AN UNEQUAL MUSIC

DESPITE VENTURE CAPITAL INVESTMENTS CONTINUING TO SHATTER RECORDS AND MORE UNICORNS POPPING UP THAN EVER BEFORE, THE NUMBER OF WOMEN LED START-UPS, INVESTMENTS THEY RAISE, AND EVEN THE COUNT OF WOMEN INVESTORS, REMAIN LOW

- BINU PAUL

“Even after a decade of running a fast-growing and profitable company, I had to experience someone calling me ‘emotional’ when I disagreed with their unsolicited business advice. Once, my COO (chief operating officer) and I went to meet someone who refused to acknowledge my presence and only spoke with my COO, assuming I was there to only take notes. I was also ‘advised’ against having a woman CFO because I was already a woman CEO, something that simply doesn’t happen in companies where the entire management and board are men.”

There may be a growing refrain calling for gender equality in the workplace, but the experiences of Hardika Shah show this may merely be lip service or an exercise in ticking the box. The Founder and CEO of Kinara Capital, which works on financial inclusion for small business entrepreneurs, says the systemic conditions make it difficult for most women to run their own business in India.

That holds true even for women entrepreneurs who are well educated, have a financially sound background, and know people in the start-up ecosystem. Take, for instance, Priyanka Gill. The Founder of POPxo, a women focussed digital community platform, says that at one pitch meeting, she was asked why she was looking for venture capital instead of asking her husband Raj, a London-based trader, for funds. “Raising capital is hard. For female entrepreneurs, it is harder,” says Gill. Regardless of their background, she adds, women still have to battle the inherent conscious and unconscious biases, including the age-old questions on juggling a career and family, to secure investments.