International Women’s Day Interview: Khushboo Jain, Co-Founder and COO of Impact Guru

International Women’s
Day 2018 Special Interview Series

Name: Khushboo Jain

Age: 31

City: Mumbai, India

Occupation: Entrepreneur

ST: Please tell us briefly about
you.

Khushboo: I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur, which must have
been because I have worked for my father’s business since I was 16! By the time
I had my MBA I had lots of real world experience in how a business is run in
India. Years later, when I co-founded Impact Guru, I had the arsenal of this
good training to put to use.

Running Impact Guru is a very fulfilling experience for me
because I know that the work we do directly transforms lives through the power
of technology and the internet. We have helped thousands of people meet medical
expenses that in turn saved lives. We have worked with NGOs on social change
projects at the very grassroots. My mission to mainstreamize crowdfunding so
all Indians in any kind of need have access to the “crowd” and can ask for help
comfortably and securely from anywhere.

My guilty pleasure would have to be desserts!

ST: Who is a woman that inspires
you the most and why?

Khushboo: My mother, who is the most generous person I know not just in
financial terms, but also in the love and empathy she extends to others.

If I had to pick a famous example, I’d choose Sushmita Sen and
Princess Diana for their extensive philanthropic work to help empower women and
girls.

ST: How are you celebrating
this year’s International Women’s Day?

Khushboo: Since it’s a weekday I’ll spend at least ten hours at our
Andheri office. I strongly believe that women’s empowerment can only be
achieved with education and the important end goal is to ensure that our women
can be self-sustaining and independent individuals, so I’ll celebrate by
putting in a good day’s work, which is my way of trying to set an example.

ST: What is the most
important message you want to send out to all the women around the world on
this occasion?

Khushboo: Do not give into the gender role stereotypes that people will
try to impose on you. You can do anything and be anyone, a teacher, a pilot, a
journalist, an actress. But first, get an education. No education is too much,
and you will find ways of putting things you learn to good use. Hard work can
make the impossible happen.

ST: What according to you is
‘women empowerment’?

Khushboo: We will have women’s empowerment as a global culture when women
and men will have equal opportunity unblemished by casual sexism or misogyny,
when we have as many women leaders in business and politics as men, and when
women can feel safe at any place and at any time.

ST: What would you say are the
main challenges facing women at present in India?

Khushboo: The very fact that countless rural/low-income women and girls
live without access to quality healthcare, have to deal with taboos surrounding
menstruation and birthing,, are often not educated, and many are given in child
marriage. It boils down to the fact that education hasn’t percolated deep
enough to change patriarchal mindsets. We have a fairly uphill task at hand to
change such mindsets. More female role models and women representatives in
positions of political power as well as mentorship roles can help change this
game.

ST: Where do you want to see
yourself in next 5 years?

Khushboo: Labels and categories matter very little to me. I simply want
to have the assurance (and evidence) that the work we do as a crowdfunding
social enterprise has touched more lives and helped make some tangible social
and community-level difference. Also, I’d like to have visited Antarctica
before then.