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entrepreneur

Nykaa – The Star of Every Woman’s Life

by Guest Author 08/12/2024

written by Guest Author

By Mahak Shinghal

Falguni Nayar, Founder of ‘Nykaa’ is one of two self-made female, Indian billionaires, after the enormous stock market listing of Nykaa’s parent company, FSN E-Commerce Ventures Limited. Falguni Nayar started Nykaa in 2012, months before she turned 50.

Nykaa was worth $2.3 billion as of 2021 bringing Nayar’s fortune to an estimated $1.1 billion. Nayar is one of 2 self-made female Indian billionaires, the other being Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. Nykaa listed at $13 billion on Nov 10 2021 making Nayar India’s richest self-made woman and is now among India’s top 20 richest people.

Falguni hails from a Gujarati family, but was born and brought up in Mumbai. Her father was a businessman and ran a small bearings company, assisted by her mother.

About Nykaa

The startup has since grown into the country’s leading beauty retailer, buoying online sales with demo videos by glamorous Bollywood actors and celebrities and more than 70 brick-and-mortar stores. Nykaa, derived from the Sanskrit word for heroine, sells items including exfoliation creams, bridal make-up essentials and hundreds of shades of lipstick, foundation and nail color to suit Indian skin tones, skin types and local weather.

Nayar owns her company stake through two family trusts and and seven other promoter entities. Her Ivy League-educated daughter and son, who run different Nykaa units, are among the promoters.

While Nayar is India’s richest self-made female billionaire, Savitri Jindal, who controls the OP Jindal Group conglomerate founded by her late husband, is the nation’s wealthiest woman. Her fortune is valued at $12.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people.

Pre-Nykaa days

A graduate of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Nayar spent a bulk of her career at Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. When she left in 2012, she was the managing director and head of its institutional equities business.

Born and raised in a Gujarati family, her father ran a small bearings company, assisted by her mother. The household chatter revolved on investments, the stock market and trade. “Plus, I’m Gujarati,” she said in a 2017 interview. Entrepreneurship, it seems, was in her blood.

Growth Story

How did she get here? Well, on her own.

Nykaa, in its early years, was funded entirely by Falguni Nayar and her husband Sanjay Nayar, the chairman of private equity major KKR & Co. in India. The focus was on building an inventory-led business, as she said in a 2017 interview to The Economic Times. “The company ran on family funds for two years because I didn’t want to raise money. I wanted to make the metrics happen,” Nayar had said then. “We had good momentum by the time I went to investors. We had access, since my husband and I were both bankers.”

The company turned unicorn only in March 2020, after just five rounds of funding—of which only three involved institutional investors. Nykaa is also profitable—a rarity among Indian startups.

Becoming an entrepreneur at the age of 50 is not easy especially when one’s target audience is Generation Z and Millennials. However, Falguni Nayar has defied all stereotypes. Nayar has inspired all those women who dare to dream for themselves and has inspired each of them to be the Nykaa of their lives.

Nayar has proved that women can not only become job seekers rather job creators as well through entrepreneurship. After seeing a woman accomplishing success at such an age is not only an inspiration to the Millennials and Generation Z but also to the women who dreamt for themselves but could not work towards the same.

In 2020, Nykaa also collaborated with Netflix and launched a campaign “Beauty in her story” which celebrated powerful stories of women. The campaign kick-started with films Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare and series Masaba Masaba.

Building on this founding value of empowerment, Nykaa encourages every woman to take up challenges and push themselves beyond boundaries. With the collaboration of Netflix, Nykaa will bring out the beauty in the stories of strong women who have dared to pursue their dreams.

08/12/2024 0 comments 28 views

No Entry for Men – SuperShe Island

by Srinivas Rayappa 08/12/2024

written by Srinivas Rayappa

By Srinivas Rayappa

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall

Located off the coast of Baltic Sea, SuperShe Island is the first and only island just for shes. While the SuperShe community is global, the island is administratively located in the town of Raseborg, Finland. American entrepreneur and former owner of the tech Consulting firm Matisia Consultants, Kristina Roth purchased this 8.4 acre island in 2017 after selling her company for $65 million. The real-life private island gateway, where only women are allowed, has been open to the SuperShe community since June, 2018. The island was started with the goal to give women a space to be themselves and learn from each other, away from the distractions of the outside world.

