Top Women Founders Who Switched Careers to Build Iconic Businesses

By: Ayushi Dutta, Senior Correspondent

Meena Ganesh, Chairperson, Portea Medical: From EdTech Leader to Healthcare Entrepreneur

Meena Ganesh's career demonstrates that an entrepreneur does not necessarily need to come from an industry to understand its biggest problems. Her professional background was rooted in technology, education, and business management. She served as CEO of TutorVista, an online education company, and held senior leadership positions across multiple sectors before entering healthcare. Her next venture addressed a problem she saw in India's healthcare system: the limited availability of reliable professional care outside hospitals, particularly for elderly, post-operative, and chronically ill patients.

Meena co-founded Portea Medical, a home healthcare company that brings medical and support services to patients at home. The move from education technology to healthcare required a completely different understanding of customers, medical professionals, and care delivery, yet her experience in building and scaling businesses proved valuable. As Chairperson, Meena has helped steer Portea's expansion across Indian cities. The company's model seeks to make professional home healthcare more accessible while reducing unnecessary pressure on hospitals.

Upasana Taku, Co-founder & COO, MobiKwik: From Fintech Engineer to Digital Payments Founder

Upasana Taku's career began in the United States, where she worked as a financial software engineer with companies including PayPal and HSBC. Her work involved financial technology, payments, and auto-finance systems, placing her firmly within the technology and finance ecosystem. But in 2008, Upasana made a major personal and professional decision: she returned to India to build a business of her own. Alongside Bipin Preet Singh, she co-founded MobiKwik at a time when digital wallets and mobile payments were still unfamiliar concepts for most Indian consumers.

Also Read: 5 Indian Women-led IPOs You Must Know About

The business required her to move from working within established global financial technology companies to building a consumer-facing fintech platform in an emerging market. Upasana eventually became Chief Operating Officer and played a significant role in scaling MobiKwik's payments ecosystem. The company grew alongside India's digital payments revolution, providing mobile wallet and financial services to millions of users and merchants. Her story shows that a career pivot does not always mean abandoning an industry; sometimes it means using existing expertise to create something radically different.