Kajal Singh brings over 18 years of experience across strategy, consulting, digital, and human resources. She specializes in business strategy, digital transformation, and process improvement, with a strong background in talent management, HR partnering, and innovation across multiple industries, including insurance, pharma, and manufacturing.
In an interaction with Women Entrepreneurs Review, Kajal shares her insights on the evolving landscape for women entrepreneurs, highlighting systemic shifts, embedding gender equity in digital strategy, unconventional approaches to break barriers, and untapped opportunities to scale and reshape industries.
How is the current market landscape for women entrepreneurs? What systemic shifts are needed to ensure long-term sustainability rather than just short-term inclusivity?
The landscape for women entrepreneurs is evolving, but access to capital, mentorship, and networks is still a big challenge. The real shift will come when women-led businesses are not treated as a separate category but just normal business. Financial institutions need to rethink risk assessment models that disadvantage women. Policy shifts should include incentives for investors funding women-led ventures. Long-term sustainability depends on embedding gender diversity into supply chains, procurement, and market linkages rather than just celebrating success stories.
Women entrepreneurs still face funding gaps, supply chain exclusion, and limited access to high-value networks. Sustainable inclusion requires rethinking investment models and integrating women into core business ecosystems rather than token initiatives.
The primary need is for Gender-Neutral Credit Models. Women entrepreneurs often struggle to secure business loans due to traditional risk-assessment models that rely on collateral ownership (which many women lack). A leading Indian NBFC, restructured loan models by using psychometric analysis and digital transaction history instead of collateral-based creditworthiness, increasing funding access for women-led MSMEs.
Structural inclusionary strategies can also be helpful. For an instance, a large retailer, as a part of their gender inclusive initiative, sources products from women-led enterprises in India, Thailand, and Jordan, integrating them into global supply chains. This kind of structural inclusion ensures long-term market sustainability.
How can businesses truly embed gender equity into digital transformation and strategy rather than treating it as an add-on?
Gender equity in digital transformation isn't about hiring more women; it's about rewriting the rules of engagement. Organizations need to move beyond surface-level inclusion and embed gender-responsive AI, fair pay algorithms, and flexible career pathways into their digital strategy. Leadership KPIs should include diversity-driven innovation metrics, ensuring equity is integral to business success. Tech-enabled mentorship and sponsorship programs should become default mechanisms rather than optional initiatives.
AI-Based Hiring Without Bias: A large FMCG company implemented an AI-driven hiring system that eliminates gender, race, and university-based bias. It evaluates candidates on competencies through gamified assessments rather than traditional résumé screening, increasing gender diversity in leadership hiring.
Digital Upskilling for Women Workers: A Tech and Manufacturing company launched a program in India to train women factory workers in latest technologies like robotics and automation, ensuring they remain relevant as manufacturing shifts toward smart factories. Without such programs, digital transformation risks excluding women from next-gen jobs.
With digital assets and AI-driven decision-making gaining momentum, how can women leaders ensure that these innovations are built with inclusivity in mind rather than reinforcing existing biases?
AI systems are dependent on the data they are trained on. Leaders must push for diverse data sets, ethical AI governance, and transparency in algorithmic decision-making. AI-driven hiring, lending, and customer profiling must be regularly audited for bias. Women should not just be users of AI but co-creators—leading product development, policy discussions, and regulatory frameworks to ensure technology is designed for all.
AI in Medical Diagnosis: Studies have shown that AI-driven diagnostic tools trained on male-centric data sets often misdiagnose women’s heart disease. A HealthTech company is working with diverse datasets to develop gender-sensitive diagnostic models for cardiovascular health, ensuring early detection for women.
Gender Bias in Credit Scoring: Traditional credit algorithms may undervalue women's financial behaviour due to gaps in formal banking history. A leading credit card company leverages alternative data like mobile payments and informal savings patterns to ensure fairer credit scoring for women entrepreneurs
What unconventional strategies can women entrepreneurs adopt to break into male-dominated industries where traditional networks and capital access remain significant barriers?
Women entrepreneurs should build cross-industry alliances, leverage digital platforms for direct market access, and tap into alternative financing like revenue-based funding. Strategic collaborations with global mentors, angel investors, and women-led venture funds can open doors. Industry disruption often comes from outsiders—women should embrace this advantage rather than trying to fit into old systems
Women-Owned Solar Businesses: A leading NGO in India trains rural women to become solar entrepreneurs, selling and servicing solar home systems. They bypass traditional capital constraints by using microfinance loans and revenue-sharing models instead of large-scale VC funding.
Women in Car Dealership Networks: An automotive dealership launched an initiative in South Africa supporting women-owned car dealerships through direct manufacturer financing and leadership training. This helped women enter the male-dominated automotive retail sector by removing traditional capital access barriers.
How can HR leaders rethink talent acquisition and leadership development models to move beyond quotas and create a culture where women’s leadership thrives organically?
Moving beyond quotas means redefining leadership potential. Organizations must prioritize sponsorship over mentorship—actively pushing women into key roles rather than just advising them. Leadership development should integrate real-world business simulations, not just soft skills training. Performance evaluation models need restructuring to value impact over visibility, ensuring women’s contributions aren’t overlooked due to biases in traditional leadership metrics. The goal is to make gender diversity a competitive advantage, not a compliance metric.
True inclusion means shifting from "fixing women" to fixing workplace structures by valuing diverse leadership approaches and removing systemic biases.
Redefining Leadership Metrics: A large consulting company changed its leadership pipeline strategy by focusing on sponsorship rather than mentorship. Instead of just advising women, senior executives actively push them into high-visibility roles, resulting in a 30% increase in women partners.
Flexibility Without Career Penalty: A leading UK-based bank introduced a policy where women on career breaks (due to caregiving responsibilities) receive AI-driven skill-matching to re-enter leadership roles without losing seniority, directly addressing the "leaky pipeline" problem in finance.
What are the untapped opportunities in digital business strategy that women entrepreneurs can leverage to not only scale their ventures but also redefine industry norms?
The digital economy is rewriting industry norms, and women entrepreneurs should leverage this shift. Emerging areas like AI-powered wellness, femtech, and community-driven commerce are untapped markets. Women-led ventures can also redefine supply chain transparency through blockchain. The gig economy presents opportunities to build scalable, skill-based networks that bypass traditional employment barriers. Those who integrate inclusive design and ethical AI early will shape the next decade of business transformation.
Women entrepreneurs have an opportunity to lead in emerging digital industries by leveraging AI, blockchain, and platform-based business models.
AI-Driven Women’s Health Solutions: A female-founded menstrual health app, integrates AI to provide predictive insights into fertility and hormonal health, disrupting the healthcare industry by focusing on women’s unique medical needs.
Women-Led Fair Trade Platforms: A Foundation uses blockchain to provide financial transparency in charitable donations. A similar model can be applied to women-led ethical sourcing platforms for artisans, ensuring fair wages and global market access without middlemen.
