The pace at which the auto industry is growing has made way for quite a few women leaders. While the auto industry is not something a lot of women would choose as a career path, there are a few who are making their way to the top by breaking the stereotypes. We speak to Mrs Madhumita Agrawal who is the CEO and co-founder of an EV startup – Oben Electric. She shares her journey of how she went from running a consulting firm to founding her own EV startup.
What made you choose the EV Industry in your career path?
I come from a background in EV. When I started my first company, my first start-up, which was a tech consulting company, I worked in the EV industry which during that time was picking up across the world. I worked for 5-6 years with different clients. We were doing consulting, research and technology for them, helping them improve on existing tech or develop new tech. Once you work in one domain, you get knowledge. I started gaining interest as I started learning more about EVs and the technology that goes behind making them. That was an opportunity which I saw. I understood the tech and all the problems to solve. I always had a small dream of forming a product company. That fine day came when I took my leap of faith and whatever Knowledge I gained, whatever experience I gained, let me move forward.
Were you ever attracted to the automotive industry when you started your career?
I used to ride two-wheelers and usually enjoy them a lot during college time. However, that faded away with time. Over the past years, I have worked in various fields except for Pharma. New technology has always been exciting for me. The automotive industry, especially in the EV space brought new technology and curiosity that I could not help but explore. I would not say that I always wanted to work in the auto sector, but thspace,e opportunities it offered and the problems I could help solve certainly drove me to take a plunge.
Did you have to go face any bias?
Not at all, I have faced no kind of bias. As a woman you face bias especially when you are in a leadership role. You are looked up, ok she is a woman but if you start making sense to them, they see you as another peer. So, the minute you make sense the differentiation between woman and man goes away. This is applicable anyone, for men too. If you don’t make business sense whether you’re a man or a woman you will be looked at with some bias. I did not experience any bias from my subordinates, in fact I feel they really look up to me because as a woman I have taken this plunge, I feel very respected for that at least in my organization and the industry. I think we as a women should stop thinking that, Hey! I’m a woman, this is not for me or this is for me, if it’s in your mind than people perceive you that way. I am a CEO, whether I’m a woman or man I have the same responsibility.
What kind of help and support did you get from your family?
I think family is a very critical support system you can have. Right from when you step out to study, you step out to really choose a dream that you want to take. I think that your family is very strong support system. When you are not married it’s your father, it’s your brother and of course mother who blindly supports us. When you look at the male members of the family they play a very strong role, so when we are kids it’s parents, your father your brother then you are married it’s very much your husband who supports. It’s not just you say I’m supporting for the sake of saying, but there are also sacrifices that your spouse makes, your partner makes so that you can go out and work. It’s very much a co-creation, it’s not just one person doing that. So, I think it’s very critical. In my career and my life also there have been critical points where family support has really changed things for me, and has made my career path the way it is today.
Speaking about the EV industry specifically, what role do you think women leaders are going to play in shaping up the future of EVs?
The EV industry is a very big industry and it is only going to get bigger as the time passes. What I feel is women getting into the auto industry will attract more women We should encourage more women to participate. Where women had added a different thought process in everything. This is something that my male counterpart had mentioned one day that women bring a different perspective. Whenever we have discussions, women bring a different perspective and that helps in the business. Women will bring more dimensions, more perspective to how we are running businesses, how to build stuff and I think it could be great.
What is in-store for the future of Oben EV?
We are a B2C brand, so we strongly believe that it is not a new thing that I’m introducing to the market, we have all driven two wheelers, we are all used to two-wheelers, every house in India has a two-wheeler. We are here is to shift them to EV, to better mobility solutions by giving them the similar or better experience. That is our vision as an organisation. People will not shift to new products or technology unless it will give them something better than what they’ve been using. Our goal is to come up with different products which suits different markets especially motorcycles in different segments because motorcycles are very complex products and that’s what we want to build. Brands are built on motorcycles. Definitely we will build scooters also but right now we are focusing on different kind of motorcycles, which will come and you’ll see in future so that’s the vision of Oben.
So we’re going to see more bikes and scooters?
Yes, you’ll definitely see more bikes than scooters