“Women need to spend time with other women. Being on vacation with men can cause women to become sidetracked, whether it’s to put on a swipe of lipstick or grab for a cover-up. We want SuperShe Island to be rejuvenating and a safe space where women can reinvent themselves and their desires. A place where you can recalibrate without distractions” – Kristina Roth, SuperShe Founder and CEO

How it all began?

Kristina Roth, a computer science graduate, started her career as a techie, surrounded by men. She then moved on to Management Consulting. Having gained the requisite experience, Roth then decided to pack her bags and relocate to the United States because she firmly believed that it was a country of freedom and businesswise, a place where one could take everything to the next level. Once she received her green card, she decided to pursue the American dream by quitting her job and starting her own business. Starting without a penny to her name, she grew her business into a $45 Million success story in a short span of time and was featured on the Forbes list of Fastest-Growing Women-Owned Businesses for several years in a row.

Having a penchant for traveling across the globe, she decided to leave her post as CEO, sell the company and seek out something even more fulfilling. After selling her company, she was prepared to just kiteboard and snowboard and sit on a beach forever, but everyone advised her that wouldn’t last for long. Roth created a blog and a community called SuperShe, devoted to uniting and motivating some of the world’s most inspiring women. Since its inception, SuperShe is making a significant social impact by disrupting the all-talk-no-action reality of the “women supporting women” movement.

After hosting a series of SuperShe retreats in places like Hawaii and Turks & Caicos, Roth dreamed up the idea of buying her own slice of paradise. Roth didn’t know a lot about Finland. Having visited Finland on Scandinavian tour with her fiance, she found Finland as the perfect backdrop. The pure nature, the beauty, the fresh water and fresh air made her fall in love with the place. Even though she purchased the island for her own pleasure and to have a place to unwind, she eventually decided that she was going to open the island for SuperShe retreats. Believing in old-fashioned work, Roth personally oversaw the creation of the entire place, contract managed it and architected it through a Finnish winter.

Everybody who works on the SuperShe island are women, be it the bus drivers who take the guests to the harbour or the women farmers who supply vegetables. Jobs were specially created for women photographers as well. The only time male construction workers were working on the island was to lay lines for power and water and gut renovation.

The prospective guests on the island have to go through a rigorous selection process. Women who are interested to visit the island can apply through the organization’s website and Roth evaluates if the women should be permitted on the island. Roth wants to create a positive environment on the island and does not want bad juju. Her principle goal has been to create a circle of women who inspire and get inspired. Roth believes that positive energy begins to flow when you are surrounded by inspiring women and not gossip mongers. Roth also emphasizes that even though the island is exclusively for women, it is definitely not for men haters. So women who apply citing the reason that they hate men, don’t necessarily get a gatepass to the SuperShe island.

The underlying philosophy of the SuperShe community has been to cleanse the body, mind and soul. The activities offered on the island include Yoga, Meditation, Kayaking, Hiking, meditation, fitness classes and nature conservation activities. Several motivational talks, group bonding sessions and discussions are also organized on the island essentially to distract women from the outside world.

Most of the ingredients for the food prepared are sourced from the island using an ocean-to-table and farm-to-table model. The recipes are highly inspired by paleo and ayurveda. Desert is traditionally served only once a week to ensure the intake of sugars is at a bare minimum. Pure Ghee and coconut yoghurt are prepared on the island itself. The yoghurt prepared with baobab powder and probiotics is a super hit among the guests. Even though weight loss is not the ultimate goal, several women have often mentioned that they have lost several pounds and feel healthier after their stay at the island. The Eco-luxury island has solar powered toilets that burn everything, thus ensuring that there is absolutely no waste littering the place.

