Power Women: Roadblocks Lead To Creative Solutions That Will Help You Survive

The coveted Women’s Day is just two days away and chances are you are rolling out a new list of resolutions that will make life more meaningful throughout the year. On our part, we are back with another unique entrepreneurial journey, but this time she is a Delhi girl who bhangra-stepped her way through a checkered academic career in Delhi and Washington DC, studying Art, Political Communication, Management and Information Systems Marketing before moving on to e-learning, and eventually setting up her first company. In the second part of our Power Women series, Business Insider India chats with Anisha Singh, founder and CEO of MyDala.com, India’s first and largest platform that offers the best discount deals on lifestyle products, entertainment, travel, gadgets, fine dining and more. The company has a merchant base of 100,000-plus and offers its services in more than 145 cities in India.

But unlike many full-time businesswomen, Anisha has a ‘sporty’ side and loves to nurture it. She likes adventure sports and sometimes acts as a yoga instructor. What has life in the US and India unfolded before Anisha, and what are her takeaways from the business she is running? Find out from this freewheeling interaction.

I had no plans to start a business; I got inspired… by watching others
Although I come from a business family, I had sworn to myself long ago that I would never become an entrepreneur. But while I was at the American University in Washington DC, I got the opportunity to work with the Clinton administration on an initiative called Springboard. There, we would help women entrepreneurs raise funding after shortlisting the best candidates. That’s where I read about these phenomenal women and something just changed within me.

Along with the business plans (most of which were amazing), those women entrepreneurs had to submit their background stories as well. And those real-life stories of women who were successfully running grocery chains or operating software companies or were involved in similar businesses while being a single mom or managing 4 kids were just so inspirational. I think the entrepreneurial bug bit me sometime around then. So I packed up my bags, came to India and put my thoughts into action to start MyDala. Even now, I strongly believe that the world, and especially India, needs more women role models whether they are women entrepreneurs or women professionals across different fields.

Think out of the box to survive
Just like all other things, starting your own company will see loads of ups and downs, positives and negatives. But the bigger the business grows, the challenges and the positives will morph into different things. I think it also depends on how you look at a situation. For instance, we didn’t get any funding for MyDala upfront because of a couple of missteps and we could have let that get us down. But in hindsight, it got us to think creatively to survive and make MyDala grow into what it is today – via innovative marketing and alliances. We’re now one of the few companies that work with all major telcos and OEMs – giving us the means to reach out to hundreds of millions of prospective users. I don’t think this would ever have happened if we hadn’t learnt to figure out alliances due to the lack of initial funding. We were also fortunate to have some good people guiding us throughout.

Have trust in yourself but seek help when you need it
This one is for the wannapreneurs, especially if you are women. People will only believe in you when you believe in yourself – so don’t doubt yourself. If you have set your heart on doing something, go do it. The worst that can happen is failure, but it’s not all that bad.

Finally, don’t overthink. It’s good to think things through but women always think of every possible reason that can deter them from starting a business. When you start a business, no one can predict how it will go. Of course, initially, it won’t be a bed of roses. But trust me, it all works out fine. Just remember how you juggle your household, kids and family… your work, too, will fall into place in the same way. Have faith in yourself and ask for help when required. We women tend to hesitate more than men about asking for just about anything. The day we get past that, India will see a surge of women entrepreneurs and role models that we desperately need for our younger generations to look up to.

Watch this space tomorrow – Power Women will be back with their intriguing success stories.