According to the Global Gender Gap report 2020, it will take another 100 years to achieve gender equality based on the rate of progress in the growth of female entrepreneurs in the ecosystem. Does it seem realistic? BW Disrupt recognises trailblazing women entrepreneurs who defied all the odds to establish a mark of significant business success.  

The Women Entrepreneurship Summit and Awards (WESA) is an exclusive initiative of BW Disrupt in association with BW Businessworld that celebrates exceptional women entrepreneurs whose clutter-breaking approaches have created positive changes in the business and startup ecosystem in India. BW Disrupt is keen to acknowledge and enable women founders and achievers who have opened up new avenues for themselves and also for others. Entrepreneurs reiterate that failures have proven to be critical lessons to innovate and grow. BW Disrupt WESA also serves as a melting pot of different kinds of industry stakeholders, with a focus on technology, that come together to create and support a future-fit company.

Innovations Across Industries

A study by LEAD released in 2020 reveals that only seven out of a hundred entrepreneurs in India are women and of them, nearly half (49.9 per cent) get into business out of necessity rather than aspiration. Even during the tumultuous times and uncertain economic scenarios in the past, these women entrepreneurs did not give up. 

In its fourth edition this year, the Women Entrepreneur Awards endeavour to acknowledge and appreciate women leaders who are paving the path across the spectrum of industries. The demand for health-centred solutions is rising especially after the pandemic. In the list of nominations, it was witnessed that most of the applications were of healthcare or health-focused brands. 

This year the categories ranged across Creative Women Entrepreneur Award, Education and Edtech, Fashion and Lifestyle, Fintech and more. The platform did not forget to include the most relevant sector during these times, Technology, Young Woman Entrepreneur of the Year (Below 30), Startup Women Entrepreneur Award. Besides this, BW Disrupt had Health, Wellness and Healthtech Award, Social Impact Women Entrepreneur Award as the categories and has seen significant participation. 

How The Jury Did It? 

The esteemed jury panel included Padmaja Ruparel, Co-founder and President, Indian Angel Network (IAN); Bhuvana Ravi, Director, Drishya Education Scholarship Foundation; Paulomi Dhawan, Strategic Advisor on perception image management, media, marketing, brand communications; Dhruv Nath, Director-Lead Angels Network, earlier Senior Vice President, NIIT; Professor, MDI Gurgaon; Co-author, Funding Your Startup And Other Nightmares; Atul Hegde, Co-founder, Rainmaker Ventures, Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld and Founder, exchnage4media, Noor Fathima Warsia, Group Editorial Director, BW Businessworld. The process of finalising winners took place under the supervision of jury chair -- Meena Ganesh, Co-founder, MD and Chairperson, Portea Medical.

More than 800 entries were received which were then brought down to over 300 after the first screening round. Subsequently, after the second level of deliberation, a total of 67 nominees were shortlisted and invited to be present before the power-packed jury panel. Nominations received for BW Disrupt WESA were put through a multi-tier screening and shortlisting procedure.

Bright Future Ahead

Brands and enterprises that are getting ahead with promising growth and eyeing to capture potential market opportunities were effective in convincing the jury members. The key parameters of evaluation were financial performance, uniqueness of the business idea, efficiency in solving a problem and scope of long-term impact. Applications were critically assessed and discussed to find the most suitably deserving candidate in the various categories of the award.

India still has pockets that demand mindset change in order to achieve equality equilibrium. Each women entrepreneur is demonstrating a story of her own but the drive to make an impact remains a common goal for all.