Yahoo Finance 'Do you invest?': BASIS helps women achieve financial freedom
For decades, we have been seeing the gender pay gap between men and women at workplaces globally, but the conditions in India are awful to say the least. As per the Global Gender Gap report 2020, India stands at 117 out of 153 countries in terms of wage equality.
This drives to the foremost question of how women are managing their earnings in terms of savings, lifestyle, family, and investments if any. For that, it’s pivotal to have independent knowledge & sound apprehension on financial aspects that saves the day from all sorts of money hassles.
State of women who invest in India
Despite having cognisance over financial literacy, decisions are the key to independence. As per the DSP Winvestor Pulse survey report 2019, it’s found that 33% of the women make their own decisions when it comes to investments, and 65% of women go with decisions that are suggested by others. And the sad truth is, less than 1% of the Indian women invest in the equities markets.
The report also claimed that only 12% of women said they decided to invest in market-based instruments compared with 31% of men. But, due to the ongoing pandemic crisis and inevitable job losses, the count of women who started trading multiplied by leaps and bounds, of which most of them were novices and housewives.
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How did BASIS begin?
To bring an empowering change in the financial literacy for women and make money matters simple to comprehend, Hena Mehta decided to do something. With an MBA from Wharton, Hena Mehta got the significant need for thinking of investment, and financial goals to achieve that particular goal.
As we all know, MBA programs are not cheap, and Hena had enough time to save and invest for her goal. After her MBA, she returned to India, where she realised that most women lack in managing money due to several financial literacy constraints.
To dig a bit deeper on the same subject, Hena had conducted a survey and interacted with 500 women from tier-1 and tier-2 cities.
From the survey, she realised that 9 out of 10 women were in the same boat.
“The challenge is that there is no platform or product that caters to their needs. So, when I asked Dipika Jaikishan, a financial expert, and a childhood friend, she found the idea worthy and the actual need of something similar in the financial system, particularly for women”, says Hena Mehta.
She also further added, “We knew that there are two biggest gaps that existed – knowledge and confidence gap. So, we wanted to build this platform that is anchored in education and the community of women to bridge the gaps in financial literacy. We just don’t want to build another platform where you could come and invest and do other things”.
They say, learning and knowledge give you power, and alleviate the barriers to get started. BASIS is creating such a community of women where they support the peer groups and experts who bridge the trust gap.
When it comes to creating a community, Hena said, “We are focusing on building this for women who are salaried, doing freelance gigs or starting their own businesses and incorporating like-minded affinity driven aspects to our product. Our community has experts and financial advisors and is constantly moderated.”
This sowed the initial seeds for Basis - a first-of-its-kind platform that educates women on how to achieve financial independence. So, Hena Mehta and Dipika Jaikishan teamed up, and that's how Basis started.
Behind the scenes
To achieve financial literacy, BASIS is doing several things – they have developed an app with bite-sized educational modules, a set of communities, and tools that can help their users plan out their finances better. They also started “What The Fun(ds)”, a content initiative, where they pick one topic and dive into it. All concepts are created for, catered towards, and written by women.
Additionally, to boost women’s knowledge, they have partnered with multiple communities of women like Malini’s Girl Tribe, a community of 50,000+ women run by Malini Agarwal of “Miss Malini”, and Gurgaon Moms, a community of 30,000+ moms in Delhi. They are also educated through webinars with companies such as Deloitte, PWC, and others.
Although, there are so many financial apps that deliver similar knowledge. For that, Hena replied, “I would say, content is again written and produced from the perspective of women. Because we understand how women think about money behaviourally and differently. So, our content is tailored to women”.
She also mentioned the subtle difference of other similar platforms. Her reply - “There is no community angle to resolve queries. Basis has a community-driven approach with a set of advisors who can always help you with your doubts.”
Financial Challenges
There are manifold reasons for women not investing in India.
Some of them are social conditioning, lack of education on aspects like personal finance and investing, and financial services less catered to women's lives and needs.
Hena also added, “the lives of women differ from men and the events that happen in their lives. Even though they are becoming more independent by taking jobs and freelance projects, when it comes to family decisions and household expenses for monetary aspects, it is not the same. But this is changing now, and it is just a matter of time”.
Impactful stories
Though BASIS started during the pandemic time, it did create a considerable impact and also have stories to tell. A few of them include Nisha at 36, the pandemic was her wakeup call – “The first thing I learned was to have a plan in place and short-medium-long term goals.
Nisha said, “I faced a major setback when my organisation didn’t do well and I was laid off. That reality hit me hard and I realised that I needed to have cash in hand at any point. That is when I signed up on BASIS. There was a huge transformation for me because I moved from being a person who didn’t care about saving much to being very planned in my process”.
She further added, “BASIS gave me the power to do that as well. Had I not found BASIS; I don't think my financial life would have changed. My outlook about investing in gold and other instruments has also improved drastically.”
Ayushi Bagaria is a Software Professional. Ayushi believed that PPFs and FDs were the only investment choices. It was not until she came across Basis.
Ayushi stated “Post getting on Basis, my mindset about money changed, and I got the confidence and the right information to bring up critical matters with my husband and the rest of my family. Basis explained so simply, that I now no longer feel like I’m in the dark about this aspect of my life”.
A young mom on a career break educating herself about money after her 1-yr old is asleep. A woman right out of college figuring out how to plan finances for a Master’s degree. A recent career-switcher looking to create an emergency fund and find investments best suited for her - Basis is home to all these women and more.
What’s coming ahead?
Starting BASIS before the pandemic, they have a long road map ahead to go. From addressing the financial hassles of women to educating them via content generation to advising from their financial advisors - They have it all planned.
Furthermore, Hena stated, “we are starting partnerships with financial providers in curating health insurance plans. We are also building products that are tailored to women. Community education through masterclasses and our bite-sized learning modules, expert help, and all other financial services tailored to women audience and community at large”.
