Q. Tell us a little about yourself?
I am Ishika Nirula, a second-year student at Hansraj College, majoring in Economics with a minor in commerce. I have a profound interest in the fields of Consulting, Marketing, Data Analytics and Psychology. I have always been passionate about women empowerment and have worked on multiple projects to inspire and support women, especially those who face discrimination or lack basic resources that can help them actualise their potential in life. I have been a part of Girl Up Delhi University, where recently I was promoted to Vice-President. I have also started two initiatives, which are very close to me, called ‘Women in Business Network’ and ‘The Sequin Collective’. Women in Business Network is a platform that helps raise awareness and empower female student entrepreneurs for a smooth journey from college to corporate. The Sequin Collective is a community initiative that connects artists and helps them collaborate.
Q. Where or from whom did you draw your inspiration to start Women in Business Network?
My inspiration to start Women in Business Network was based on factual research. I learned about the problems faced by women in the workplace and gathered data that showed the disparity between men and women entrepreneurs. I was partially motivated by figures such as only around 10% of women hold high executive and management positions in the world’s top 1500 companies. With more research, I found out that only 27% of women are currently entrepreneurs in India, which was alarming to me. Such statistics had a great impact on me and I tried to understand the possible reasons behind such parity between women and men in the workplace.
Moreover, I feel there is a lack of mentorship and support at an early age that restricts women from joining the workplace or starting their own ventures. I am very passionate about amplifying the voices of women in the field of entrepreneurship and have been an ardent advocate for the same. This was one of the big reasons why I started Women in Business Network. Now I have a team of 30+ managers and interns. Through this initiative, we have empowered over 1000 young women to start their brands and work towards gender equality in the workplace.
Q. How does the business model work in your organization ‘Women in Network Business’?
Since we are a non-profit organization, our business model is not focused on gaining profit. We don’t have any investors as it is an initiative that works solely on social media and we haven't had much opportunity to work offline due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, we have over 1000 female entrepreneurs and business leaders in our LinkedIn community. The LinkedIn group is managed by me and my team of approximately 30+ managers and interns. Apart from this, we have a growing Instagram community where we post educational content. Our events and workshops are also free and open to the public. As an NPO, we have a proper organisational model, similar to that of a company except for the fact that it is not profit-focused.
Q. Recently, you were invited to give a keynote speech as the candidate from India for the Entrepreneurship Research Centre on G20 Economies and a renowned university in China, how was your experience?
It was an excellent experience, but I would have loved it even more had it been offline because I would have gotten a chance to experience China. However, the online mode also made it very easy to interact with delegates from all over the world. It was an amazing experience because I had never interacted with anyone outside of India before. It was a pleasure to hear their speeches and understand how they are fighting workplace gender inequalities and helping women entrepreneurs in their country. I also got to interact with a lot of esteemed professionals from UNESCO, different ILOs and other major organisations. I also felt honoured to speak about something I had just started in September last year and it made me feel that my initiative is powerful and had an impact on people not only in India but also all over the world. Overall, it was an enlightening session.
Q. What is the motive behind the Sequin Collective, and what problem does it solve?
I've always been interested in music, dance, and art. I am currently a member of my college's music society. Before starting this initiative, I discovered that there is no platform that allows students or professionals in these fields to meet each other and collaborate in a seamless manner. It is difficult to reach out to people living in other states of India or even internationally, especially after the pandemic. So, I personally thought that there should be an app or a platform at least that helps artists to collaborate, have their work recognised, and make friends in the same industry.
Q. How much of a role has your college played in achieving your accomplishments? You are in a handful of societies in your college and have done some internships, would you like to touch upon your experience in them one by one?
Honestly, the college has played a very important role in my life journey. When I graduated from high school, I was a humanities student with no experience and had no idea what the term "entrepreneurship" meant. But in college, I joined the Finance Society and learned about the business world. College definitely provided me with the opportunity to learn about what it takes to start an initiative.
Being a part of Girl Up, made me realise that gender issues are real. In school, we live in a very protected environment and don’t really realize these things. So, Girl Up and talking to people who continue to face such discriminations, gave me exposure and pushed me to start something of my own related to women empowerment. Interning at ‘Ketto’, which is a crowd-funding platform, also helped me realise the struggles faced by people during the second wave of covid-19 as I was constantly assisting people in raising funds for their medical expenses. Their work culture had a significant impact on me because I was able to learn so much about human resources and management, which I attempted to implement at WIBN. Also, I developed a great interest in business development and analytics, which helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Now I'd like to do something related to technology and data analytics. So, yes college and internships really played a significant role.
Q. What qualities according to you, do you possess, that makes you stand out among your peers?
I believe I have two qualities that make me stand out. Firstly, I like to take risks because I enjoy challenges and discovering new things. I am one of those people who cannot sit ideal and I always try new things. Now that I have gained experience in data analytics, I am also learning Python and other related skills.
I believe that I'm a good leader because I try to be an empathetic leader. I enjoy interacting with people and learning about their problems. I think from their perspective that gives me more information about why the person is working a certain way and how to improve their performance. So, I actively try to build that kind of relationship with my team or even with my friends, and that empathy and extra emotional intelligence are the key components of my leadership style.
Q. What advice would you like to give your peer who wants to become an entrepreneur as well?
One piece of advice that I would like to give to everybody is that never say no to an opportunity. Whenever you say no to an opportunity, you give up a chance to learn something new and it's usually coming from your self-doubt. Saying no to an opportunity will not lead you anywhere and if you think you are not ready for it then the opportunity wouldn’t have come to you. So, always say yes to new things.
Q. Do you have plans for your remaining time in college? What have you thought to do thereafter career-wise?
Honestly, the plans have been totally disrupted because of the pandemic. But with the remaining time that I have left in college, I want to intern again this summer and get more exposure in the corporate sector because I want to get into consulting. Apart from that, I want to sit for placement and also want to continue with the two initiatives that I started. I’d like to move abroad for my higher studies after gaining 2-3 years of work experience.
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