Do you ever feel conflicted between pursuing a high-paying career and one that contributes to society? If you answered yes, now is the opportunity to learn from women who have had the best of both worlds through entrepreneurial grit and determination. Here are five incredible women who switched from the glamour, security, and comfort of their well-paid and very successful positions to establish their own social venture.
Priya Naik, Founder At Samhita Social Ventures
Naik worked with the International Finance Corporation, the MIT Poverty Action Lab, and The Spark Group after graduating from the University of Michigan and Yale University.
She founded Samhita Social Ventures in 2009 and has led the organisation ever since.
Samhita Social is dedicated to addressing 'wicked problems via the power of collaboration, creativity, and evidence, in order to establish a sustainable and equitable future for all.'
Its primary goal is to help companies transition from compliance-driven CSR efforts to more impactful and catalytic CSR activities by embracing size, sustainability, and strategy.
Khushboo Jain, COO And Co-Founder At ImpactGuru.com
Khushboo Jain earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Sydenham College in Mumbai and a master's degree in marketing from Welingkar Institute of Management Development And Research. She moved on to work for Valiram in Singapore in fashion marketing, handling brands such as La Martina and Jimmy Choo.
When she co-founded ImpactGuru, a digital platform that provides crowdfunding solutions for critically sick patients in need of medical care, she was inches away from reaching the pinnacle of the corporate ladder. It collaborates with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social entrepreneurs.
More than ₹150 crore has been raised using the platform for grassroots organisations.
Ila Kapoor Chaddah, Founder At Ziba By Hand
Ila Kapoor Chaddah, a Delhi University alumna who has worked in firms such as KPMG, Ernst & Young, and PwC, has always had an interest in the arts and crafts. She had been working as a management consultant at IBM for a decade when she decided to create Ziba By Hand.
She started her own internet portal to promote the work of domestic designers and craftspeople that mix ancient Indian skills with modernism after becoming aware of the environmentally exploitative nature of fast fashion.
Ziba By Hand champions all things handmade and wants to raise awareness of the importance of sustainability in everyday life.
Her internet platform has helped hundreds of women in India's handicrafts sector overcome obstacles such as market access and taxes restrictions.
This is also a field where women are overrepresented yet underserved, and Ila has been successful in empowering a number of them as a result of her efforts!
Sheetal Mehta Walsh, Founder At Shanti Life
Credit poverty has been a problem in Indian society for many years.
Shanti Life, created by Sheetal Mehta Walsh, strives to address this issue by assisting the underprivileged in obtaining low-interest microfinance loans and training them on how to manage their finances.
Shanti Life has also been working relentlessly to address the community's food insecurity crisis as well as other economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their work is strongly founded on grassroots-level strengthening ideas.
Walsh studied Economics at the London School of Economics and the University of Alberta.
She worked at Microsoft as a Director of Venture Capital before launching Shanti Life to give back to the community.
Aditi Gupta, Founder At Menstrupedia
Menstrupedia was developed by Aditi Gupta with the goal of eradicating the stigma associated with menstruation that still remains in many sections of the country. Menstrupedia makes it possible to provide information about menstruation in a fun way by using instructive content in the form of comics and video journals.
Aditi's invention, which she co-founded with her husband, Tuhin Gupta, has had a global influence on 13 million girls. It has taught 50,000 girls about periods, trained 10,000 educators, and over 10,000 schools in India have adopted these comic books as part of their curriculum.
Aditi is a National Institute of Design postgraduate in New Media Design and an Electronics and Instrumentation Engineer. She formerly worked at the Ford Foundation as a research associate.
Women In The Indian Social Entrepreneurial Space
Because entrepreneurship has become THE ideal occupation of the decade, a large number of Indians have left their secure jobs to start something new. Companies formed by Indian entrepreneurs have created some of the most popular apps on our phones today. We've heard their motivational stories before, so that seems reasonable.
Simultaneously, it is critical to recognise the need for novel social interventions to address the myriad social and economic issues that have plagued our society for generations. As individuals of privilege in a society plagued by food insecurity, financial insecurity, housing insecurity, and health insecurity, it is critical that we recognise the value of social entrepreneurs.
Today, a slew of Indian women have launched their own businesses to address some of these challenges. Many of them have done so after leaving financially rewarding jobs, and it's fascinating to follow their paths, as we've seen.
In this light, we hope that the works of these courageous women encourage you to pursue your passion and find new methods to do so for the greater good!