Women in family Business

An interesting and valuable by product of the expanding role of women in Indian family businesses is that it will take some of the pressure off male members of the family who may have little or no interest in joining the firm. There is a very strong culture in India whereby all male members of the next generation are expected to work in the family business, but for some sons who have no real passion, qualifications or talent for the job, a better solution would be for them to forge a career in an entirely different field.

Once working in the business, daughters usually find learning from their fathers is easier for them than it is for their brothers because of the absence of a father-son conflict, and the fact that they are more sensitive towards their fathers’ needs.

There are several examples of women playing significant roles in family businesses along side their brothers – such as Lakshmi Venu, who works with her brother Sudarshan at the highest level of the family’s Chennai based TVS Motors. She is responsible for developing strategies and administering the group’s operations in the United States. The ranks of India’s talented women include business founders and serial entrepreneurs like Kiran Mazumdar - Shaw who created the biotech success story Biocon and currently ranks as the wealthiest self made woman in India,