“Indian female entrepreneurship is a force to be reckoned with”

In 1976, Rajni Bector, a young housewife in the town of Ludhiana, in Northern India, began making hand-churnedvon Hand gerührthand-churned ice cream in her garden. Her husband loaned her the equivalent of €227, which launched her baking business on a rollercoaster rideAchterbahnfahrt, Auf und Abrollercoaster ride that was to last four decades. At €61.4 million, Mrs. Bector’s Food Specialties had one of the best Börsengangpublic offeringpublic offerings of 2020. 

Another female-led Indian company on course to make an outstanding market debut[(deIbju:] [wg. Aussprache]debut this year has become a to become a household namezu einem Begriff werdenhousehold name for urban Indian women. Founded by investment banker Falguni Nayar in 2012, e-commerce beauty retailerEinzelhändler(in)retailer Nykaa (the name translates as “heroine”) is now a market giant in India.

Bector and Nayar have created huge corporate successes: they represent Indian female entrepreneurshipUnternehmertumentrepreneurship, a forcehier: Wirtschaftskraftforce to be to be reckoned withnicht zu unterschätzenreckoned with. It’s assumed that women — especially in a developing country such as India — step out of their homes only to to supplement sth.etw. ergänzen; hier: aufbessernsupplement the family income. While this may be true in some cases, India has a complex social structure, where multiple truths exist at the same time. One of those is that Indian women love to be their own boss, regardless of their economic and social status. 

I’ll look closer to home for examples. My mother, Swapna, who is now 74, grew up in a family of very modestbescheiden; hier: geringmodest means. With natural financial intelligence, she had a successful career in one of India’s largest public-sector banks. Then, instead of retiring, she launched her own handcraftedin Handarbeit hergestellthandcrafted gemstoneEdelsteingemstone jewellery business at the age of 50. Another example: Annu (Aradhana) was our housemaid, a high-school dropoutvorzeitige(r) (Schul-)Abgänger(-in)dropout. Ten years later, she married a tailor and turned his little shop into a successful business printing books and holding tailoring workshops across small-town India for wannabeMöchtegern-wannabe businesswomen, often uneducated. 

Microfinancing programmes in India favour women because they seldom to default on sth.mit etw. in Verzug geratendefault on payments, unlike men, who often turn to alcohol at their first failure or have unrealistic business plans. Armed with common sense and the ability to work hard and to stay focused and determined, countless mini versions of Bector and Nayar can be found throughout India’s cities and villages. No matter who it affects — from tech mavenExperte/ Expertinmavens to grittymutig; hier: standhaft, willensstarkgritty street food vendorVerkäufer(in)vendors — the entrepreneurship keeda (bugWanze; hier: Leidenschaftbug) bite hardhier: voll zuschlagenbites hard.