In Conversation with Reinu Shah

“Most women in India give up their dreams and aspirations due to societal constraints. I want to be the person who gives wings to their dreams and helps them soar high,” says Ms. Reinu Shah, passionately working towards building an ecosystem of gender balance in the workplace.

The professional journey

After completing a master’s degree in marketing, Reinu co-founded Nimbus Marketing, a company involved in imports, sales, marketing, and distribution. She also started sponsoring the education of some children.

“I grew up in a small town, where we socially coexisted with people around us. Festivals and celebrations involved a lot of giving, and I imbibed that,” she says.

She found her calling in the education sector and established the Koseli school in Kathmandu, Nepal, which used holistic methods to integrate slum and street children into mainstream society.

“I strongly feel that we can bring a systematic change in society by working with children when they are young,” she adds.

To pursue her passion for change, Shah joined Harvard Kennedy for a Master’s degree in Public Administration, where she was the John Galbraith Policy Fellow.

After returning, she led Ashoka’s Changemaker Schools Program for South Asia. She also co-founded Pehal, which works on building collaborative delivery models to improve student learning outcomes in Government schools. 

Reinu believes that gender equality is not possible without economic participation. She founded STEP (Shakti – The Empathy Project), an incubation program for early-stage women social entrepreneurs to build a self-supportive entrepreneurs community. 

“Women have multiple layers to them, and it is important to support them beyond their work,” she says.

Recently, she co-founded SHEEE, India’s first women-only platform that connects women in the gray-collar segment to job opportunities to build a gender-balanced world.

“If we want to see more women on top, we need to build a base for them at the bottom, too,” she adds. 

Need for a women-focused program

The percentage of women entrepreneurs in India is just 14%, and women in the workforce are just 17%.

“Both the figures are abysmal. The economic participation of Indian women is amongst the lowest in the world,” she says.

When she started in 2019, there was hardly any support for women entrepreneurs. She also missed having a community to talk about her challenges and a mentor to navigate her through challenges.

“The participation of active women entrepreneurs in gender-neutral incubation programs is less than 20%.  If we want to increase the overall percentage of women entrepreneurs, we need to provide special focus and handholding till it becomes a new normal,” she says.

The 5 pillars of STEP – empathetic community, mentorship, learning, role modeling, and networking, help women to handle their challenges as entrepreneurs.

“In the last 4 years, 65 women entrepreneurs have gone through the program and are doing well. We are collectively impacting 10 lakh lives,” she says.

Today, Shaktipreneurs have built a strong community of women entrepreneurs for themselves.

“It fills me with immense pride when I see the community backing each other,” she adds.

STEP has recently been recognized as an incubator by Startup India Seed Fund Scheme. When applying for SISFS through STEP, funding is exclusively available to women. The selected startups are eligible for up to Rs.20 lakhs in grants and Rs. 50 lakhs in debt financing at the lowest interest rates.

It has innumerable advantages for the applicants:

• Since it is limited to women, the chances of women getting access to funding are high.
• The judging panel is gender balanced so it will be more empathetic and understanding towards the products and services provided by the women entrepreneurs.
• The selected applicants will receive mentorship, handholding, learning sessions, and other support to improve the survival and success chances of the women-led startups.
• They will get an opportunity to be a part of the upcoming STEP cohort.

“It is important for women entrepreneurs to reach out and avail of this wonderful scheme,” says Reinu.

About SHEEE

According to Reinu, SHEEE is an extension of STEP. The 3’ E’s stand for Employment, Employability, and Entrepreneurship. It aims to increase the number of women in the workforce.

“We are looking for entry-level jobs for women who have just started,” she says.

“Right now, job portals are available either for white-collar jobs or women in the domestic help segment,” she explains.

The platform currently focuses on women in five cities in India- Varanasi, Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Mangalore.

“We feel that we will be able to create a lot of value with our experience at STEP,” Shah adds.

The portal curates jobs for girls according to their requirements and education. It provides mentorship and training to them.

“It is a matchmaking of the girls looking for jobs and organizations looking for good employees. As the girls get trained by us, it saves a massive amount of time for the companies that hire them,” she adds.

Message to women

When Reinu started her professional journey, there were few working women. 

“I felt alienated, faced gender bias in my own office, and was not taken seriously,” she adds.

She also missed having a tribe to discuss the challenges and celebrate her early wins.

“With STEP and SHEEE, I have tried to convert every challenge I have faced into a solution,” she says.

Her message to women is:

• Mentorship is important. Have as many mentors as possible at every stage and for everything you do. Make sure to find a woman mentor, as they will understand your personal challenges, too.
• Learning is crucial. Be a part of learning circles. Entrepreneurs need skills for the success of their organizations.
• Be a part of a community of like-minded women.

“Dream, be ambitious. Go out and achieve your dreams. Do not let anyone tell you that you cannot succeed,” she adds.

Reinu, the person 

Reinu describes herself as a vagabond. She is empathetic and ambitious.

Shah prefers beaches to hills. She is a history buff and would like to visit the Inca ruins someday. Going for a 40-day Vipassana meditation retreat is on her bucket list. The impact she creates through her work motivates her to get out of bed in the morning.

A quote that is the mantra of her life is:” “No is not an option.”