Mridvika Raisinghani, the founder and CEO of Sama, is leading the charge in revolutionizing the workplace with her innovative startup. Sama offers an AI tool that analyses patterns and curates interventions to retain female workforce and help organizations become equitable workplaces.
Upon returning to India in 2011, Raisinghani’s journey took an unexpected turn. With her background in philanthropic fundraising and experience in the startup ecosystem, she embarked on a three-month sabbatical to explore her next direction. It was during this time that she stumbled upon a startling report by the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy, revealing a significant decline in female labour force participation.
This discovery fuelled her mission to address the declining participation of women in the workforce. After engaging with over 40 HR and diversity and inclusion professionals, Raisinghani realized that this space lacked crucial data to understand why women were leaving the workforce. Organisations believed that women primarily left due to marriage, motherhood or mobility, however Raisinghani uncovered a myriad of unseen reasons behind this trend.
Combining her findings with technology, Sama was born. The startup’s mission is to advance gender equity in the workforce by providing workforce insights through an AI tech tool. This tool gathers data on over 130 variables and offers a dashboard of insights to organizations, empowering them to make data-driven decisions to retain urban women in employment.
Sama has since made tremendous strides, with eight paying clients and government support from Elevate Karnataka. Raisinghani has also been engaged by the Government of Karnataka to implement Sama’s tool in IT companies in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Despite the success, Raisinghani acknowledges the challenges of being a female entrepreneur and the uphill battle of educating organizations about the impact of gender diversity on their bottom line. She believes that women entrepreneurs lack the same access to networks as men and face difficulty in finding technical expertise for their ventures.
As Sama continues to scale, Raisinghani remains resilient and determined to drive change in workplace equity. With her innovative approach and unwavering commitment, she is poised to create a lasting impact in the world of business.
In conclusion, Mridvika Raisinghani’s story is a testament to the power of technology and data in creating equitable workplaces. Her dedication and entrepreneurial spirit are an inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women, who are striving to make a difference in the corporate landscape.