Inspired by the book “The Science of Positivity”, authored by Loretta Graziano Breuning, much importance is given to laughing, crying and exercise because they jointly help release of endorphins. SuperShe is like a cake with hundreds of layers. There is programming for the body, mind and the soul. While the 8.4 acre property has got utmost attention because it is exclusively for women, there is a lot more happening on this island retreat. The SuperShe community is also like a white canvas – you can project onto it whatever you want. While one can project their fears, worries and discrimination on to it, others may try not to let the negative energy suck away the positive energy. Currently there are more than 8000 members in the SuperShe community spread across 154 countries.

SuperShe Millionaire Contest literally invests back into women and the SuperShe community by giving a $1,000,000 grant to one community member’s idea or project. The SuperShe app also gives women from all over the world (154 countries and counting) a space where they can showcase their skills, learn from one another, and meet new people who shake up their perspectives. SuperShe has created an uncensored place where women can be their truest selves and get out what they put in.

“I always tell women to draw three circles. Find what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about and what makes money — the intersection of those three circles is your calling with which you can pay your bills. I’m big when it comes to women empowerment and big on being able to pay your bills and being independent.” – Kristina Roth

SuperShe community has played a pivotal role in creating several success stories. One of its members Diane, started her own business after being part of SuperShe. Another woman named Ramona got some investment tips and decided to make some successful cash flow investments into real estate. Another SuperShe named Cat wanted to become a freelance videographer with Red Bull, and her dream came true. There’s also Jessica, who after having a male partner in her company for 8 years, made the courageous move to take over the business after being a part of SuperShe. Another SuperShe who was impacted was Nini, a woman who lost 10 pounds after a SuperShe Island retreat and kept working hard towards her goal.

Despite SuperShe island having gained immense popularity in a short span of time, there has also been much criticism about the elite nature of this club. Critics have taken exception to the super expensive cost of stay at the retreat claiming that the nearly $4500 per week price tag is affordable only for rich women and they opine that this doesn’t necessarily help gender equality.

Not letting criticism get to her, Roth believes that society should stop telling women how to live their lives. One of her advices to fellow women is “Just be what you want to be. There’s no one right way to live. If women were allowed to be whatever version of themselves they wanted to be without judgement, scrutiny, or societal pressure, there would be no need for a separate community that is a safe space for women to push the boundaries set upon them by society.”

08/12/2024 0 comments 25 views

Chetna Gala Sinha – Churning The Courage Of Rural Women Into Capital

by Srinivas Rayappa 08/12/2024

written by Srinivas Rayappa

By Srinivas Rayappa

Chetna Gala Sinha is an Indian social activist working to empower women in drought-prone areas of rural India by teaching entrepreneurial skills, access to land and means of production. She has been at the forefront of land rights movement, farmer’s movement, and women’s movement. Chetna is the founder and chairperson of the ‘Mann Deshi Bank’, a microfinance bank, which lends money to women in rural parts of India. She is also the Founder and President of ‘Mann Deshi Foundation’. Mann Deshi Mahila Sahkari Bank has the recognition of being the first bank in the country for and by rural women to get a cooperative license from Reserve Bank of India.

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Chetna got her Master’s Degree in Commerce and Economics at Mumbai University in 1982. Growing up during the heyday of political activism, she was drawn to Jayprakash Narayan’s brand of socialist politics. During one such movement, she was captivated by the charm of a handsome young farmer leader, who was not well educated but could draw the crowds. Chetna decided to marry him and move into his village to live with him despite the village not having running water and toilets. Her family and friends were horrified, but Chetna saw her future in the village with the man she had loved and this would be her home. This decision would change the course of her life and paved the way for her foray into women’s revolution in rural India.

