TiEcon Delhi-NCR: Lesser Women Entrepreneurs — A Problem For Society And Businesses. Experts Discuss Why

Experts at TiEcon Delhi-NCR 2023 discussed the reasons for lesser women as entrepreneurs and the remedy that can solve this big problem.

A panel of experts on problems faced by women in the jouney to become an entrepreneur

Source : Twitter

TiEcon Delhi-NCR 2023: The Delhi leg of one of the biggest startup conferences of India successfully concluded on Saturday, March 18 with who’s who shared their thoughts with the entrepreneurs. The theme of the conference "Navigating The New World" really witnessed its purpose with the event touching almost every important aspect necessary for the startup community in the country. 

One of the sessions focused on a report titled ‘Creating 10x Women Founders - Women Entrepreneurship’ that details the challenges that women entrepreneurs and aspiring women face in the world of startups. 

While giving a gist about the report, Srikant Sastri - President, TiE Delhi – NCR & Chairman, i3g Advisory Network, highlighted five significant findings about the report. They are: 

1. Women are as successful as men in running a startup. The odds of success are similar. 

2. Women founders have built 17 unicorns raising 12-billion-dollar equity.  

3. Women are not scared of deep tech startups like machine learning, fintech, biotech, etc.  

4. Women-led startups are inventive in the same way as startups led by men. 

5. Only 18 percent of women-led startups exist in the overall chart. Whereas, around 76 percent of women have the intent of running a startup as compared to 73 percent of men. 

While it is evident that the report talks about these aspects in detail, it was the engaging conversation that made the session really interesting.  

The session had Srikant Sastri, Apurva Chamaria – Head of Startups & VC, Google India, Padmaja Ruparel - Co-Founder, IAN & Founding Partner, IAN Fund, Ravi Chhabria - Managing Director, NetApp India and Anuja Dhawan – Co-Founder, Dubverse, as participants. It was moderated by Atit Danak - Partner & Head, Zinnov. 

Lesser Number Of Women In Business 

Kickstarting the discussion, Srikant Sastri spoke on why the percentage of women entrepreneurs has remained stagnate for so long. He said that all people inside the room were responsible for it as for some reason people believe that entrepreneurship is equal to technology. 

Sastri said that support is not given to those women who want to be entrepreneurs but not in technology this was one of the reasons for only 17-18 percent of women in the entire ecosystem. Elaborating on the second critical point, Srikant said that there are various tech areas where women are doing really well in academia, like Biosciences, but there was a lack of collaboration from the industry to convert their research into a product. 

Speaking on the topic, Anuja Dhawan pointed to the lack of women founders grouping and mafia, like is being done by other specific startups which, according to her, creates a ripple effect. She added that the lesser number of women in founding teams is another reason that hinders women's participation in the startup/entrepreneur domain. 

Continuing from what Srikant Sastri said, Padmaja Ruparel highlighted that in tier 2, and tier 3 cities, a large number of women are running small home businesses but, she added, that they have never been looked at. She asserted that the founders and investors always look at a business from a fundable perspective which limits their participation in these small businesses women are running all alone. 

Secondly, she mentioned, that while Flipkart and PayPal have done so, women entrepreneurs have not been able to come out as women mafia which was a failure. “We all, even I as a woman am head down focused only on what I need to do,” she said. Ruparel further mentioned that the patriarchal society at large has always been a hurdle in this. 

Continuing the discussion, Srikant Sastri said, “Men like me are completely useless when it comes to helping women and the day when men like me to start becoming useful at home, we will see more women entrepreneurs.” 

Women In STEM But Not In Business Outcome 

Talking about the stark difference when it comes to women studying STEM subjects but actually working on it, Ravi Chhabaria said that there are many reasons and they are mentioned in the report, but one thing he focused upon was the generational issues. 

He said not just society, but overall businesses are very male dominant even today. He said, “If you have someone being assessed by all men, you are being assessed by the same lens.” 

Speaking on women as entrepreneurs, Apurva Chamaria said, “Women make really insanely entrepreneurs. The conviction, purity of purpose they have when they start something and detail orientation of theirs is phenomenal.” 

Chamaria urged the audience at the event, especially the investors and funders, to recruit more women, invest in more women and mentor more women to give them an opportunity to fly high in the startup community too. 

Why More Women Entrepreneurs Are Needed? 

More women entrepreneurs are not only a purpose for the upliftment of women, but it is also a profitable solution for the industry as a whole. Explaining the same, Padmaja Ruparel said, “Women are the purchasers. They understand what to buy, and what they need and understand problems. A certain class of products is completely women-oriented.” 

She added that the best people to build a business are those who know what the need is. She further said that what is starker is that the community has an even lesser number of investors. “It is more stark why we have so less women investing in others. (sic)” she added. 

The discussion was intense on the participation of women when Srikant Sartri proposed a commitment to training more women to become investors to which Padmaja Ruparel agreed. So, while her Indian Angel Network will work to increase the number of women in investing, Sastri will work to train more women as entrepreneurs. The deal was welcomed with applause in the hall. 

Towards the end, the speakers shared how the problem can be solved. Sharing her idea, Anuja said that more capital is required to back women to be in business and become entrepreneurs. She mentioned that the Indian startup community is very supportive and it will continue to back other women as it supported her.