There is a certain point in every entrepreneurial journey where you stop asking only “what can I build” and start asking “why does this need to exist.” For me, that shift changed everything. It moved the idea of business away from just scale and numbers, and closer to something far more personal, purpose.
As a woman entrepreneur, I have often found that your instinct for building is constantly being tested against expectation. You are told to think in categories, in margins, in trends. But I have also learnt that the most enduring work does not come from chasing relevance. It comes from listening closely to what feels missing in culture, even if it is not loudly spoken yet.
Today, I see more and more women entrepreneurs stepping into this space with a very different mindset. They are not only building companies, they are building ideas that influence how people live, think, consume, and sometimes even relate to themselves. There is a shift happening where business is no longer only about what sells, but about what holds meaning. Profit is important, but it is not the starting point. Purpose and intent are. Women are often described as emotional by nature, and perhaps that is true in the most honest sense. But what I see today is that they are not separating that emotion from ambition. They are channelising it into their entrepreneurial journeys with clarity and intelligence, and that emotional depth is often what gives their work its authenticity.
In my own journey, I have experienced this very clearly. In one of the brands I built, Luv My India: India’s First Nationalist Lifestyle Brand, what stayed with me was not the idea of creating a product category, but the deeper question of expression.
I noticed how young people were emotionally connected to their sense of identity, yet there were very few ways for that feeling to exist in everyday life. That gap was not commercial first, it was cultural. Therefore I created something where pride and love for our country isn’t reserved only for special occasions, it becomes part of our everyday living.
And I think this is where the philosophy of building becomes important. Entrepreneurship, at least the way I see it, is not only about responding to demand. It is about recognising emotional and behavioural truths that already exist in society, but do not yet have structure. When you give that structure, you are not creating something artificial, you are simply giving shape to something real.
This approach is increasingly visible in women-led businesses today. Whether it is wellness, sustainability, education, lifestyle, or culture driven ideas, many women founders are building with a strong sense of responsibility attached to what they put into the world. There is often a deeper questioning involved. Will this improve how people live. Will this make something simpler, more conscious, more connected. Will this change perception in even a small way.
That is where purpose becomes more than a word. It becomes a lens. It influences design, communication, choices, and even what you choose not to do. In my experience, this lens also brings a certain clarity. It keeps you grounded when there is pressure to scale quickly or conform to what the market expects.
I have also realised that purpose driven building is closely connected to well being, not just for the consumer, but for the creator as well. When your work is aligned with something you genuinely believe matters, it stops feeling transactional. It becomes more reflective, more patient, and often more thoughtful in its evolution.
By – Ms. Vandana Sethhi, Founder of Luv My India
