India@75: Indian Women Pushing Boundaries of Technology
amita-admin200 years of autocratic British rule left the Indian economy technologically backward and dependent.
Today, India is one of the world’s fastest developing economies and has a solid scientific and technological base that spreads across the country.
The Indian Government took various steps to promote research and technology with the establishment of IIT, ISRO, AIIMS, DAE, etc.
In 2022, we moved to the 46th position in the Global Innovation Index (GII) and will likely get on the list of the top 25 nations within the next decade.
India ranks 3rd for the number of PhDs in science and engineering. It is the top exporter of IT products, has the third-largest pharma sector, a fast-growing contract research segment, and stands third globally in the number of peer-reviewed Science and Engineering Publications.
In the last 75 years, a lot has been done to encourage women to study and pursue careers in Technology.
India is witnessing pivotal women-centric phenomena with unparalleled inclusion of women in the Indian economy, augmented by technology platforms and women increasingly pushing the boundaries of technology development.
Nearly 43% of the total graduates in STEM in India are women, much higher than in the United States( 33.99), Germany (27.14), and the United Kingdom (38.10).
Women now make up 34% of the IT workforce in India, with the majority of these workers under 30.
On the auspicious occasion of the platinum jubilee of Indian independence, we showcase some upcoming entrepreneurs who have carved a niche for themselves in their areas of specialization through their innovative startups:
Aerospace
Samriddhi Pandey: Defy aerospace
Defy Aerospace is building a first-of-its-kind drone technology in India to serve the underserved in the emergency healthcare sector.
Samriddhi realized that people in rural and tribal areas did not have access to basic and emergency healthcare. She was determined to fight this issue with requisite technical knowledge and aerospace technology. Defy Aerospace uses logistics drones for the availability of blood, fresh frozen plasma, vaccines, antivenoms, immunoglobulins, and emergency medicines for maternal and child mortality.
“Our core values are to uplift human lives and the overall ecosystem of the country. We believe in creating an environment that serves as an inclusion of the competition rather than the disruption of it.”
Samriddhi Pandey
Edtech
Divya Gokulnath: Byju’s
BYJU’S makes learning engaging & effective by leveraging deep pedagogy & cutting-edge technology. With offerings ranging from adaptive self-learning courses on apps & web to personalized 1-on-1 classes with expert teachers for ages 4-18+, they have programs for every learner comprising 150 million+ registered learners on their app.
A passionate teacher, Divya has been teaching from the age of 21 and has been instrumental in ideating and strategizing across content, business growth, and product offerings at BYJU’S. She is involved in setting up the user experience team that helps ensure a seamless learning experience for students on the BYJU’S app.
“While teaching was the primary focus, we also started thinking about how we could make visuals and videos more interesting. The goal is to break down the information in a simple and engaging way with many real-life examples.”
Divya Gokulnath
Pooja Goyal: Avishkaar
Avishkaar is a leader in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) education disseminating through its Do-It-Yourself Robotics, making and coding products. It houses a dynamic ecosystem where imagination and innovation among young minds are encouraged through engaging educational experiences. Avishkaar Learning Programs focus on STEAM concepts and provide ideas, experiences, and material (hands-on/virtual) that children use to achieve their goals.
“Both schools and parents are aware that next-generation technologies, like robotics, AI, coding, IoT, and drones, are going to play a pivotal role in the world of tomorrow. However, no one is clear on how to go about introducing or teaching them to children.”
Pooja Goyal
Healthtech
Dr Praapti Jayaswal and Avlokita Tiwari: AarogyaAI
AarogyaAI utilizes genomics and Artificial Intelligence to diagnose DR-TB within hours. AWS also helps them with the latest technology in terms of algorithm deployment as well as security, ensuring that patients are provided with a precision diagnosis and effective medication. This quick detection helps to control the spread of the disease, prevents the deterioration of the patient’s health, and prevents extra expenditure for both the patient and the government.
“We use a DNA sequence from the patient and upload it to our SaaS (Software as a service). Our machine-learning algorithm then gives an output report of a comprehensive drug susceptibility status of the patient.”
Praapti Jayaswal
Anitha Jacob: Founder of Proactive For Her
It is a digital health clinic for women that offers accessible, personalized, non-judgmental, and preventive healthcare services for women across various life stages. It provides a full-stack healthcare experience with services ranging from teleconsultations and support programs to customized diagnostic panels. It has an in-house team of doctors, therapists, and nutritionists.
“Women in India are more family-oriented, preferring to make quiet sacrifices for their families — a trait that inadvertently causes them to suffer in silence. We hope to educate and provide an avenue for them to also prioritize their own health, as that will benefit them and their family in the long run.”
