Deal Of a Lifetime
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One of India’s youngest entrepreneurs, Mydala’s Anisha Singh knows how to work hard and party even harder. Rahul Dutta Gupta meets the woman who is offering Indians deals that they just can’t refuse.
Leading one of India’s hottest online startups, making it profitable hasn’t been a cakewalk. However, Anisha Singh, CEO of Mydala, India’s answer to Groupon, candidly admits that when she is on the Internet, trial and error is the path she chooses. Says Singh, “We keep experimenting with our format while figuring out newer, more efficient ways to reaching out to more people. With an average of 1.2 lakh vouchers sold on any given day, I guess most of our R&D seems to have struck gold.” In every potential CEO’s life, there comes a turning point which propels them towards their destiny. Singh admits that during her teenage days she had rather limited vision about herself, and was voted numerous times as the first girl to get married within her circle of friends. “I never envisioned myself as a super successful corporate honcho but took things as they came. Along the way, life offered me some great spring boards, which changed my outlook by giving me the inspiration, know-how and the drive to try different things and take a few risks.” CEO LIFESTYLE
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Armed with a Master’s Degree in Political communication as well as an MBA in Information Systems, she bagged a job at Capitol Hill and worked with the Clinton Administration. As a part of her profile, she had to assist and guide women entrepreneurs in raising funding for innovative business projects. That is where she admits she caught the entrepreneurial bug. “It was truly inspiring to meet women, often single mothers, working hard to start their own businesses. Just talking to them was so inspiring and I guess that really changed me as a person and as a result Mydala was born.” Singh doesn’t run a typical business outfit. Her employees, mostly young girls, believe in working hard and partying harder. “After the day ends, the party starts! Sipping wine and dancing to Honey Singh can be an excellent stress buster.” But what does she do when her day unofficially ends? “I am a hardcore Sardarni who loves to party. I am also a wine aficionado and going out and chatting with friends over a well-aged glass of red is an evening well spent.” NOVEMBER 2014