Ahmedabad women break big into startup space

AHMEDABAD: In the last two years, city-based women have not only emerged stronger but also carved their own identities in the male-dominated startups' space with their unique ideas and ventures. TOI met some to learn about their experiences.
The portal 'OoWomaniya.com' was started by city-based biotechnologist Krutika Katrat and IT professional Sneh Bhavsar in April 2015, to provide a space for women, where they can ask and talk about their physical, emotional and private health issues to a range of doctors, consultants and life coaches.Today, more than 160 doctors are on this platform and over 1,500 consultations have taken place in 10 months since its launch.
Being the only woman in the boardroom did not intimidate Aarti Nair from starting her own venture CollegeBol.com (College selection platform through student reviews and ratings) with her partner Arastu at the age of just 21. "We started working on the concept somewhere in January 2014. It has been an interesting journey with investor meetings and startup conferences dominated by men, and a lot of unfair intimidation," said Nair.
"At times you need to give a little more, just because you are a woman. You've got to make your family believe in you, like mine did. Womanhood can be complex," she added.
Dr Binal Doshi who is one of the founding members of PlexusMD, a networking platform for doctors, could have had an easy life with her degrees from BJ Medical college and IIM Kozhikode, and with both her parents being doctors. But she went on to work on her own venture to make it easy for doctors and healthcare organisations to get in touch with each other and reduce the supply-demand gap in medical sector. Today, PlexusMD boasts of the presence of 30,000 doctors and several hospitals.
"Have a dream. But more importantly, have the conviction and courage to follow through. Do not let the fact that you are a woman, stop you from achieving your potential," says Dr Doshi whose role model is her mother Dr Manisha Doshi.
Nair signs off by saying, "I feel overjoyed when I meet women venturing into good startups, for I see no reason why they shouldn't do so. But I hate being called a 'woman entrepreneur', because do we ever call them 'man entrepreneur'?"