Five women who quit high-paying jobs to build crore-earning businesses

Leaving a secure, well-paying job is not easy, especially when the role offers status, stability and predictable income. Yet, for some women entrepreneurs, that very stability becomes the catalyst for change.

The decision to quit is often the result of years of reflection and a desire to build something meaningful, or a deep conviction that a gap in the market needs to be filled.

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What sets these women apart is not just courage, but clarity. Each identified an opportunity rooted in either tradition, sustainability or changing consumer preferences. Instead of viewing risk as a loss, they saw it as reinvention.

They leveraged corporate experience around strategy, branding, operations, and finance, and applied it to their startups.

Another common thread is scalability. These are not hobby ventures. They are structured businesses with defined product lines, revenue targets, supply chains and expanding markets. Most importantly, they combine profitability with purpose, like reviving millets, promoting clean eating, or turning waste into value.

Their journeys show that quitting a “good job” is not about walking away from success. It is about redefining it. Here are five women entrepreneurs who have built thriving, revenue-generating enterprises.

1. Shubhadra – CEO and Vice-Principal to a Rs 3 crore millet brand

After serving as CEO and Vice-Principal of Emerald Heights College in Ooty, Shubhadra quit the education sector to pursue healthy food entrepreneurship. She founded PVR Foods under the Bommi Dhaniyam brand, offering over 80 ready-to-cook millet products.

The company generates over Rs 3 crore annually. Her USP lies in value-added millet convenience foods tailored for urban consumers, combined with structured production that employs and trains women. By packaging traditional grains in modern formats, she transformed millets into mainstream, profitable products.

2. Maria Kuriakose – From consultant to Rs 1 crore sustainable startup

Maria Kuriakose quit her consulting career to start Thenga Coco, a Kerala-based enterprise that converts discarded coconut shells into handcrafted home and lifestyle products. The company clocks over Rs 1 crore in annual sales and exports internationally.

Her USP is sustainability. She turns agricultural waste into premium décor products combined with artisan empowerment. By positioning eco-friendly goods as aspirational lifestyle choices, she built both profitability and purpose into her business model.

3. Vasudha Bhogaraju – From Airtel to Rs 2 crore pickle brand

After over a decade in corporate roles across IT, banking and telecom, including with Airtel, Vasudha Bhogaraju quit her well-paying career in 2015 to scale her mother’s homemade pickle venture into a structured enterprise.

She founded Bhogaraju Foods, which now generates around Rs 2 crore in annual revenue, selling nearly 20 tonnes of preservative-free pickles each year across 13 countries. Her USP lies in authentic, traditional recipes combined with strict quality control and global e-commerce reach, transforming a family kitchen legacy into a profitable international food brand.

4. Krishnaa Kantthawala – From a corporate career in Singapore to a global millet startup

Krishnaa Kantthawala, an MBA, left a lucrative corporate job in Singapore to launch Smart Eleven, a millet-based food company producing pasta, noodles and snacks. Today, the business earns over Rs 12 lakh per month (around Rs 1.5 crore a year) and exports to five countries.

This woman entrepreneur's strategy focuses on repositioning millets as international health foods through export-ready packaging and strict quality control. By targeting global markets instead of only domestic retail, she has built scale and strong margins in a competitive segment.

5. Annapurna Kalluri – From IBM to Rs 2.5 crore millet business

After completing her MBA and working at IBM, Annapurna Kalluri resigned to start her own food business. She founded Sri Haritha Agro Food, which markets products under the Avasya label. It makes millet flours, flakes and breakfast mixes.

The enterprise is profitable and reported Rs 2.5 crore revenues in FY25. It is targeting Rs 25 crore in revenues now. Her USP lies in building a strong distribution network and focusing on product consistency, positioning millets as daily staples rather than niche health items.

(US Anu is a Madurai-based writer. She specialises in stories around human interest, environment and art and culture.)

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