In our relentless pursuit to identify and share with our community some of the unique and compelling startup stories from the ecosystem, this weekend we invited seasoned women entrepreneur Dr Kruti Patel to know more about her startup story. Dr Patel is a purpose-driven entrepreneur, mentor, leader, change enabler and Founder & Director of She And WE. Let’s learn more about her background, her journey and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Dr Kruti Patel:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as a women entrepreneur, please;
I am an Engineer turned into a management professor with Specialization in Marketing and a PhD in Human Resource. I have served academics as a Marketing faculty and a placement head for more than a decade with a leading MBA institution of Gujarat, S.K.Patel Institute of Management and Computer Studies (MBA).
Served as a Chief coordinator of Women entrepreneurship cell of Kadi Sarva Vishwavidyalaya for more than 6 years. I was enterprising even when I was doing a job. I was always keen to take up new responsibilities, doing something creative and having an attitude to put my heart and soul in whatever I am doing.
But when I was doing a job, I was an Intrapreneur (Entrepreneur within the organization). Frankly speaking, I was very happy the way I was working. Having a good position, a good amount of money getting deposited in my account every month and was getting lots of opportunities to explore new avenues at my previous organization. With all this still, I was feeling that something is missing. I strongly believe that entrepreneurship is a psychological process. Sometimes it is very difficult for you to understand and to know the signals you are getting. I strongly believe that God Almighty has amazing plans for you just you need to follow your guts and signals given to you.”
So my inner voice was telling me to leave a comfort zone and to do something which was really impactful.
So one day I wrote a resignation and submitted to my Boss. That time was only sure that what I am going to do but was pretty sure that will do something significant, but was not aware that what to do. So someone said when you don’t have any plan that that’s the best plan.
I have heard my inner voice and with them a strong belief in myself one fine day, I left the promising job to be an entrepreneur. As I was involved in entrepreneurial training design and execution, but somehow wanted to live the life of an entrepreneur. And this is how a professor turned into an entrepreneur.”
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
It is impossible for any individual to be positive and motivated all the time but yes it is possible to bounce back after the negativity and demotivation.
Business is all about to keep going no matter what the situation is. You can only keep moving if you have Agile business model. This will help you to be more adaptive toward changing situation and uncertain market condition. Entrepreneurship is all about mindset.
I have trained my mindset to learn from failures rather than getting depressed out of it. Every situation and incident is teaching you something, this thought the process is helping a lot to keep myself positive and motivated. I am a 3rd Degree Reiki Practitioner, so Reiki has helped a lot in building an entrepreneurial mindset.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
Freedom is one word which has attracted me to opt for entrepreneurship.
‘She & We’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving with the help of your startup?
We are a dedicated institute for potential and existing women entrepreneurs. We provide training, consulting, motoring and coaching for women entrepreneurs.
The reason behind keeping name She & WE is She stands for her, We mean us as a whole ecosystem we are with women entrepreneurs and it also stands for W+E = Women Entrepreneurs. We are consulting to universities and institutions to set exclusive cell of entrepreneurship for female students.”
We are closely working with various government and private agencies for conducting various training and mentoring programs for women entrepreneurs. During Covid-19 we have also trained and mentored many individual potentials and existing women entrepreneurs.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
20th March 2020 was a tough day to believe for She & WE. As we were on the runway to take off and because of lockdown, our flight got cancelled. It was very frustrating and disappointing for the initial few days.
But then there is a very famous saying that show must go on. We have decided to keep doing knowledge sharing activities until the situation gets normal. We have done many Webinars, certificate programs and one to mentorship sessions under the banner of She & WE.
This has helped us a lot in building a brand as an institution. As months have passed away we felt it blessings in disguise. We got a wonderful response from the audience. Doors were opened of opportunities for She & WE, which were not possible for us to leverage.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
She & WE is a social enterprise. Obviously, we earn profit but along with that monetary reward, we are also contributing to the lives of hundreds of women entrepreneurs.
The satisfaction of contributing to somebody’s life in a social, emotional or economical way drives our team towards keep going. Our aim is to help women entrepreneurs to help them in realizing their potential.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
Adaptability, Persistence and Empathy are much-needed skills to get a success
Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?
I am always a strong believer in building and maintaining relationships. This was one of my core professional and personal strength even today also. Since last so many years of professional career, I have invested a lot in relationship building. My network, my soundboard has worked well for you so far. And it will definitely work well in future too.
In your opinion – what is more necessary: Idea or a good team for a successful startup?
There is a misconception that you need an idea only when you start a business. Basically, you need new innovative ideas on regular basis to run and sustain your business in this highly uncertain, complex and competitive environment. At the same time, you need a good team to execute and implement those ideas for your business. So a good idea and a good team are equally important.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring women entrepreneur?
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
