GBG Mumbai and Azure Open House - Empowering Women Entrepreneurs through digital media tools

So what if Akancha did not let me speak, that doesn’t stop me from writing – or just coz she was the host, she can? Nevermind. I will exercise my freedom of speech ;)

The Event

Google Business Group Mumbai along with Azure organized this super awesome Open House on Empowering women entrepreneurs through digital media tools.

(P.S: It ran a statement saying that only women will get to speak and men have to listen for a change. For a change? Shouldn’t it be the other way round then? I know I do ask relevant questions, but let’s move on)

The Audience

When you walk in to the auditorium packed with close to 100 people you already know the relevance of the event and what impact it is going to leave behind. And then you feel happy to realize that you are not the only ‘male’ present there (sigh of relief). The audience was a mix of successful entrepreneurs (both male and female), entrepreneurs who have recently ventured out [like me ;)], social entrepreneurs, business women, students, aspirants, mentors, etc

The Host

When you are seated and Akancha take charges of the event, you are already bowled over by her beauty and super confidence. She herself is a successful entrepreneur being a director at Azure, an active RodinHooder,  Founder of Why only Cupid and an Art of Living follower. I don’t think the audience needed an introduction of her because she had touched each one of them at some point in time in some way or the other through one of her acts.

She began with the statement that women don’t need to be differentiated or sympathized for being a woman. There is nothing special about being a women entrepreneur. Treat them as equal in the business world [the feminist in her speaking, just kidding].

She explained that today, to meet your target, it’s all about Branding and marketing yourself in the right manner.

She showed examples of how digital media changed the way her ventures or activities functioned and a RodinHood OpenHouse went on to be attended by 200 from 10, how people from 100+ countries did a google hangout with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji, why she took why only cupid to facebook from just a website.

Glimpses of the Tank Man, Yemeni girl (who was going to being forced to marriage), the Kolaveri Di make you realize the actual strength of Digital Media. The world is connected online today, make use of it.

The Speakers

Priyanka from Wishberry

What would you do if some stupid law prevented you from being part of the core team that co-founded a company in US? And after returning to India you get an update that the company has raised Series A round of funding? You would want to strangle the lawmaker’s right?

What these incidents make Priyanka do – she quit her job and co-founded Wishberry (after all business is in marwadi blood). Wishberry is a crowd funding platform which enables people raise funds for various ideas and projects, market validation of the idea, initial sales and most importantly brand awareness.

She claims that she has not spent anything on print media or marketing. Everything has happened online through digital media. People would promote their ideas online through social media and blogging and the word about Wishberry spread around. Again those people who used a video to broadcast their project claimed to reach their targets more often than not. She says that in her field, it’s all about making maximum use of the digital space and you could do wonders with that.

Swetta Mam from Barclays

She spoke about her journey at Barclays and how digital media can play an important role in today’s fast paced life. She spoke about how Art of Living has sharing at the centre of its values and that one should you digital media to share and exchange knowledge (cannot agree more).

Sonakshi from Theek Kar Do

She was at her best from the word go (yeah yeah, she is our co-founder). She began with how a journey of providing basic necessities at a school few kilometers away from Mumbai changed her attitude towards work and life and how that instigated her to quit her cushy corporate job and take the plunge at entrepreneurship and what led to the founding of Theek Kar Do (a one stop repair destination).

She stressed on the fact that being a young team, with limited budget, digital was the only way to go and how the team tried their hands at print media, social media, Google Ad words, YouTube, Blogging etc and how each of these activities help them garner more visibility.

Deepali Mam from L&T Insurance

An experienced Branding and Media professional, the first thing she asked her new boss was why she was being hired when her experience was all around non-financial sectors. She did not let the company down when she helped L&T meet their targets of a new product launch at half the ad spend of a competitor just by the use of digital media (Mind it, the amount runs to crores of rupees). That is the power of digital media.

Gargi from the Playce

She began with a quick puzzle to help her get the right attention. Her venture, ‘the Playce’ is a co-working space which comes handy to start-ups in a city like Mumbai where rentals are sky rocketing. And while sharing space you also give and take a lot of information and learning’s (the best way to barter you see).

She admits that she has not been able to make much use of digital media and it’s a very limited way that they currently do but welcomed suggestions from the audience to help her exploit the maximum potential out of digital media.

Several other Women

Several other women from different walks of life, different backgrounds shared their experiences and journey and admitted that the world is huge and there are infinite possibilities to achieve if one can take the courage to venture out.

Some Men as well

Kanchan Sir, Rohit, Sreeraman and a few others were the privileged men who were permitted to speak in women’s forum. Kanchan Sir spoke about how TiE uses only digital media to connect across different chapters across the country and Rohit mentioned how taking his quizzing stuff online helped him reached millions of people in one go. Sreeraman spoke about how various Google business applications and general tools can help ease the day to day functioning of a start-up.

Conclusion

At the end of the day all present unanimously agreed that they took back much more than what they shared and that’s what such events are all about.

Kudos to Team GBG Mumbai, Azure and our special Akancha.

We want more. :)

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