The Clerk who Became a Businesswoman: A Story of True Grit

When it comes to challenges of women entrepreneurs, most of us look for inspiration elsewhere; little do we realize it is all around us, and many a time within us. Harshita Gupta, a young and energetic 28-year-old girl, who fought against all odds exemplifies this to the 'T'. She faced the toughest challenges that life threw at her, and stood strong and confident enough to be the boss of her own by laying the foundation of her maiden venture with 'Hail Women', a formal work wear brand, along with her brother Vikram Gupta. HerMoneyTalks sat down with scones and tea with Harshita to go down memory lane and revisit her tale of grit.

 

A decade ago, just as Harshita turned eighteen and entered adulthood, both her parents passed away. It was baptism by fire into adulthood for yound Harshita. After completing her schooling in the year 2009, she started pursuing B.Com., but due to some family emergencies she had to drop out during the second year of her graduation.

 

Harshita started her professional career as a clerk in Kanpur for a modest monthly salary of Rs 3,000. She remained in the same industry for a while but kept switching jobs. Later, she left her job and started out as a consultant. A few years later, she shifted to Delhi where she took up the job of an operation manager in a real estate broker firm.

 

Yearning to learn something different, Harshita took up a job in an event management company but quit that too after some time. She also tried to work as a freelancer and but soon got bored.  Disillusioned with jobs, she started thinking about launching her own business. “After working for more than 7-8 years, I realized my life was not going anywhere, so I started working for myself,” reveals Harshita.

 

Cutting the fabric of her new venture 'Hail Women'

 

'Hail Women' is Harshita’s maiden venture. It is a one-stop solution for all kinds of trends related to Western formals with perfect body fit and premium quality fabric.

 

Starting a business is difficult for all regardless of gender. But our society is still not used to seeing a woman in that role of an entrepreneur, so this is where things start to get complicated.

 

On her decision to choose working women as her target audience, she says formals are not just for working women. They are a fashion style and one needs to be creative enough to carry it with style.

 

As our chat veered around to challenges of women entrepreneurs, Harshita became circumspect. “Starting a business is difficult for all regardless of gender. But our society is still not used to seeing a woman in that role of an entrepreneur, so this is where things start to get complicated,” rues Harshita.

 

She says that even if women follow their dreams despite societal restrictions and expectations, women then have to confront a men-centric world to deal with. But Harshita is optimistic: “now times are changing; we are seeing women coming through despite all these hurdles.”

 

Running in circles for funding

 

Harshita’s seed funding was done by herself with the savings she had from her previous jobs. However, she says it is very difficult to pitch a new idea to the market and there are acceptance issues. So she decided to build the venture first then to expand that idea further before seeking funding.

 

Harshita sounds a note of caution here. Funding remains one of the prime challenges of women entrepreneurs. “I had many problems while searching for good investors, as nowadays people are more inclined toward startups. It is a market flooded with companies claiming to be angel investors; they ask for money to create your pitch deck for the investors to promote your company. But most of them are just frauds and it is their way of earning money,” says Harshita.

 

She continues: “I have seen more than 400 files pending in one company per year, where they just take your money and forget about you. People lose hope while waiting those funds and give up their idea, and the next thing you know is that it has been grabbed by someone else. So you don't just lose your money, you are also exposing your idea to the wrong people.”

 

It is a market flooded with companies claiming to be angel investors; they ask for money to create your pitch deck for the investors to promote your company.

 

She adds that banks have their own set of criteria to provide funding to startups. For starters, they require the company to be active for at least 3 years. But it's a classic Catch-22 situation - starting up is the most crucial point when you need financial support. Harshita opines that it is not easy to look for any investor nowadays.

 

Double-stitching your career with confidence and caution

 

Harshita says she never had any mentor, or anyone other than herself who encouraged her about anything . “I don't believe in following someone's footsteps. I have faith in myself about what I can achieve or I’m capable of. No one can understand that better than me,” she affirms.

 

According to Harshita, one can only make others believe in a project when they themselves are confident about it.  She admits, “in the beginning I was confident and somewhere scared also because I put my whole career at stake. But as my journey progressed, my confidence in my business grew stronger every day.”

 

“Always believe in yourself; you are more capable than what you think you are. Never let anyone judge you regardless of anything and don't let them rule you out in the name of society propaganda or being a woman,” advises Harshita. Finances are the most important lever as soon as you think of business or yu get a business idea. You will need to plan everything accordingly, and balance it all the way along.

 

“Use your money very wisely. Be sure of the people whom you'll be initiating business with before parting with any money,” signs off Harshita with a sweet smile.