Support mechanism and growing space for women entrepreneurs, the new impetus to their development- By Gita Ramanan, Co-Founder, Design Café

An architect by qualification and having worked with several small and large design firms in India before co-founding Design Cafe in 2011, Gita Ramanan along with her partner Shezan, have grown Design Cafe into an award-winning design firm with projects across the country. Gita- an entrepreneur, architect, Tedx speaker and National Athlete strives towards excellence coupled with an obsessive attention to detail. Practicing Architect and Interior Design for over 12 years now, Gita Ramanan is the Co-Founder and Chief Designer and HR Officer of a funded as well as one of the fastest-growing Interior design & and Execution design firms, Design Café. In an exclusive conversation with us, she shares her journey and her views on the support mechanisms required for entrepreneurship and innovation:

The journey: Gita shares, “As an entrepreneur, we need to be constantly evaluating what we are doing in our business and how accurate we are in addressing our customer’s pain-point. This requires a cycle of learning and unlearning to ensure we are meeting problems head-on and have the right tools to tackle it. In these many years I have battled with many challenges such as Client Management and Employee Hiring, Payroll and Accounts, Networking and Marketing, Retention and Research and so on. A lot of these concepts were alien to me as I came from a non-business background, but what I have learned is to surround myself with smart and successful people who are happy to help, who share in your successes and give you the right perspective of your failures. I found that our problems were similar across industries and gave me access to ways and methods to manage my challenges better.”

She adds, “A primary coping mechanism is sheer stubbornness and a little bit of arrogance that makes me believe that I will prevail and overcome any challenge in my way. Both my partner and I have this sense of bullheadedness that has literally allowed us to storm through seemingly immovable barriers. Having a partner in my business is the one sure-fire blessing that has preserved my hair (at least what’s left of it) and my sanity. I remember coming across something Elon Musk said, “Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks, every week. This improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40 hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100 hour work weeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing, you know that… you will achieve in 4 months what it takes them a year to achieve.”

“This made such an impression on me. My partner & myself are both quite tuned to
this ideology and typically work 60+ hours a week, but this made us push it up to 75-80 hours when we launched our new initiative www.designcafe.xyz and recently our first-of-its kind Home Interiors Experience Lounge. Several people attribute our successes to luck, but I have found that the more success we attain, the more luck we have. There is nothing to substitute good hard work in my book. This industry is still disorganised and chaotic and women who are determined to make their mark with their patience, single-minded determination, sense of humour and curiosity will certainly come up on top,” shares Gita

Support mechanisms required for entrepreneurship and innovation, especially for women entrepreneurs: Gita shares, “In the midst of all the challenges I face as an Entrepreneur and as an Architect/ designer, I must admit being a woman is not one of them. In my personal experience, being a woman is an advantage in the Interior industry, as we naturally possess (apologies for the generalisation) larger amounts of patience and curiosity that helps us in our endeavours. Our empathy, holistic viewpoint and attention to details allows us to create a sense of calm in this frenetic field and a deeper connection with the client and/ or project.”

She adds, “Having more women in this field is advantageous as a whole as a balance is created between both the genders’ aggression and determination, but yes, support and taking it easier on oneself is crucial. Like how it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a small army to be a successful Entrepreneur. Women entrepreneurs, importantly should learn to ask for help. Help at home and work to achieve the right balance in their lives. Support from the family is critical, with everyone understanding your motivation and ambitions to build your enterprise. Secondly, we should desist with our attempts to be the perfect woman… the perfect wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend and boss. Perfection is the root-cause of much of our stress and when we're a little easier on ourselves we can reduce our guilt and stress. Let us give up on that image of being a modern-day Superwoman and instead be the best version of ourselves.”