Once a blacksmith named Kantha Bai approached Chetna, expressing her desire to open a bank account. Despite being able to save a meagre Rs. 10 per day, Kantha Bai was insistent on wanting to open a Bank account so that she could keep her money safe, which would eventually enable her to buy a plastic sheet for her house before the monsoon arrived and thus protect her family from the rain. Chetna accompanied Kantha Bai to a nearby bank only to be informed by the manager that he would not be able to open a bank account for Kantha Bai as the sum she had was paltry and was not worthy of a bank account. Chetna realised that despite Kantha Bai not seeking either a loan or a subsidy or a grant, she was being declined her right to open a bank account. This triggered Chetna to think of starting a bank for rural women which would give them an avenue to save their hard earned money. She then approached the Reserve Bank of India seeking a banking license to start a Bank for Rural women, only to be declined on the grounds that some of the promoting members of the proposed bank were non-literate. Chetna was disheartened and wept endlessly but the women folk in the village infused confidence in her by accepting the challenge of RBI and decided to read and write and reapply for a banking license.

Thus began the literacy program in the village, wherein these determined women after a day’s hardwork would voluntarily meet to collaboratively learn to read and write. Five months later, having gained basic literacy, they reapproached RBI seeking a banking license. This time around Chetna was not alone as she was accompanied by 15 other women from the village. These women, brimming with confidence challenged the manager to put them into a contest with his team in who could calculate faster without a calculator. Looking at the grit and determination of these women RBI finally granted them a banking license – and thus was born the Mann Deshi Bank.

Mann Deshi Bank, a microfinance bank which lends money to women in rural India, was setup in 1997 with a working capital of ₹708,000 raised from among its 1,335 members. It has in just two decades reached over 310,000 women (84,000 among them borrowers), providing them with the financial backing and emotional impetus to become successful entrepreneurs. Today, the Mann Deshi Bank has loaned over $50 million and regularly creates new financial products to support the needs of female micro-entrepreneurs. Kantha Bai, who triggered this revolution today lives in her own house with her family, all thanks to the bank which she helped bring to life.

Despite the bank being setup, it was not bereft of challenges. Working women could not go to the bank because they would lose a working day and the wages of that day. Since women could not come to the bank, Chetna decided that the bank should go to the women and thus they began doorstep banking. Also, the women were not comfortable using PIN numbers for accessing Digital Banking facilities as they found it hard to remember. This problem was also resolved with the usage of biometric technology thus empowering the women to use their thumb instead of a PIN. Chetna recollects the statement of the village folks – “Anybody can steal my PIN, but not my Thumb”. Chetna thus concluded, “Never provide poor solutions to poor people – they are smarter than you can imagine”.

As the Founder and President of the Mann Deshi Foundation, Chetna started financial literacy classes, where women are taught the ropes of savings, investing, insurances and loans through modules that comprise games like Monopoly. According to the Foundation, there has been an increase of ₹13,200 in the average annual income of rural women after they’ve taken business development classes at the school.

Mann Deshi also runs Business Schools, a Community Radio and a Chambers of Commerce for rural women micro entrepreneurs. To date, it has supported nearly half a million women. Just like the bank saw the day of light because of Kantha bai, the Community Radio was started because of a folk singer by name Kera Bai, who was extremely passionate to sing. Kera Bai could not read or write but her means of communication was singing. Today, Kera Bai is a successful Radio Jockey appearing on several radio shows.

Chetna Sinha and six other women chaired the 48th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland in January 2018. Chetna Sinha is Yale Fellow, Schwab Fellow and Ashoka Fellow. Chetna was awarded the “Entrepreneurship Development Award” on 29 July 2010 by Entrepreneurs’ International, Pune. She received the first Godfrey Phillips Bravery Amodini Award on 11 September 2009 by Godfrey Phillips and “Rani Laxmiibai Puraskar” on 7 March 2009 from Cyclo Transmissions Ltd., Satara. This award is given to the women who have done outstanding work in various fields. She is also the recipient of Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar Award for Rural Entrepreneurship 2005. For work completed with drought-affected women, she was awarded Shri Nanaji Deshamukh and the Rajiv Sheth Sabale Foundation Award 1999 by Governor of Maharashtra. She received the Forbes India Leadership Award 2017: Entrepreneur With Social Impact. Last but not the least, Chetna Gala Sinha has been awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar, India’s highest civilian award for women who work in the area of women’s empowerment.

