Women manage businesses with the same smartness with which they manage their homes. One such remarkable businesswoman is Upasana Taku.
Upasana Taku is the CEO and board chairman of the online payment service provider MobiKwik. Today, the company is valued at approximately Rs 8,000 crores. After a successful career abroad, she returned to India and took a significant risk to start her own business.
Educational Background and Early Career
Upasana hails from Gandhinagar, Gujarat, and completed her early education in Surat. She graduated in engineering from Punjab Technical University in Jalandhar, Punjab. She further pursued postgraduate studies in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University in the United States.
Professional Journey and Return to India
After her studies, Upasana lived abroad for about 17 years, working as a product manager at the renowned online payment company PayPal and at HSBC. Despite her thriving career in the USA, in 2008, she decided to return to India to start her own business. This decision met with considerable opposition from her family, who were then living in Africa, where her father was a university professor and her mother a musician. In 2009, her parents returned to India as well.
Starting Her Own Startup
Upon her return, Upasana began working with Drishti, a microfinance NGO focused on improving rural areas in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. It was during this period that she not only laid the foundations for her future business but also met her life partner.
Founding MobiKwik
In 2008, after returning to India, Upasana met Bipinpreet Singh, and in 2009, they co-founded MobiKwik. Initially, Bipinpreet had conceived the idea for MobiKwik but was hesitant to leave his job. Upasana supported him, and together they launched the business in 2009.
What started as a small company operating out of their home has grown into a major player in the fintech industry. According to media reports, MobiKwik’s turnover is now around Rs 8,000 crores. Upasana and Bipin converted their home into an office in the early days, and their perseverance paid off. They got married in 2011 and continued to advance their business together.
Recognition and Achievements
In 2018, Upasana’s work in online payments was recognized with an award from the President of India for being the “First Woman to Lead a Payments Startup.” In 2019, she was named among Forbes Asia’s 25 Powerful Business Women. Today, her company continues to reach new heights in the field of online payments.
