Despite women entrepreneurs playing a powerful role in driving global economic growth, several barriers prevent their businesses from scaling rapidly. To combat this, Dell Technologies launched the global networking community Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) in 2009 to connect like-minded women entrepreneurs (WEs) worldwide and support them with state-of-the-art technology, expert advice, and industry insights so they can navigate their challenges and grow their businesses together.
DWEN meetups for women entrepreneurs
DWEN will be hosting multiple meetups across the country to bring together women founders and ecosystem enablers to share their insights and mentor other budding entrepreneurs to scale their businesses.
The Bangalore edition of this DWEN networking meet was held in early September at the YourStory Office, complete with a fireside chat and a keynote address.
This was followed by a keynote session by Meghna Suryakumar, Founder and CEO, Crediwatch. Meghna is a serial entrepreneur with several years of experience in international legal consultancy and advisory positions. Since 2016, she has founded Crediwatch, a digital trust platform that uses explainable AI, ML, Open APIs, and Data Exchange Protocols to amplify digital trust in the trade and credit ecosystem.
The fireside chat was delivered by Swati Mishra, Director and General Manager, Small Business, India at Dell Technologies. Swati has over 17 years of experience working at Dell Technologies to drive sales, achieve revenue and margin goals, and deliver premium to the market with aggressive market share growth. She emphasised on the importance of building sisterhood and supporting one another in the WE community, and highlighted the various DWEN events that encourage increased participation of WEs.
Inspiring journeys of DWEN EntreprenHERS
DWEN India has seen hundreds of entrepreneurs join the community since its inception and benefit from the extensive tech resources, expert advice and support it provides. Here are five DWEN entrepreneurs sharing their journeys to achieve success in their respective fields.
1. Subangi Umapathy is an entrepreneur who has worn many hats. Before founding Tulips & Daffodils, a gardening products venture in 2019, she held several positions in leading corporate IT companies.
Subangi, also an Ambassador at WEDO, was inspired to become an entrepreneur to champion chemical-free gardening practices and products because of her vision to ensure that children learn to cultivate chemical-free food. She believes it’s imperative to teach gardening in this highly digital and tech-savvy world because it’s a life skill that nourishes curiosity.
2. Neelima Thakur founded her venture Shine Herbals in January 2016 in Karaikal, Puducherry, with a single oil-based solution for multiple hair-related issues. Undeterred by the challenges that age brings along, Neelima, then 56, set up her business from scratch.
Her brainchild is now in its sixth year of success with 25 products and over 9000 content customers worldwide.
3. Madhuri Aggarwal is the founder of Weaves of Tradition, a near-five-year-old e-commerce platform bringing Indian traditional crafts and products that resonate with the consumer to the forefront. The company is now planning to include sustainable options to put circular fashion into practice.
For her, entrepreneurship has been a steep learning journey that gives her the freedom to live life to the fullest. “You not only learn to put your ideas into practice but also apply all your life learnings in real scenarios. It’s an exciting journey, full of ups and downs,” she said.
4. Bengaluru-based Manini Ramesh started Silver Elegance to follow her dream to create something and build an empire. Miss. Silverelegance creates pure 92.5 silver gold plated jewelry for every occasion which has a high demand in the market as a replacement for gold and is thus an affordable replacement to gold for many.
5. Myah Payel Mitra is a multi-hyphenate award-winning Employee Engagement & Career Transition Coach, International Keynote Speaker and Corporate Trainer. Previously a Manager of Customer Experience Strategy at KPMG, Myah made an unconventional career to become a certified movement therapy practitioner. She enables teams and organizations working on workplace well-being and assists individuals to make successful career transitions.
To listen to these entrepreneurs share their experience at the DWEN Bangalore edition,
DWEN is committed to supporting and empowering more women entrepreneurs to advance their businesses by making the most of what Dell Technologies has to offer. If you are a woman or know someone who could benefit from this c0ntest, this is your chance to benefit from this brilliant opportunity for growth.
Head over to dwen.com to register and join the growing DWEN WhatsApp community here to become part of the supportive community.