Chetna Sinha, Founder and Chair, Mann Deshi Foundation, India is speaking at the Annual Meeting 2018 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 23, 2018. Copyright by World Economic Forum / Mattias Nutt

Chetna Sinha is a true inspiration to society as she has inspired, taught, and guided women who once had no education, no travel, and no exposure to the outside world, but still managed to do extraordinary things in their life.

08/12/2024 0 comments 28 views

Nivedha R.M – Recycling Waste Into Wealth

by Srinivas Rayappa 08/12/2024

written by Srinivas Rayappa

By Srinivas Rayappa

“I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use” – Mother Teresa

Bengaluru, touted as the Silicon Valley of the East and the Technological Hub of India, has in recent years earned the ignominious title of ‘garbage city’ due to abysmal planning and a broken waste management system. At present, Bengaluru generates about 2,800 tonnes of mixed waste on a daily basis. This is currently dumped in landfills, which are unhygienic, unsustainable and are under scrutiny from the Karnataka High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

People are seen scrunching their noses, complaining about the unbearable stench and grumbling about how their area has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, but very few have taken any concrete steps to find a viable solution to the problem. However, Ms. Nivedha RM has set out on a journey to put an end to this menace.

Nivedha was in her third year of chemical engineering at Bengaluru’s R V College of Engineering when she and a group of friends cleared a lane near their college, where garbage had piled up over time and remained uncleared. This initiative made headlines in a local magazine which gave her the much needed recognition to pursue a larger goal of cleaning up Bangalore.

In her vicinity, Nivedha saw that all kinds of waste – stale food, diapers, blood, used syringes, plastic were strewn around on the streets. She was always frustrated to see the litter on the streets close to her house which would often stink and would get obnoxious when the garbage was burnt once a week by the authorities. She and her friends decided that they had to put an end to this menace and started cleaning the garbage themselves. But, unfortunately after a few days of cleaning, the garbage was back on the streets. Nivedha felt she had failed because she had only temporarily solved the problem but had failed to identify the root cause of the problem.

Determined to pursue her goal, Nivedha and her team decided to do a door-to-door campaign in an attempt to help educate people about the need to segregate waste at the source. But convincing people to change their age-old habits was a daunting task. She then began to research online to find ways in which this problem could be resolved, only to end up being frustrated because she could not find any feasible solution. Nivedha almost gave up.

One day, a 3 year old girl who was playing by the roadside, slipped and fell into a burning pile of garbage and lost her life. Nivedha was deeply anguished to hear the wails and cries of the young girl, but little could she do to help save her life. This incident left a deep impact in the mind of Nivedha and her resolve to pursue her goal of finding a solution to this menace was cemented.

Nivedha furthered her research on the internet to find any product which could segregate waste but was disappointed not to find any solution across the globe. Hell-bent on trying to fix the problem, Nivedha decided to build her own system which could get the job done. She decided to meet industry veterans and share her idea hoping somebody would help her pursue her goal. However, she was dismayed to learn that several people had attempted this feat before and had failed miserably. The only advice she got from these veterans in the industry is to not waste her time trying to fix this problem and to go find a rewarding career. Nivedha who came from a humble middle-class family was distraught by the responses she got. But the wails and cries of the 3 year old continued to haunt her and she set out to build her own machine.

Within 5 months, Nivedha built a working model of a system from scratch and was partially successful in segregating waste. Enthused by the results, she decided to demonstrate her product to all her critics who had advised her against treading on this path. Unfortunately, on the day of the demonstration, the system failed within five seconds of being switched on, as the motor jumped out of the machine and she was totally distraught. The mocking of people left her devastated and she was convinced that all her critics were indeed right in advising her not to pursue this endeavor. She decided that this was the end of the road and she must now focus on pursuing a job.

One call with her mother however changed everything. Her mother reminded her of the loss of the precious life of the 3 year old in the burning waste and the need to bring about change, else the menace could engulf the entire society one day in the near future. Her mother also reinforced Nivedha the need to put in dedicated and sincere efforts until all the possibilities were exhausted and not to bother about the end outcome. She also assured Nivedha that she would support her daughter fulfill her dreams with whatever meager income that she had.

