Nareen Sidhu

“Diversity in thought is the core of our future. Customers, investors, employees - they are all people from different backgrounds. The more businesses can integrate their perspectives into the products and solutions that they bring to market, the better they will be able to meet key stakeholder needs.”

What do you do professionally?

By day, I am a strategy consultant with Bain in London. By night and on weekends, I am the founder of Inspirele, an educational platform for aspiring and early stage female founders.  We aim to equip women of all backgrounds with inspiration, knowledge, and tools to build and grow impactful businesses. I started Inspirele while in business school a couple of years ago and being a part-time founder has been a new but refreshing experience for me. It allows me to work on multiple topics of interest, and find connections between them all.

Since I love to multitask, I also run an ecommerce business with my partner on Etsy and Amazon, called AayraShop. We offer nature-inspired fashion and lifestyle products, sourced from cooperatives in India and East Asia. This business has been a great way for me to tap into my creative side, learning new things about B2C marketing and fashion.

Tell me about your path to get where you are today. 

I grew up in Malaysia and the people closest to me have inspired my journey. Specifically, my parents and grandmother are small business owners and I’ve been interested in business ever since I can remember. When I was seven, I began to help my dad do simple math for his business accounts. I’ve always wanted to become an entrepreneur, so I studied Economics in college and became a management consultant after I graduated. I wanted to learn as much as I could and consulting was a great path for doing that - to understand the ins and outs of Fortune 500 businesses, and what makes them the success that they are today.

I found the courage to take the leap into entrepreneurship when I was in business school at Harvard. The people around me were all motivated and many of them were driven to start their own businesses. I thought, why not give it a shot? However, I wanted to build a business that worked for me. I was not interested in building a venture-backed startup. I wanted to pay homage to my parents and grandmother, all of whom started bootstrapped, family-run businesses. I felt that I could do that while being in school or having a full-time job and doing other things in life, all while impacting my community.

What is your professional superpower? 

My ability to connect and evoke a sense of mission in people. Since school, I’ve been interested in taking leadership roles and I especially love connecting with other women, listening to their stories, and finding out what makes them tick. I thrive while helping others achieve their goals. I’ve been drawn in this direction for a long time and it’s helped me develop leadership skills and experience. It was especially powerful when starting Inspirele. From the beginning, I felt at home engaging other women and understanding their journeys. People have different backgrounds and don’t look the same, but there is a thread that connects us all. I want to explore that. I want to find those common threads and help people find the mission and passion that they’re meant for.

How has that superpower contributed to your professional success?

It’s helped me build a lot of emotional intelligence. I understand people beyond their resumes and look at their potential, not just what they have achieved. This has helped me in many ways, from navigating difficult conversations to collaboration with people from all walks of life. It’s also helped me grow personally, for example getting involved in various initiatives and supporting them in different ways. Finally, emotional intelligence has been an important driver in my efforts to build community, whether in business, school, or elsewhere. It’s helped me build meaningful relationships with mentors and advocates who have taught me so much from their lived experiences.

If I were to ask the people who work with you what it’s like to work with Nareen, what would they say?

They’d probably say two things. First, working with me means endless curiosity and always being open to that one percent possibility. That is, I never write something off. I’m always open to feedback and seeing how I can learn from others. This openness makes people a lot more comfortable speaking up and sharing their opinion. Second, I know what it’s like to feel like an outsider, so I strive to always bring everyone along. For instance, if I see someone in a group who is not speaking much or seems to feel left out, I bring them into conversation and when it’s appropriate, I advocate for them. And finally, I think people see me as someone who always sees things through to the highest level of efficiency. I always give my 120% to everything I start and do it with the utmost honesty. But I am also someone who believes in working smart, which means that I am very careful about strategizing and making sure that I spend my time on activities with the highest impact. 

What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?

Definitely graduating from Harvard Business School, and taking away many memorable learnings from the experience. I attended a small government school in Malaysia and when I was ten, my teacher asked my classmates and me to list our goals. My first goal was to graduate from Harvard. Sometimes I still can’t believe that I achieved that! I am especially happy that I had the courage and opportunity to give a speech about the importance of using privilege wisely in front of my graduating class, which is such an important yet ‘under-spoken’ topic at prestigious institutions.

Additionally, I am really proud of myself for taking the leap into entrepreneurship. I’d been wanting to do that for such a long time. And having the courage to finally take that step has been a momentous moment for me.

Describe the business impact you’ve driven for your clients and/or organization. 

At Bain, I worked with large-sized companies and my primary impact has been in driving commercial growth and helping my clients keep up with new trends, such as employee utilization, operational efficiencies, and digitization. 

At Bain and as part of Inspirele, I have also done a lot of work to help small business owners around the world, across Europe, the US, and East Africa. One project that I’m especially proud of is working with honey farmers/small business owners in Ethiopia. Through our work together, I’ve helped them refine their business strategies, to increase revenue by >2x since we first met.

With Inspirele specifically, my impact so far is connecting early-stage female founders with mentors and communities. I’ve connected 50+ women entrepreneurs with coaches (formally and informally), and designed and facilitated live workshops to help them with goal setting, business plans, elevator pitches, and such. The journey continues for Inspirele. In 2024, I’m looking forward to expanding the impact of Inspirele through online community building, the development of free and affordable resources for aspiring and early-stage female founders, and holding more workshops. I’ve just recently launched Inspirele’s Instagram community, and a free weekly newsletter that features expert guides, inspiration, and prompts to action. I’m also excited to kick-start in-person workshops in the UK by hosting one for female founders on ‘Finding your Startup’s Purpose’ at my alma mater, University College London.

What person or organization do you most admire professionally and why?

People who know me well know that I am the biggest fan of the Bollywood superstar, Shah Rukh Khan. I admire him professionally for having such grit, passion, and dedication towards his career. He lost his parents at a very young age, and had to endure many difficulties to carve a name for himself in the Indian film industry, as an outsider. And today, when he is one of the highest paid actors, he is still so warm towards people and never once takes his success for granted. He takes care of his family, friends, and is always honest in his work as an actor who continues to grow and learn, even in his 50s.

I hope to embody some of these qualities. Resilience especially is such an important trait to have - difficulties are inevitable in life, and how you deal with them really differentiates you from the others.

In what ways are diverse perspectives good for business?

Diversity in thought is the core of our future. Customers, investors, employees - they are all people from different backgrounds. The more businesses can integrate their perspectives into the products and solutions that they bring to market, the better they will be able to meet key stakeholder needs.

I also think that involving diverse perspectives builds a critical skill - adaptability. The ability to adapt to different opinions and learn from others, to create a better future together.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I’d like to share one thought for those reading. Diverse thoughts, stories, and individuals are important to the success of a community. There is no one model of success in the world today, whether it’s in education, corporate careers, or entrepreneurship. So, be open to possibilities and welcoming of different ideas and perspectives in everything that you do. It will make the output so much more meaningful and inclusive! Hope this was helpful to anyone reading.

Contact Nareen

LinkedIn Website Email: nareens (at) inspirele (dot) com
Email hello@trovecommunity.com or contact us for an introduction.