April found Mumbai-based Fine Arts teacher Raktima Sen, a single parent, in a quandary. With her classes coming to an abrupt halt, she did not know how to manage the day-to-day expenses. That’s when someone suggested Basis—a one-of-its-kind financial platform designed to simplify finances for the modern Indian woman and provide the necessary support. “It’s the best help I could ask for. In the last few months, with pay cuts being a reality and prices rising, managing expenses was a Herculean task. The platform has given me an opening into a world of opportunities. Thanks to the networking, I know now that I don’t need to be anxious about my future,” Sen says.
Oxfam India has pegged the economic loss arising from women losing jobs during the pandemic at a whopping $216 billion. In a country where women earn 35 percent less on average than men—as per the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2020—this is a cause for worry. While governments are still to go beyond paper policies, entrepreneurs and startups are stepping forward.
Basis CEO and founder Hena Mehta says, “We provide a space for women to evaluate their financial goals and give recommendations to reach them. The biggest success has been our learning modules that cover a range of topics. Our online meet-ups have been impactful as well. Through interactions with experts, women learn about taxation, negotiations, building a personal brand, mutual fund investments and more.” To take it a notch higher, Basis held its first e-meet-up for women last month. It also launched its Inner Circle Leaders Initiative recently. This project revolves around creating topic-specific circles within the Basis app that women can join.
These provide a safe space where women can have financial conversations without feeling inhibited. The platform’s monthly new signups have seen a three-fold rise during the lockdown with a 2.5 time increase in daily active users. Another early-stage fund that was set up with a mission of helping high-growth companies led by women entrepreneurs reach global scale—She Capital—has found a new meaning during the pandemic. Founder Anisha Singh says, “In our commitment to back great female founders, we have modified our investment thesis from backing 12 startups to backing 16 female-led startups.
We have actively been analysing startups through the lockdown and looking for opportunities to invest in.” In order to achieve their larger goal of creating a bigger pool of female founders that act as role models, the organisation also used the lockdown period to create a resource directory for women entrepreneurs on their site. It provides valuable information on government and public debt/loans, networks for women entrepreneurs.
Other organisations such as Bumble, the leading ‘social network by women for everyone’, stepped in offering support to as many as 180 local businesses through their global Grant Programme for women. As many as 13 winners were from India alone. The Bumble Community Grant is one part of the larger social response to Covid-19. They are also making additional donations to support the global community during this time, including a donation towards domestic violence. While all this may not be enough, each little bit of help counts. In a country like India, where gender disparity is magnified by any pandemic, the government has to step forward with initiatives to bridge the gap. And bridge it at the earliest.