This call with her angel mother gave her the much needed oxygen to pursue her goal. Nivedha spent the next few months visiting garbage dump sites across the city to study the different types of wastes and the potential ways to deal with this abundance of litter. Thanks to her continued efforts, she embarked on a journey which was nothing less than an adventure where she chanced upon some of the most interesting people, who eventually quit their lucrative jobs to join her in her efforts to clean the city. Now equipped with manpower and intelligence from diverse spectrum of society, her team methodically and meticulously built a system which could segregate waste, a system which was deemed impossible to build by the so-called experts. Nivedha had made her “Impossible Dream” come true. Thus was born ‘Trashcon Labs Private Limited.’

Trashcon Labs, with its technology enabled solutions, is helping the world dispose off waste in a responsible manner by turning every bit of waste into something of value that is not perceived as waste. Their flagship product, Trashbot starts at Rs. 9 lakh and the price varies on capacities. Societies can process their waste and connect it to a biogas plant or composting unit. The gas can be used for cooking purposes, while compost in the gardens. Plus, they can sell the non-biodegradable waste to Trashcon and generate revenue too.

Some of their esteemed clientele include Adani Port in Mundra, Gujarat and Airports Authority of India, Chennai.

In recognition of her work in providing unconventional solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems, the Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, Torbjørn Røe declared Nivedha the winner of the 2019 Impact Maker Awards which carried a prize money of Rs. 40 lakhs. The Impact Maker Awards has been instituted by the Norway-based group Xynteo, and consists of major companies like Unilever, Mastercard, General Electric and Tatas. Xynteo has also extended support to Nivedha to help her scale up the production which currently stands at ten machines a month.

In an interview to BetterIndia, Nivedha says, “When I started working at the dumpsite, my friends were getting an MBA. They would joke and mock me as a ‘kachrewali’ (waste-picker). But now, when I look back, the recognition and the blessings of people we impacted, outweigh any doubts. With every tonne of waste I saved from entering landfills, I impacted 4,000 lives (1 kg per household of four). We now want to reach every village and city and prove that waste is wealth.”

Even though Nivedha could not save the 3 year old girl from losing her life in the burning pile of waste, she has now ensured that more young children do not fall victim to the garbage menace plaguing cities across the globe.

To learn more, please contact Nivedha at nivedha@trashcon.in

08/12/2024 0 comments 28 views

Trisha Prabhu – The journey of a Social and Tech Entrepreneur to stop Cyberbullying

by Srinivas Rayappa 08/12/2024

written by Srinivas Rayappa

Seeds of Thought:

Just 1 month and 10 days before her 13th birthday, on September 9th 2013, Rebecca Ann Sedwick, a 12 year old American student at Crystal Lake Middle School, Florida committed suicide by jumping off a concrete silo tower. Investigation into her death led to a conclusion of in-person and cyber bullying contributing to the decision to take her own life.

While the whole world discussed and debated her suicide and the impact of cyberbullying on adolescents, one young girl, Trisha Prabhu, decided not to remain a bystander and set out to fix the problem at its very roots. At 13, she didn’t have the resources or expertise on the subject to bring about change, but her passion kickstarted and ignited her journey towards that goal.

After returning from school one afternoon, Trisha Prabhu read about this horrifying incident and was deeply moved, shocked, and outraged. Heartbroken, Trisha wondered how a girl younger than herself, could be pushed to take her own life. She felt like something was going terribly wrong on the internet and wondered over and over, how the internet could allow such things to happen in the first place. The deep sense of pain she feels for Rebecca, can be felt in her voice as she begins her speech at a TedX event, where she cites the mean, hurtful and tormenting messages hurled by the cyber bullies at Rebecca Ann Sedwick, causing her to commit suicide – “Go Kill yourself”. “Why are you still alive?”. “You are so Ugly”.

