International Women’s Day: Top women entrepreneurs & their educational qualifications

Indra Nooyi (Former CEO, PepsiCo)

Born in Madras in 1955, Nooyi did her schooling at Holy Angels Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in T. Nagar, Chennai. She then received a bachelor’s degree in physics, chemistry and mathematics from Madras Christian College of the University of Madras in 1975, and a Post Graduate Programme Diploma from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) in 1976.

A year later, she moved to the United States where she pursued a master’s degree in public and private management from Yale School of Management.

She worked at several organisations such as the Boston Consulting Group, Motorola and more before joining PepsiCo in 1994. She was named as the CEO in 2006, after climbing ranks of the president and chief financial officer.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Founder, Biocon)

(Express photo)

Born in Bengaluru in 1953, she completed high school at Bishop Cotton Girl’s High School in 1968, and then attended Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru. She studied biology and zoology from Bangalore University with a bachelor’s degree in zoology in 1973.

She then went to Ballarat College, Melbourne University in Australia to study malting and brewing, and earned a degree as master brewer in 1975. As she reportedly failed to find a job in India due to gender stereotypes, she looked for other opportunities abroad in different fields and ended up founding Biocon after a few years.

Falguni Nayar (CEO, Nykaa)

(Express photo)

Falguni Nayar, the founder and CEO of beauty company Nykaa, was born in Mumbai in 1963. A Mumbai girl, she completed her high school and college from the city. She is a graduate in BCom from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics.

After this, she went on to pursue a postgraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (1985 batch), where she also met her husband. After serving in Kotak Mahindra Group, she founded Nykaa in April 2012.

Vineeta Singh (CEO, Co-founder of Sugar Cosmetics)

(Photo: Vineeta Singh / Instagram)

A common face on Shark Tank India, Singh was born in 1983 in Anand, Gujarat. She comes from a family of a PhD holder (her mother) and a biophysicist (her father). Singh completed her education at Delhi Public School, RK Puram in 2001, and then pursued an electrical engineering degree at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM).

After graduating from IIT Madras in 2005, she then obtained an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) in 2007. Fresh out of the business school, Singh tried launching startups but could not do so due to reasons. Her third trial at start-up was Sugar Cosmetics, which she founded together with her husband in 2015.

Roshni Nadar Malhotra (Chairperson, HCL Technologies)

(Source: Flickr)

Born in New Delhi, Roshni became the first woman to lead an IT company in India. She grew up in Delhi, and studied at Vasant Valley School. However, after school, she shifted to the United States where she pursued a degree in Communication with a focus on Radio/ TV/ Film. She then went on to earn an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management (the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois).

She then worked with Sky News UK and CNN America as a news producer before joining HCL Corporation in 2009, and quickly climbed the ranks to take up the position of the Chairperson at HCL. Roshni is also Trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation.