Kick up a Storm or Die Trying: the Success Story of Upasana Taku

July 23, 20213 Minutes Read

Link Copied!

The past few years have seen a rise in online and digital payments. Even auto drivers and paan shops now accept digital payments. There are many well know international players in the market -- GooglePay, PayTm, AmazonPay and others.

Occupying pride of place with these international players is an Indian name – Mobikwik.

Adding to this pride is the fact that an Indian woman is its co-founder. Meet Upsana Taku, the girl behind Mobikwik.

Upasana broke many myths and stereotypes with her career choice.

Staying away from home: Upasana was born in Surat. She moved all the way to Jalandhar in Punjab to study engineering.
Studying industrial engineering: While many girls her age were busy pursuing more women-oriented courses, Upasana chose a male-dominated, technical field. She decided to pursue industrial engineering.
She even went to the USA to complete her MS in Management Science and Engineering. That too from the very prestigious Stanford University. Upasana was focused right from the beginning!
Coming back to India: In the US, Upasana worked on many important projects. These projects were worth millions of dollars.

Her family had reservations about Upasana giving up her comfortable life in the US. After all, she had a stable, successful career there.

Upasana, however, wanted to come back to India. She wanted to contribute to the country.
Establishing her own startup: In India, Upasana met her future husband, Bipin Preet Singh. Together, they started Mobikwik.
Leading finance and technology: Upasana broke the stereotype that women find it challenging to handle FinTech (finance and technology). She was the one heading FinTech in Mobikwik. Even before starting MobiKwik, Upasana was successful in FinTech. She held key positions in international companies such as HSBC and PayPal.

Upasana has proven that girls can lead in finance and technology. And achieve success! In 2016, she was featured on the Forbes Asia "Women To Watch" list.

If like Upasana, you are interested in a career in finance, we have a whole range of free online courses for you to help you understand finance better.

As a girl and a startup founder, Upasana had to face challenges too. But she did not let them affect her spirits…

When Upasana was managing finance at MobiKwik, she would often meet bankers, auditors, and investors. They were usually surprised to see a woman handling finance. Sometimes, they would even request that a male deal with them instead of Upasana.

Upasana did not let such biases affect her. She confidently handled finance as well as technology...

As a start-up founder, Upasana had to multi-task…

She was managing finance and hiring people. None of this was easy. She had to find talented people. Then see if they fit with her company's expectations. And then convince them to join a new organization. All this was challenging. But Upasana was not someone who gives up.

Her motto was simple: Kick up a storm or die trying. So Upasana kept trying and managed it confidently.

Upasana was always focused and goal-oriented. Once she decides something, she tries her level best to achieve it.

She once said, "Tenacity is key. When you start something new, the ecosystem doesn't accept you easily; people say no. It took us 10 months to get the first bank onboard for wallet loading, while the second one happened in 15 days. It took us 3-4 months to get our first few top merchants in 2014. Within 3-4 months we closed eBay, Domino's, and other large merchants. All because I held on tight."

In fact, so dedicated were Upasana and Bipin to their startup that they even took work breaks during their wedding day!

Their hard work paid off! Today, Mobikwik is one of India’s leading fintech ventures!

Today, there are many women leaders in both Finance and technology.
If you wish to establish a career in finance or know more about international finance, international economics, or even basic topics, we have free online courses for just the same!

From introductory courses to more niche courses, we have an entire section dedicated to free online courses for finance and technology. Do check them out now!

Get Inspired with

Blog and News

View All

August 1, 20222 Minutes Read

How To Impress Your Interviewer with Your Soft Skills

Talking and promoting your skills and experience in an interview is the most important part. However, it is not the only thing that matters. You probably have the right qualifications and experience, but chances are, if you don't manage to impress the interviewer with your soft skills, you won't get the job.

Think of it this way. Many candidates are applying for the same job. Almost all of them have approximately the same level of skills. So, while your skillset might get you through the door to an interview, your soft skills will decide whether you get the role or not. It could give you the upper edge over other applicants.

Soft skills are highly in demand. This is because they help you work better and more closely with clients and other departments.

December 21, 20222 Minutes Read

5 Simple Math Tricks For Fast Calculations

Maths tricks are the road to quickly and efficiently solving complex math problems. Math isn't just something you can learn from books. There are other ways to learn math that can make it easier. Simple math tricks help us figure things out quickly and help us get better at math.