Trisha began to wonder if adults even understood the gravity of the situation and if they were even willing to take charge and bring about the necessary change required to end this hate online. At that very moment Trisha decided that she wanted to do something to stop cyberbullying at the source before the damage is done. This led her to research on the subject which led to some startling revelations. Trisha realized that Rebecca was just one of a countless many who had endured the same pain and trauma. Megan Meier was a young teenager from Missouri who had her whole life ahead of her. Excited to join social media, she made a MySpace account, where she started receiving messages from a boy named “Josh”. Megan started receiving messages like, “The world would be a better place without you.” 3 weeks before her 14th birthday, Megan committed suicide.

Victims of Cyberbullying

Deeply moved by these stories she read about this silent pandemic of cyberbullying and being passionate to end online hate, Trisha created the patented technology product ReThink™, that detects and stops online hate at the source. What started as a school project eventually grew into a globally-acclaimed research. Thus, ReThink saw the day of light with Trisha as it’s CEO and Co-Founder.

ReThink:

Today, ReThink is an award-winning, innovative, non-intrusive, patented technology that effectively detects and stops online hate before the damage is done. More than just a technology, ReThink is a student-led movement too – It is a call-to-action, a push to end online hate and raise responsible citizens. The Artificial Intelligence powered ReThink is transforming lives and conquering cyberbullying. Latest data reveals that with ReThink, adolescents change their mind 93% of the time and decide not to post an offensive message.

At the time of publishing this article, ReThink has reached 1500+ schools, 500K+ downloads, 5 million+ students have been impacted, and 1.1 Million Ted Talk advocacy. It is available on your smartphone or tablet. It currently supports English, Spanish and Hindi. There is provision now to start a ReThink Chapter at your school as well.

How does ReThink work?

ReThink, an iPhone and Android app, installs a digital keyboard that replaces the standard smart phone keyboard. It appears identical and integrates seamlessly with other apps, like email clients and social media platforms. The only difference—it uses artificial intelligence to identify offensive words, and then deploys pop-up alerts to give the user a chance to reconsider sending those words in an email, text, or social media post. If you use the ReThink keyboard to insert phrases like, ‘I hate you’ or anything that goes in the territory of obscene or ignorant of someone’s feelings, the app prompts: “Hold on! Are you sure you want to say that?” or “Remember, you are what you type!” and gives you the option to either go ahead with the text or clear it.

Challenges:

While Trisha faced several obstacles while developing and launching the app, she faced greater challenges as a young woman of color (Indian immigrant) trying to run a tech company at such a young age. In an interview to the Vogue she says, “Everyone thought that I was really cute, but no one thought that I was serious, that I was committed to this idea and was going to be relentless about making it happen. I faced a lot of naysayers There were also several situations where I was on the phone with some very important people and they were really interested. But when I walked into the room, they were like, hold on, you’re a 16-year-old girl with no prior experience of the tech space. I had a lot of people who counted me out without really giving me a chance. Maybe that’s something a lot of women in the tech space experience, just being counted out without a chance to make their pitch. I had to work twice as hard and ensure my pitch was perfect so that there was never a reason to doubt anything that I was saying. It felt like there were times when there was a double standard. But in some ways, it was worth it because making change is more fun when you have something to prove. All the impact that we have been able to create today is a testament to the fact that I may have been cute, but I was also very serious.”

Achievements:

Thanks to her entrepreneurial spirit, Trisha has received world-wide acclaim in the business world. In 2016, President Obama and the U.S. State Department invited Trisha to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, to showcase her work and share her story with other entrepreneurs. This led to ReThink being featured on ABC’s popular Television show, Shark Tank. In 2019, ReThink was the winner of Harvard University’s President’s Global Innovation Challenge & Harvard College’s i3 entrepreneurial Challenge. Trisha is the first ever Harvard College freshman to win the Harvard University’s President Innovation Grand Prize.

Trisha has also been honored with awards and recognition for her ingenuity in inventing, building, and launching ReThink. For her research and scientific inquiry, Trisha was named a 2014 Google Science Fair Global Finalist. She was awarded the 2016 MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) INSPIRE Aristotle Award, as well as the 2016 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Illinois High School Innovator Award.

