Leading Women In Indian eCommerce

Sandra Mayithara, 28 year old, graduate in finance returned to India from Melbourne after completing her higher studies in 2009. While her dream jobs in the corporate world poured in and out, she couldn’t help but notice a gaping hole in the domestic market of the coir doormat industry. She decided to bootstrap this opportunity and take her family business of doormat exports to the domestic markets through online retail portals. To begin with she unveiled her collection on Facebook and it turns out “Mats Matter” was an easy street to a grand success! From selling on Facebook to then retailing on various ecommerce site, now she has launched her own site www.matsmatter.in with the help of Kartrocket. Today, it is her biggest aspiration to have every home in India welcome their guests with a Mats Matter doormat rather “door accessory”!

It was sometime in 2011 when Srijata Bhatnagar, Online Product Management Professional at ESPN Cricinfo left her plush job for soul searching. After a couple of unsatisfactory job changes and 2 years of soul searching, she decided to take a plunge in the start up world.

EthnicShack™ happened to her naturally. “I was always thrilled about Hand made, Hand woven, Hand painted, Hand crafted products, wanted to do something measurable and unique for the Art and Artisans. What better way to connect the dots and start up an e-commerce website for the same” says Srijata. Combined with her 11 years of Consumer Web experience in companies like Consim Group, Sulekha Group, ESPN Cricinfo etc. as a Product Professional, she went ahead and launched www.ethnicshack.com in September 2013. After that there have been no looking back.

“The journey so far has been thrilling, full of adventures and quite fulfilling; in the process I discovered some forgotten arts and crafts from rural parts of India and met with passionate tribal and village artisans who are struggling to keep their art alive. Learnt about different natural materials, colors, time intensive processes used to make just one piece of these art and craft products; learnt how majority of these artisans are village women, who has acquired these skills from their mothers and grandmothers since childhood and are trying to keep it alive simply for the love of it” adds Srijata.

Presently her company is working with these artisans together to create and bring out their arts in usable format for their clients and consumers. “This year seems to be much more exciting than the previous” – says Srijata with lots of optimism and excitement.

While most of India is busy adopting what the west has to offer from entertainment to fashion and life itself…. the west on the other hand is searching for eastern therapy…. is when Sanya Dhir realized and decided to get back into the family business of traditional fashion products and reinvent it by going against the flow!

www.kbshonline.com, is the brainchild of Ms. Dhir in sync with her forefather’s vision and under the guidance of her father, “For me, KBSH is a way to keep our past alive. I believe that the saree, the dress of queens and princesses, is an ode to feminine power and grace. And that every woman deserves the sophistication it lends.”

A physics grad from St Stephens, New Delhi, Jenny Baruah moved on from a professional career in the IT industry for 10 years, to realize her dream of becoming an entrepreneur. An instinctive passion for fashion and a love to dress up her daughter as a Diva inspired her to set up her first venture in the kids clothing category. In a span of 3 years she went on to open 2 retail stores in Bangalore, Only Kidding, the first retail store was launched in 2011 and subsequently in 2012 she launched her brand of girls party wear Little Diva. And this year the online store www.littledivaindia.com is launched.

A team of sisters has come together to launch a platform www.thebatterhouse.com to ease baking and chocolate making routine.

Pooja Gupta: Engineer and MBA by professional and a true techie since childhood. She is also the technical brain behind TBH.

Aarti Gupta: Chartered Accountant by profession and a true lover of all pretty things.

Shaili Gupta: Architect and Urban planner by professional. A perfectionist by nature, she tries to customize anything and everything through subtle design elements.

Priyanka Raghunath & Harini Lakshminarayan both come from art and design backgrounds. They started exploring the idea for a dedicated space after their scan of the market place for quality childrenʼs products led them to a dead-end. Like most entrepreneurs, who are inspired by their own personal needs, the duo decided to contribute towards filling an obvious void with Pappadum.

Just over a year old, Pappadum today boasts of a handpicked repertoire of childrenʼs products that serve as sustainable alternatives to families with kids between the ages of 0 & 5. “The Store celebrates the spirit & creativity of independent artists & makers. It brings together a community of like-minded people, who are driven by design & passion and are constantly looking to create using traditional methods. Incidentally, many of these artists are graduates from design schools as prestigious as NID. Their personal journey as parents has inspired them to float small, but fiercely independent brands, for children.

Diya Saini, the young and talented lass founded www.lemonsonline.in to reinvent indian prints with modern silhouettes.

Vijayalakshmi, 56 years old, turn herself to a successful women entrepreneur from a busy housewife. Her passion towards creating new designer jewelry is amazing – with that she helped many women who stay in neighborhood to earn when they are free at home.