Women keep disability at bay to script success in ventures
‘She Leads’ summit at KSUM’s KIF 2025 inspires delegates
Kochi / July 25, 2025
Kochi, July 25: Inspiring tales of resilient women, who defied their disabilities and physical attributes to emerge successful entrepreneurs, turned out to be one of the major features of the ‘She Leads’ summit held on the sidelines of the first-ever Kerala Innovation Festival (KIF 2025) here today.
Delegates heard in rapt attention as women achievers narrated their entrepreneurial journeys at the summit as part of the KIF 2025, organized by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) at its Digital Hub at Kalamassery.
The July 25-26 event is being attended by around 10,000 people, including entrepreneurs, investors, students, policymakers and creative talents.
In the panel discussion on ‘Breaking Bias—Gender, Access & Opportunity in Innovation,’ women revealed the hardships, obstacles and challenges they faced as they sought to cement their positions as entrepreneurs.
Mrs. Geetha Saleesh, Founder, Geethas Home to Home, said it was important for her to take the right decision without immersing into emotion in her pursuit of an enterprise.
As a rustic woman from Ottapplam, who had completely lost her vision at the age of 15, Mrs Saleesh said challenges occurred regularly in her life but she learnt herself to lead a normal life and successfully set up her venture.
“Now, about 350 farmers are coordinating with my food processing business and there are 15 staff working at the firm. I have never considered disability as a hurdle,” she added.
Ms Dhanya Ravi, Executive, Enable India, said rejections had been part of her entrepreneurial journey and she learned how to become successful from the space of rejection.
“Disability should not be a hurdle and we need to leverage our skills in a better way. What I wanted was to break the bias due to the disability,” said Ms Ravi, who is confined to wheel-chair owing to her rare disability.
According to her, innovation shouldn’t be limited with technology and it has to be for the betterment of all.
“Entrepreneurs should have an inclusive mindset. We need to provide infrastructure for diverse people and it has to be universally designed,” she observed.
Ms Ravi was a freelancer in digital marketing, content writer and call centre employee in the initial stages of her career.
Dr Anitha Prasad, President, Anita Humanitarian Foundation, who is a transgender woman, said a major shift is needed in the country while imparting training to people with physical limitations. She also stressed the importance of inclusivity and grooming of the ilk in entrepreneurship sector.
Ms Vinitha Joseph, Senior Technology Fellow-Innovation Corridor, KSUM, was the moderator.
In another panel session on ‘Her Turn: Power, Progress,& Possibility When Woman Leads,’ Ms Shruti Kapoor, Founder-CEO, Wingman, highlighted the need to speak to customers while building a product and think about the market that is to be targeted.
Ms Rubal Chib, Co-founder & CEO, qZense Labs, said entrepreneurs should have the drive to solve the large problems and have the freedom to solve it.
Ms Nikkitha Shankar, co-Founder & CEO, SuperBryn, was the moderator of this session.
Speaking on ‘Building on Inclusive Startup Ecosystem: The Role of Startup Enablers in India,’ Dr Anand Sri Ganesh, CEO, NSRCEL, Centre of Entrepreneurship Incubator, IIM Bengaluru, said mentorship, peer learning and enabling networks will often break the barrier to scale up and create growth mindset.
He also cited the importance of the power of community where one can exchange thoughts, create safe spaces and find ways to collaborate with partners.
In another session, Ms Lekshmi Das, Founder, Prophaze Technologies, a leading cybersecurity company in the country, shared her inspiring journey as an entrepreneur.
Ends
