India Startup  

Started as a small cafe in Indore in 2016 by two graduates, Chai Sutta Bar is now a Rs. 150 crore chain with 550 outlets in 300+ cities in India, UAE, Nepal, and Oman. 

Suumit Shah and Subhash Chaudhary launched the application ‘Dukaan’ during the lockdown which aimed at empowering small shopkeepers. In just 20 days of the launch, over 1.5 lakh online stores registered on the platform.

Aman Gupta launched five different ventures before boAt, but he could not achieve success with any of them. In 2016, Aman along with Sameer Mehta co-founded the company boAt. Despite facing numerous challenges over the years, the duo’s persistence and dedication eventually led to the success of the company.

Stand-Up India is a government scheme that offers financial support to people from SC/ST community and women entrepreneurs who are above the age of 18. The purpose of this initiative is to facilitate bank loans to at least one SC/ST borrower and at least one woman borrower per branch to set up Greenfield projects.

Ravi Prasad sources banana trees from nearby farmers for his handicraft business. To date, he has provided training to 700 women in the art of crafting banana fibre products. On average, his business generates sales of approximately Rs 2 to 2.5 lakh per month.

Apoorva Mehta quit his high-paying jobs at Amazon and Blackberry and ventured into establishing his own business. He is the founder of Instacart. It is a leading grocery delivery company in countries like America and Canada.

Nadeem was operating his restaurant business well until the pandemic hit the world. The lockdown made it difficult to attract customers and bearing the household responsibilities became troublesome. He tried his luck one last time before giving up and established a kebab selling business.

Gujarat’s Neha Bhatt runs a tea startup with the name ‘Ampu Tea Neha.’ In July 2021, Neha met with an accident. Her left side of the body was damaged and due to a delay in treatment, she had to undergo amputation, losing one of her legs. She sells almost 300 cups of tea daily and earns somewhere around Rs 1 to 1.5 lakh in a month.  

Indore’s Nikunj Sharma launched his tea business in Gorakhpur. Initially, he found it difficult to open a single outlet in the city but with the kindness of other people, he successfully launched his business. Today, Nikunj operates seven outlets in different cities and provides employment to people with disabilities.

During the pandemic, Heramb Dixit lost his job as a Chartered Accountant and returned back to his village. The future seemed uncertain, so he decided to start his own business of milk production. Heramb has seven buffaloes and ten cows. He produces more than 100 litres of milk every day from his animals. Today, he makes lakhs of rupees in a month.

Amit Kashyap and Mannu Sharma are friends from Haryana. They moved to Mumbai to try their luck in running their own business. Mannu came up with an unconventional idea of opening a tea stall in their Audi car. Their business idea proved to be successful, and celebrities often visit their shop regularly.

In this episode of Not For Women Only with Sunita Iyer , we enlist some of the many reasons why India needs more Women Entrepreneurs and how it can strengthen our country economically, socially and culturally.