Your Name: Rita Kale
Business Name: MoneyChat India, an online service to guide entrepreneurial women
Type of Business: Social Enterprise
Business Location: Maharashtra, India
Website www.moneychat.in
Twitter @moneychat_india
Facebook www.facebook.com/moneychat.in
Reason for starting
Women entrepreneurs in India who are either starting a new business or growing an existing one will face a barrage of questions about pricing, business plans, tax, legal structure, funding, required licenses, marketing, technology, competition analysis, etc. They will also need marketing, social media, technology and market research services. Resources are tight and are being pulled in many different directions leaving them little time to focus on their core business. MoneyChat India aims to provide women entrepreneurs with a platform of professional services which they can avail of on a subscription basis so they don’t have to hire all the people they need but can still get professional help.
How do you define success?
Success to us is the ability to reach out to the maximum number of women entrepreneurs in the country and help them set up thriving businesses. We hope to increase the female representation in the registered SME sector in the country from the paltry 13.7% of the total SMEs in 2006/7. This figure was taken from the FISME survey conducted in 2006-7.
Biggest Success
In just a few months of setting up, MoneyChat India’s membership stands at about 250 and members belong to various cities in India. The Founder has been awarded the Star Woman Entrepreneur award by the Indira group of Institutes in Pune. She is also routinely called upon to speak at various universities and colleges to spark the spirit on entrepreneurship amongst the youth.
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it?
We had initially thought that since our services are very web and phone based, we could operate pan India without setting up offices in other towns. However, we quickly realized that for women entrepreneurs to buy into our vision and to trust us with their business, we need to have a physical presence and a lot of interaction with members in each city. MoneyChat is overcoming this challenge by appointing MoneyChat Club Presidents in each city whose primary objective will be to interface with club members in that city and to develop the brand. Services will still be provided centrally.
Who is your most important role model?
My grandmother is my role model – she had a tough life but went through it without complaint. She is a pillar of strength and has a very well-honed business acumen.