Achitha Jacob
Fintech
Nupur Gupta: Founder of NIRA
NIRA is an instant personal loan app business offering small ticket loans to low-income salaried individuals. It aims to promote financial inclusion by creating simple, transparent products that empower individuals to live a life of choice and freedom. AI technology is used to speed up credit scoring and loan underwriting.
“One of the key ways that we garner the trust of our customers is by being clear and transparent in our communication around costs, benefits, and timelines across customer interfaces and interactions.”
Nupur Gupta
Fintech
Mabel Chacko & Deena Jacob: Co-founders of Open Financial Technologies
It is the world’s largest SME-focused neo-banking platform, helping over 23,00,000 small enterprises resolve challenges in accessing and managing finances. They are processing about 24 million US dollars annually and have covered 80% of the pin codes.
Powered by partner banks, Open offers a business account that enables small business owners to collect payments, auto- reconcile them and make seamless payouts. They also provide an integrated payment gateway, automated accounting, and expense management. On May 3, Open became India’s 100th unicorn after the startup.
“SMBs are conservative when it comes to capital withdrawal — the money and time. I believe where we brought in solutions is in giving time back to them.”
Deena Jacob
Agritech
Anu Meena: Founder of Agrowave
Agrowave is building a supply-driven farm-to-market mobility supply chain of fresh produce, through an integrated network of mobile pickup stations (MPS). Farmers can sell their produce directly from their farm gates with a few clicks. Agrowave’s innovative and scalable approach of building supply-driven farm-to-market mobility through technology focused on first-mile logistics and trade supply through an integrated network of MPS(s) has allowed the company to make a name for itself in the market. Agrowave has achieved gross merchandise value (GMV) of approximately Rs 15 crore volume, 8000 tons by operating in over 150 villages in the month of December 2021.
“Growing up, I saw the challenges my grandfather, a farmer, faced. Solving these challenges that farmers across India’s face, has since been my mission.”
Anu Meena
Kavitha Sairam: Founder of FIB-SOL Life Technologies
FIB-SOL Life Technologies provides lightweight Agri inputs to promote eco-friendly farming. They aim to ensure sustainable livelihood for the farmer through high-end biotechnological processes such as encapsulation. Fib-Sol products are available as gels, crop-specific combos, kitchen garden combos, and fiber that are special microbial formulations to suit different crops, based on their nutrient requirements and soil types to fix Nitrogen, Solubilize Phosphorus(P), Mobilize Potassium(K). As a result, nutrient absorption increases in growing plants, resulting in more yield, healthier crops, and better product quality.
“I found that the soil has lost its nutrient utilization efficiency due to indiscriminate use of chemicals. Our product addresses the demand for live bacteria that could rejuvenate the so.”
Kavitha Sairam
Greentech
Sri Sailaja Nori & Sowmya Balendiran: Co-founders of Sea6Energy
Sea6 was founded in 2010 to develop innovative solutions to key global problems. Ocean plants are instrumental in producing over 50% of the oxygen we breathe.
Over the last decade, it has become a pioneer of innovative technologies for sustainable, large-scale, and mechanized ocean farming. The company envisions a future powered by the endless potential of the oceans through farming, bioprocessing, and solutions.
“Most of the biofuel technologies visualized large areas of land to be farmed for producing biofuel. This also involved an enormous amount of water. We turned to the oceans as a potential source of scalable biomass. We are currently in the process of developing food ingredients, feed solutions, bioplastics, and biofuels based on ocean biomass.”
Sri Sailaja Nori and Sowmya Balendiran
Dr. Ezhil Subbian: Founder of String Bio
String Bio is in the business of manufacturing raw materials for animal nutrition, human nutrition, agriculture, and personal care sectors that are derived using a sustainable and traceable process. It designs sustainable industrial product security that improves worldwide food security. The company uses methane as a source of carbon for biodegradable products and has introduced a sustainable protein for high-value industrial chemicals and transportation fuels, enabling companies to help meet the growing global demand for protein. String Bio is the only company in Asia that has enabled a methane-based value chain through biological processes.
“Methane is a very interesting gas. It’s a high-energy alkane that is currently largely underutilized around the world. A large portion of methane gas gets flared because we don’t have the right solutions to leverage this source of energy. So we decided to combine the power of biology to leverage methane to convert it into different value-added products.”
Dr.Ezhil Subbian
The stories of these inspiring women along with their incredible work are just a fragment of the technological revolution in India.
The innovative solutions provided by the brilliant women in technology will definitely strengthen India in the years to come and help it in leading on the path to achieving inclusive growth with a diverse leadership pipeline in the coming decades.
References:
https://yourstory.com/herstory/2022/03/india-booming-fintech-landscape-women
https://go.451research.com/women-in-tech-india-employment-trends.html
https://yourstory.com/companies/defy-aerospace?origin=awards
https://yourstory.com/2021/12/tech50-startup-defyaerospace-aviation-tech-drones-emergency-healthcare