Trisha’s advocacy to put an end to hate, social activisim and commitment to find an ever lasting solution to cyber bullying, led her to be selected as the 2015 Global Teen Leader by “We are Family Foundation”. In 2016, she was conferred with the WebMD Health Hero of the Year Prodigy Award. She has also been conferred with Anti-Bullying Champion Award by the International Princess Diana Awards, the Global Anti-Bullying Hero Award from Auburn University, the Upstander Legacy Celebration Award from the Tyler Clementi Foundation, and Daily Points of Light Honor, awarded by the George H. W. Bush Foundation for extraordinary social volunteering and service.

Trisha’s vision and voice against online hate and the power of “ReThink” has been spread across the globe through her 38+ keynotes in 24 cities at platforms such as TED, TEDx, Wired, La Ciudad de Las Ideas, SAP, Girls Who Code, the Family Online Safety Institute, universities, schools, and more.

In 2017, she was elected Illinois’s Youth Governor – the first female YMCA Youth and Government youth governor in 28 years. During her free time she volunteers to teach young women how to code at ‘Girls who code’, or leading SoGal Boston, a chapter of the SoGal movement. Being an ardent supporter of empowering women in the entrepreneurial community, Trisha has been relentlessly working to inspire next generation entrepreneurs to fearlessly work in tackling pertinent issues plaguing the world.

Trisha is currently pursuing her undergraduate education at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, USA. In one of her keynote speeches Trisha roars, “I am a Big dreamer and believe in making dreams come true.” We at ‘The Womb’ truly wish her the best and hope that her dream to build a better world by combating hate through technology come true.

Image Courtesy: Forbes

Video Courtesy: TeDx

Priyanka Mohite Becomes The First Indian Woman To Scale Mount Annapurna, World’s 10th Highest Peak

by Pragya Jain 08/12/2024

written by Pragya Jain

The news was shared by Entrepreneur Extraordinaire Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the Executive Chairperson of Biocon Limited via Twitter congratulating her colleague Priyanka

26-year old Priyanka Mohite from Maharashtra has turned heads by becoming the first Indian woman to scale Mount Annapurna on April 16, 2021. Mount Annapurna, at a height of 8091 metres, is the world’s 10th Highest Peak. The mountain, surrounded by the Marshyangadi and Gandki glaciers, forms a part of Nepal’s Himalaya range. The Annapurna massif is 55 kilometers long and has gained notoriety for its long ridges, unpredictable weather conditions, avalanche-prone areas, and incredibly high fatality rate, thus making it one of the most challenging expeditions.

Mohite, a Research Associate with Syngene International was lauded by her employer Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson of Biocon via Twitter. Syngene is a publicly listed Biocon Subsidiary. Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw shared a picture of Motie with the Indian Tricolor and a congratulatory message, “Our colleague Priyanka Mohite scaled the peak of Mt. Annapurna, (8091 mtrs) 10th highest mountain in the world, on 16th April 2021 at 1.30pm.- first Indian woman to do so! We at @SyngeneIntl⁩ are so very proud of her”

Priyanka’s enthusiasm for mountaineering has been a significant part of her childhood too. She started to scale the Sahyadri range of Maharashtra as a teen. Mohite scaled the Bandarpunch massif of the Gharwal division of the Himalayas (Uttarakhand) in 2012. Later in 2015, she scaled Mount Menthosa at 6443 meters in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. She has also achieved the distinct honour of being the third youngest Indian to climb the world’s highest peak Mount Everest at a height of 8,849 metres in 2013. She has also successfully completed expeditions on Mount Lhotse at 8,516 metres in 2018, Mount Makalu at 8,485 metres and also Mount Kilimanjaro at 5,895 metres in 2016. She was also awarded the Maharashtra state honour for adventure sports for 2017-2018.

Image via LinkedIn/Priyanka Mohite

08/12/2024 0 comments 37 views

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