Adopting smart money skills

More women are turning entrepreneurs in India and it is to do with the choice available to them. The other catalyst towards this trend is the increase in availability of funding and more women pursuing professional courses. Take for instance Neha Behani, co-founder, Moojic, a digital jukebox service for bars and cafes; she is the only women in her family to strike on her own. The appreciation goes up further, consider she hails from Kishanganj, a small town in Bihar, belongs to a traditional business family and is into a completely different line from what the family does.

A year after finishing her MBA, she and one of her batchmates quit their jobs and invested whatever money they had, in two failed ideas before they launched Moojic in September 2013. When Moojic was conceptualised, they had practically no money to bootstrap. They had even exhausted the family and friend quota prior to that. They managed to do some small-time consulting and invested the money into the business to sustain and build the prototype and start a beta in 10 stores, before they caught the attention of a few angels.

But even then, a non-techie and woman co-founder wanting to create a tech-company and with no proven track record of successfully running one made the traditional investors wary. "There was no precedence to our business model, where we could be pitted against.

All this made getting access to funds quite a task. The angels thought the risks and rewards did not match. "With all odds against us, we stayed on taking one small step at a time," says Behani. Finally, they raised an angel round from investors that include Rajan Anandan, managing director of Google India, who was actively investing in tech companies with women at the helm.

No more a man’s world

Like Neha, success stories of

women who have made inroads into the traditional "man’s" world of business and made it big, are increasingly becoming more common. And the reasons these women have made it big are simple—they are confident, know what they want and are willing to take risks.

When Anisha Singh set up mydala, now India’s largest coupon site in 2009, she was also an expecting mother. Raising money was not easy and it was difficult convincing Indian people to use a new service. But Singh had the determination to go against all doubt and critics and take mydala to where it is today. According to her, there is no better time to be a women entrepreneur.

Another entrepreneur, Chitra Gurnani Daga, co-founder of Thrillophilia, an activity-based trip planning portal, has turned her passion into a business. "Adventure is mostly in the outdoors and interest of women in offbeat tours has been increasing. We are launching a new category called "Women Only Departures", she says.

When asked why more and more women are taking up their adventure offerings, she says that it is due to a change related to the society.

"Women have become more independent and taken up greater roles in their lives. Hence, they tend to take up more challenges and pushing themselves on the physical front is one way to do that," she says.

Travel portal yatra.com, which too has a woman entrepreneur Sabina Chopra as the co-founder, has seen a lot of women travellers who either want to travel in groups or alone, which has meant that the portal has taken an extra effort to make trips safer and convenient for women.

Whether it is entrepreneurs, women who want to travel, adventure enthusiasts or women who just want to be in control of their money, we are seeing women who know where their passion lies and do not mind taking that little bit of risk that gets them there. An inspiring example is of Shivya Nath, who left her job to, well, travel around the world! (See: Have money will travel)

Such stories have one thing in common. They have got a lot do with women taking charge of their own money. It takes money to start a business, to travel or to fulfil any financial goal. And women are not leaving it to their husbands or partners anymore. "If you fail to plan, you can never achieve your goals. Man is not a financial plan. Unless you take charge of your finances, nobody will take care of you," says Nita Menezes, chief marketing officer (CMO) and financial coach, My Financial Advisor.

"The reasons these woman have made it big are simple—they are confident, know what they want and are willing to take risks."

Moreover, when it comes to their finances, women have become more open than before. Menezes says that they are even open to talking about the eventuality of a divorce or a separation or an instance of the marriage not working out and like to plan for that. They know that all financial goals need to be planned for. Even if they want to gift themselves an item of luxury once a year they are aware of it and want to plan for that.

Menezes worked in an insurance firm before she joined her profession and though she saved regularly, she had then made all the classical mistakes. She used to save in FDs, not understanding the tax implications and was also mixing up her insurance and investments and had bought a lot of moneyback insurance products. "It was only later, after I was trained in my profession, that I realised these mistakes," says Menezes.

Now she alone manages her family finances and has a definite financial plan, which she reviews occasionally. "In fact, my husband thanks me for sorting out our financial lives and even recommends others to consult me!"

What has also helped is that the financial services industry has evolved over the years in terms of choices it offers and it has become easier for one to access these services.

Online portals helping one compare and choose between banking, insurance and investment products has meant that investors in general and women in particular can take greater control of their finances and not be misled by salespitch of agents. Likewise, the earlier differential income tax slabs for women no longer exist, making it a level playing field across genders.

But yes, challenges remain. The financial awareness among women is still limited mostly to urban, working women. There remains a bias when it comes to funding options available for women entrepreneurs But things have changed a lot since a few years ago.

"Being a woman, you’ll actually get noticed sooner. Turn that into an advantage," says Behani. It is this spirit that counts. And when coupled with financial pluck, is a sure shot way to live your life and achieve your dreams.

Have money, will travel

In 2011, at age 23, Shivya Nath quit her corporate job in Singapore and decided to travel the world for a living. If you are wondering how she gets the money to follow her passion, you will be amused it is actually not that difficult. Here is how she sponsors her passion—working with travel companies to promote relevant travel contests and campaigns to a big and highly engaged community of travellers, working as a freelance social media strategist and community manager for travel brands and by helping grow their reach and engagement on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. 

She also works with tourism boards and accommodations to review their destinations and experiences. Shivya, who as she tells on her blog— the-shooting-star.com, is just a girl who travels. She has hitch-hiked along Romania's northern countryside, lived with the chocolate farmers of Costa Rica, journeyed along Canada's great wilderness by train and swam with black-tip sharks on Malaysia's east coast. “I work on the go, funding all my travels from the above work,” she says.

Shivya has some tips for women who have a desire to travel alone and see the world. Start small—like by exploring your own city or town or a place you've been before, to build your confidence to travel, stay, eat and discover a place alone. Do your research and plan your trip well, keep someone informed about your whereabouts and choose home-stays over hotels. “And always trust your guts when it comes to safety,” she sums up.