The serial entrepreneur with 100% success rate in the start-up world: Meet Meena Ganesh


Meena Ganesh caught the entrepreneurial bug not long after her IIM-C batchmate and husband K Ganesh did. After a short stint in the corporate sector, she realised that she enjoyed working with entrepreneurs.

She went on to found one of India’s first BPOs, Customer Asset. She then sold it to ICICI to join Tesco as its CEO. Later she joined her husband at his start-up Tutorvista. The shift to Portea was prompted by their sale of Tutorvista to Pearson Education in 2011, after which they decided to spice up their two-year transition period by backing other start-ups.

She says one of the triggers for launching Portea — which brings healthcare services home — was her own personal experience of the challenges people face at the hospital. The risk-ridden road to entrepreneurship hasn’t been all smooth sailing, although Ganesh has taken those challenges in her stride.

What got her through these challenges was the support of partners and family. “I say this to a lot of women — whether you are an entrepreneur or otherwise, you can’t be a superwoman. Learn to ask for help and help will come,” she advises. She does not believe that the business world is divided into male and female halves, pitted against each other. Ganesh insists that one’s success depends on one’s ability to develop an idea and execute it.

She agrees that women do face resistance from family when it comes to pursuing a career, but adds that this happens irrespective of whether they choose to work in a larger corporate or a start-up. “So, you have to believe that this is what you want to do and find a way to convince others; you have to keep at it and find a way to make it happen.”

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