Building an enterprise and taking it to sky high limits is not each individual’s forte. It takes enormous effort, an extraordinary idea, wisdom, intelligence, a firm mindset and a strong ambition which is taller even than the skyscrapers. Leadership is one of the most important qualities without which it is almost impossible to guide a team of professionals and achieve the desired goals of the company.
Here comes the inspiring story of an exceptional business leader and the face behind India’s largest angel network, Padmaja Ruparel, Co-founder and President at India Angel Network. With her extraordinary leadership skills and rich work experience, Padmaja has built the nation’s first and world’s largest business angel network with over 460 members across the world, comprising of numerous successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs around the globe. She has been recognised for her contributions to the startup & angel investing ecosystem.
Carved out a Business within the framework of the Family and made it a Success
While talking about empowerment, Padmaja said, “Being empowered to me means a responsibility to not only pave the way forward but believing in others and enabling them to grow. It means empathy and understanding, while staying the course under all odds.” She further added, “My early lessons of empowering one came when I carved out a business within the framework of the family and made it a success.”
She started learning more and earning deeper knowledge about empowerment once she entered into the corporate life. She considers the guidance of her mentor to be very precious and the cornerstone that has helped her carve her career across many functions including marketing, corporate communications, and corporate strategy. This initial experience and exposure into the corporate world has helped her grow both vertically and horizontally, providing her a much wider understanding of corporate and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Padmaja is not just an extraordinary entrepreneur; she is even motivating, inspiring and helping others by playing a crucial role in architecting and launching the IAF Fund, which provides quick funds along with mentoring and global market access to the young and aspiring start-ups. With this, entrepreneurs get empowered to raise funds from Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores from the IAN platform-making it the largest horizontal platform for early stage investment in India.
“It takes Great Leadership to Build Great Teams,” asserts Padmaja
Building a great team isn’t that easy, it takes great leadership skills and a keen understanding of people and their strengths. What counts more is to create an environment of learning and excitement as that is what brings the best performance. It apparently seems that the job description of a CEO is extremely simple, i.e., “Lead your team to success as then the company succeeds”
Padmaja shares her top three mantras which she believes that every CEO should incorporate in their business organizations as: Building the Right Team, Communicate, and Put Your People Ahead of Yourself. Further Perseverance is the key to success and as she said, “You need to keep the faith, create new paths & keep evolving. With the help of a great support system, one can achieve anything. Being focused, agile and patient are key too. But what is critical is integrity of thought & action.”
Becoming an entrepreneur is difficult but what is more difficult is to sustain the pace: “I start my day early; I think that helps to get a lot of work out of the way. It allows me to think of all that needs to be done. But honestly it is MY team that keeps me focused and energized. They drive me and keep me going!”
About the India’s First and World’s Largest Business Angel Network
Indian Angel Network is currently working with investors from 11 countries and has spread its presence across seven prime locations including several cities in India and the UK. IAN is sector agnostic and has funded startups across 17 sectors including agriculture, e-commerce, education, FinTech, manufacturing, mobile, retail, semiconductor and social impact. Some of their marquee investee companies include WebEngage, Druva, Box8, Sapience Analytics, WOW Momos, Consure amongst many others.
Establishing operations in three out of four top start-up hubs in the world, IAN has been a pioneer in the seed and early stage investing. It has now launched Rs. 450 Crores VC fund making it now, the single largest platform for seed & early stage, where entrepreneurs can make enough progress.
Plans to Change the World
An extraordinary businesswoman, Padmaja has shared that “Learning and Evolving in Life” plays a critical role in taking the company and entrepreneur forward. Under Padmaja’s leaderships, the company offers foundations of integrity, equality, transparency, empathy and ensures development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Padmaja feels that with better exposure and education, one can change the world and said, “Energies channelized in the right direction creates uncharted territory – disrupting the old & creating the new”
With a mission to build, mentor and promote a holistic ecosystem for startups and entrepreneurship in India, the IAN Fund came up with this tangible step to fulfill IAN’s vision to enable, with IAN and the IAN Fund, India’s largest horizontal platform for seed and early stage investing bringing the best investors and best entrepreneurs on the platform. Padmaja stated, “This platform will then enable Rs. 5000 crores invested in 500 seed / early stage start-ups over a 10-year period.”
Source :- Inspiring Stories of Indian Women Leaders in Business
Padmaja Ruparel: Empowering Businesses with the Angel Network and Extraordinary Entrepreneurial Skills
