[VoxSpace Life] Breaking Barriers : Addressing Challenges Faced By Women Entrepreneurs And Much More

Breaking Barriers Addresses The Challenges Faced By Women Entrepreneurs

Handling a business is quite a different ballgame altogether and is not everybody’s cup of tea. Moreover, in a developing and male dominated country like India, the challenges and barriers for women as a businessperson are even more difficult. Culturally, ethically and even professionally- today’s generation of women face a myriad of day to day challenges at home and also at work. Apart from this, the issues of self-confidence, wellness and health also come into the picture to feel good about themselves.  

Indian Women aspiring to be entrepreneurs get a lot of different challenges when compared to men in the same profession. The basic demand of woman, for being a home builder, and the definition of their roles are radically changing these days because of independent thinking and ideas of personal business’.  This metamorphosis leads to women getting into a lot of stress and turmoil. The Breaking Barrier Conference, held in Hyderabad last week, addressed this lesser touched topic, for the benefit of not just the businesswomen, but every aspiring young lady who is willing to make her mark in the field of business.

As per facts, only 14% of Indian Women run a successful business, which is much lower compared to the other countries. However, the good news is that Indian women are taking it as a challenge and venturing into business with a new thought, optimism and fresh ideologies.

Breaking Barriers has been successfully conducting conferences all over India, which were attended by nearly 10,000 delegates overall.  It also aims to provide an amazing platform for women to network with like-minded souls. The sixth instalment of Breaking Barriers was conducted in various cities this year including Panajim, Pune, Kolkata, and Coimbatore. The event in Hyderabad commenced at the creative office space of 91 Springboard, Madhapur in the midst of an interesting lineup of speakers from various business backgrounds. It was powered by Zoho, a well-known brand.

Change Is Good? Yes!

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The event began with a thought-provoking talk by Lakshmi Nambiar, a partner at Anthill Ventures and Shristi Art Galleries.  Her topic “Change is Good” threw light onto how to address different approaches to life and overcome fear while changing something.  She discussed at great length about her experiences, saying that when she embraced change, it was quite fruitful and also got her into places. Change always gets into innovative ideas and amazement. The talk went on in quite an interactive and informative manner which kept the members engaged throughout the talk.

Can Women have Quality Me-Time?

The next session featured a panel discussion which addressed the most difficult of the challenges for women entrepreneurs- approach towards multi-tasking. This discussion named ‘Juggle Much?’ spoke about how to approach multi-tasking and whether it is really productive.  The panel featured Arathi Selvan, a clinical psychologist, Bhavana Nissima, founder of ‘Lightweaver’, Anupama Dalmia of ‘Rhythm and Beats’ and Sindhura Borra of ‘Cleanse High’.

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These four brilliant women spoke about how important it is for women to create time for themselves and not feel guilty about it.  Most often, women are psychologically wired to be givers and nurturers. But, when they continue to do it beyond a limit, it leads to the emotional draining of the individual. This session exclusively threw light on every woman’s challenges, which happen on a day to day basis. Seeking help from family and friends, along with maintaining good health and diet was also discussed at length. By simple time management and allotting quality time for self-care, a great difference can be achieved in life for women.

Startups and the Momentum

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An interesting talk about how to go by a startup was shown by Ronson Woolridge, an Evangelist for Zoho startups. Usually, the startup bug hits very high during the initial days of getting an idea but, the momentum dies down due to obstacles or various other reasons. This talk focused on how to make the right beginnings and keep the momentum going for a successful business. Instead of getting bogged down with little challenges, which look impossible to break at that moment, the talk made the members motivated to look for a right approach for setting up a successful startup of their choice.

Small Is Good or Bad?

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The age-old idea of setting up a business being only a dream for people having lesser money was broken up in style by a panel discussion ‘Small is Beautiful ‘ featuring Tejaswini Pagadala, a communications consultant, Dipika Prasad ,co-founder of Lakeer, Monika Misra, founder of iKeva and Anju Jayaram, partner at Women’s Web. The discussion laid emphasis on the optimistic side where smaller businesses and women groups are more effective than bigger ones. The smaller groups enable better management, better results and also great profits as well.

Government’s Role in Women Entrepreneurship?

The state governments and the central government has a great say in encouraging women to take up more business ventures. But the details and awareness of it were greatly needed for women to understand the nuances of the government’s policies. The final talk ‘Gaps in Business Growth that Government Intervention Could Address’ dug into this issue with great ease and perfection. Deepti Ravula, CEO of WE Hub spoke about how her business was supported by the Government of Telangana quite well. She also explained how well the government brings good changes into a woman’s startup and address various issues they face.

Breaking Barriers arrived in Hyderabad at the need of the hour when aspiring women entrepreneurs needed their queries to be addressed by qualified women. This all-women event was a refreshing delight to look for and also enabled great networking with other participants. The laid-back ambience of Springboard also aided to this innovative event. The twin cities would definitely need more of such events to happen, which encourages young women to pursue their dreams.