Some kids have trouble with math. The math tricks are helpful for students and help you keep track of time so you can answer math questions correctly in competitive exams and in real life.

The best way to make math a fun subject is to teach math tricks. So, learning simple math tricks will help students feel better about themselves and improve their problem-solving ability. With these tips, they can do very well on competitive exams and in the future. Here are 5 such tips:

Addition

Take 53 + 44.

Based on tens and units places, split the second number: 44 = 40 + 4

Finish the ten's addition. 53 + 40 = 93

Finally, add the remaining unit place digit. 93 + 4 = 97.

**Quick Multiplication **

Let's try the numbers 28 and 14

First, split the number 28, which gives 4 x 7

Then multiply 7 by 14, and we get 98

Finally, multiply the number 98 x 4 = 392

So, 28 x 14 gives 392.

Multiplication of Two-Digit Numbers when one number is even:

Consider an example, 12 x 37

Here 12 is an even number. Divide it in half so that 12/2 = 6

Then double the second number. 37 x 2 =74

Finally, multiply both answers. It becomes 74 x 6 = 444

Percentage

Let's find 5% of 375:

First, Move the decimal point over by one place for the given number.

375.0 becomes 37.5

Then divide the number 37.5 by 2, and we get 18.75.

The answer to 5% of 375 is 18.75.

Squares of numbers ending with the digit 5

Let's take the number 85 and try to find its square.

We know that the square of 5 is 25. Note that down.

Next, take the first digit of the number 85. That is 8. Then take the number that comes after 8, which is 9.

Now, multiply 8 and 9, and we get the number 72.

Finally, write the number 72 before the number 25 (which you wrote down earlier). So, what you get is 7225, which is the answer.

A simple formula would be:

The square of n5, where n is the first digit = n(n+1)100+25.

Let's use this formula and try again with the same number, 85.

So, square of 85 = 8(8 + 1)100 + 25 = (8 x 9)100 + 25 = 7200 +25 = 7225. Did these tricks help you? There are many tricks like this that make maths fast and fun. Opt for the free online courses at Glow & Lovely Careers (formerly known as Fair & Lovely Career Foundation) to improve your math skills significantly.

India's job market is evolving rapidly, offering numerous career opportunities across industries suc...

job finder websitejob search website+ 3

November 4, 20222 Minutes Read

What Is STEM? How Is It Beneficial To Young Girls? Why Should College Girls Opt for Higher Education In STEM?

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. These four fields focus on new ideas, problem-solving and thinking critically. All of them together make up a popular and quickly growing business.

Most people in STEM fields do their jobs every day with the help of computers and other tech. Many people also use the scientific method to test theories and hypotheses. As technology gets better, STEM education for girls is becoming more important. Even so, many people still think that STEM is not for girls, even though it is essential.

People used to think boys were better at math, science, and other related subjects. So, boys are more likely to go into these fields. This idea has hurt girls' confidence in their STEM skills. By helping girls in STEM, we can help them feel good about themselves and their skills again. Self-confidence and knowing yourself are the first steps to doing well in school. Making STEM education more welcoming for girls will help them feel better about themselves and open up great new opportunities for them in the future.

Girls will be more comfortable with computers and technology once they feel like they belong in STEM fields. We use technology in almost every part of our lives as a society. Most people use technology in some way every single day.

Many women and girls don't think of themselves as tech-savvy right now. This is starting to change as more and more girls learn to code and programme. Since computers and technology will only become more important in the coming years, it's essential that everyone, especially girls, feels comfortable and confident using them.

Also, good problem-solving skills can help young girls get closer to their goals in an always-changing and unpredictable world. STEM education is the best way to teach kids how to solve problems.

Critical thinking is needed to set up an experiment, make a prediction, test that prediction, and then look at the results. Why did one test work and the other one not? What can we do differently to make things better? These questions force students to think about how to solve a problem in a new way. The best part is that you can use this way of thinking outside of STEM and in almost any situation in life. Teaching young girls to feel this way through STEM education improves their ability to solve problems and sets them up for future success. But here's the thing, sometimes, girls may not be exposed to STEM early in life. That should not deter you. Technology is constantly evolving, and so is the job market. A STEM career is highly beneficial, both to you and to society. There are various career options, a lot of exposure and a high salary. You can opt for various free STEM-related courses on Glow & Lovely Careers (formerly known as Fair & Lovely Career Foundation). This will help you brush up on your skills. You can also take the free career guidance test to help you decide which course would best suit you in this field.

View All