, Radhika said, “Every wellbeing conversation in the country should start with Kindlife as a hub.”

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Being a ‘woman’ entrepreneur

When asked about entrepreneurship, Radhika replied with enthusiasm. “I’m a builder at heart,” she said.  

Radhika has not only raised a seed round for Kindlife from Kalaari Capital but has also built a formidable team – 70 percent of which are women. The startup also boasts highest number of women angel investors on its cap table as a result of consciously bringing more women onboard.

If these are part of the joys of entrepreneurship and building things anew, Radhika was quick to disclose a frustrating aspect of being a woman entrepreneur: a never-ending string of questions that her male counterparts are never asked. 

Radhika thought she had left gender-based questions behind when she started up for the second time after proving her mettle as an entrepreneur with Shopclues and her children now grown up.

Oddly enough, she got asked whether she would be moving with her son as he started college. 

“Whether you are a male or a female entrepreneur, performance is the only thing that matters… performance building in the company itself is not a challenge but these questions never end and that’s frustrating.” 

Radhika urged women to just show up, adding “It is incredibly important that you don't get off the table despite the ups and downs. There are times when you feel that you don't want to be part of the conversation, the table, or the company but just show up.” 

She also advised women entrepreneurs at Women On a Mission to preserve one’s energy by learning to say no to things that do not have an impact in what they do. 

“One must also find a tribe to talk to in moments of opportunity and crisis, whether it is your group of friends, colleagues, or mentors,” she said as she signed off. 

A shout out to the sponsors of Women on 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.