Shark Tank India: Vineeta Singh opens up on facing sexism in her entrepreneurial journey

Ever since Shark Tank India made its way onto the silver screen, the reality show has been a source of inspiration for a number of up and coming entrepreneurs in the country. The sharks themselves are no stranger to the obstacles that are riddled in the path of making a mark in the business world, and have never shied away from sharing their stories with audiences. SUGAR Cosmetics Vineeta Singh has graced the tank on both seasons of the show, and the business woman recently opened about how she had faced sexism in the course of her career.

In conversation with Pinkvilla, Vineeta opened up about an instance that happened almost a decade ago, where she had to field a sexist demand from a venture capitalist(VC). The venture capitalist had told Vineeta that if she wanted him to invest in her company, she had to promise that her husband would devote an equal amount of time to the company as well.

A decade back, people did not really pay attention to sexist remarks. Vineeta said that what usually happened in such cases was that the struggling entrepreneur would try to hang on to whatever they got, since they did not have opportunities to back out. “When you are struggling, either you can back off if you hear something like this or make an opportunity out of this”, she said.

But the unfortunate comments made by the VC had not hampered Vineeta’s spirits, and she spoke of how things had changed for the better since the last 5-6 years. Not only is sexism actively called out, but there was also an increase in the amount of capital that went into women owned businesses as well. Although she acknowledged the positive change, Vineeta felt that there was still a long way to go.