When mothers turn nurturers of businesses, too

An entrepreneur and a mother — can the twain move up the ladder of success without making compromises? Though it may sound a tough proposition, there are indeed mother-entrepreneurs who have managed to excel on both fronts. They share their stories with BusinessLine .

Neha Bagaria — founder and CEO of Bengaluru-based JobsForHer, a portal that helps women on professional break to restart their careers — is a Wharton School graduate, with honours and triple majors in Finance, Marketing and Management Information Systems. She says she was “always an entrepreneur at heart”.

During her final semester in the college, she founded her first company Paragon, and introduced the Advanced Placement Program to Indian students, the body that governs the SAT and Advanced Placement examinations worldwide.

“During my three-and-a-half-year break in my career (when I had children), I discovered the challenges women face when they try to restart their careers. I was shocked to discover that 50 per cent of all working women in India quit the workforce in three years. This amounts to 10 million graduate and post-graduate women who are currently on a break,” says Neha.

“These facts got the entrepreneurship blood pumping in me again and I decided to open JobsForHer on International Women’s Day, 2015.”

Shilpi Jain, co-founder, Intellipaat, who is another mother-cum-entrepreneur, also says she always aspired to be an entrepreneur. Since she hails from the IT domain, she preferred to make her mark in the field.

“My husband and I thought of starting our own venture and after two years of marriage we got started off” with Intellipaat.

Intellipaat, which has presence in both Bengaluru and Jaipur, imparts training in IT-based courses to professionals around the world.

Neha attributes her success in running a business to a great team at workplace and at home. “I refuse to feel guilty about not being at home when I’m at work and vice versa. My team knows well that my internet is off during the weekends which are dedicated to my family and friends,” she explains.

“It’s important that my family, especially my spouse, have always been on board with my career choices. They support me and motivate me to strive harder to achieve my career goals.”

Shilpi Jain puts it as “a tough balancing act.” “But I do it thanks to the immense support I receive from my family. I believe family and the entrepreneurial journey are both important aspects and I try to do justice to both the roles. I mostly don’t work on Saturdays and Sundays and keep it reserved for my four-year-old daughter.”

Yet another entrepreneur and mother Sharda Agarwal, co-founder of healthcare advisory firm Sepalika, says it was made possible thanks to the “super fabulous support system both at home and at work”.

Did these mother-entrepreneurs encounter any challenges?

“When I founded JobsForHer, I was told by many women that they were being advised to hide the gaps in their resumes because most companies tend to perceive the gap negatively, which was corroborated when we spoke to companies regarding women returnees. They proclaimed that they don’t want to hire women-on-a-break or mothers. Over the last two years, we have made huge effort and progress in changing the mindsets of both women and companies,” says Bagaria.

“Now, companies such as Accenture, IBM, Sapient and Credit Suisse are working with us closely to reach out to this candidate pool through branding, engagement and recruitment solutions.”

Jain talks about the “ups and downs” of a tough entrepreneurial journey.

“In the first one year of the venture, I used to work for 14-16 hours a day, seven days a week. There were times when we forgot that it was a special day for our daughter at school and she was supposed to be in casual wear; we sent her in school uniform and later regretted it.”

For Sharda Agarwal, the upside as well as the downside of being an entrepreneur is the flexibility it offers. “One has to create the mind space to know when to take a break. Nothing goes according to plan in an entrepreneur’s life (at least in the early years).”

But at the end of day, says Bagaria: “It gives me immense satisfaction. We’ve seen success stories of women who restarted their careers at companies ranging from Accenture to MakeMyTrip to beGalileo.”

Jain too says the balancing act definitely gives the satisfaction. “ Also, our good friends were always there for us throughout the journey. Even my daughter understands the entrepreneurial commitments I have.”

Sharda puts it succinctly. “When the cause behind an entrepreneurial venture is something dear to the heart and...you are making a difference to someone’s life, then the balancing act becomes worth it.”