The Hindu : Front Page : ‘Ladies Special’ website gets down to business

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Sunday, Jan 13, 2008
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‘Ladies Special’ website gets down to business

Anand Parthasarathy

A portal from early dotcom days helps women work from home

— Photo: Special Arrangement

FOR WOMEN: Nirmal Mirza (inset) launched India’s first web women portal, sitagita.com.

Bangalore: India’s first web resource created exclusively for women has adjusted to changing times and trends. It has created an online clearing house where women hoping to work from home are helped to find customers for their special skills and talents — and vice versa.

Sitagita ( www.sitagita.com) was one of the pioneers of India’s early dotcom days, a ‘ladies special’ portal that was ahead of its time when it went live 8 years ago. Since then the site has become a ‘saheli’ or friend to Indian women, with nearly 20 channels covering the entire gamut of women’s issues from careers, health, diet, fashions and money to travel — for all age groups, from teenagers to home-makers to senior citizens. A weekly Sigi e-magazine is one popular feature on the site.

The portal is the brain-child of Chennai-based Nirmal Mirza, who already had a flourishing family business in home furnishings when she decided that the nascent Internet could be harnessed to embrace and empower Indian women in both personal and professional life. She continues to serve on or guide a number of national women’s organisations. “I have been inspired by the e-choupal concept that worked so well for encouraging rural business,” Ms. Mirza, who is now Sitagita’s Chief Executive, told The Hindu on Saturday. “I wanted to do some thing similar, but more focussed on women.”

Sitagita soon became India’s largest online community of women with close to 1 lakh registered users — and corporate clients such as Henkel, Indian Bank, MetLife, Birla SunLife, Shaadi.com, CavinCare, Club Mahindra and Mangaldeep, came on board to partner with the female fellowship.

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