Shivani Gopal: “You should dream of having a big life”

SHIVANI GOPAL is the founder of ELLADEX, a global ‘rolodex’ with over 25,000 women, designed to elevate personal, professional and financial success, and Australia’s first digital mentor marketplace & daily learning platform. A leading Fijian-Indian entrepreneur who recently won the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award at the Asialink Asian Australian Leadership Awards 2024, Ritam Mitra sat down with her to hear some insights into her journey.

Ritam Mitra: I know you’ve had a particularly interesting journey – professional and personal – to get to this point. You’ve been the recipient of several awards, accolades and general recognition. Looking back on all of it – what does it mean to be recognised as one of the leading Asian Australian entrepreneurs?  

Shivani Gopal: For me, it’s an absolute honour and privilege to be recognised as an Australian Asian entrepreneur, but in particular as a Fijian Indian woman, because I believe that we are a minority of a minority. Growing up, I’ve seen people leading, whether it’s personally or professionally, as Fijian Indians, and then finding themselves in the limelight and suddenly denying their Fijian Indian heritage and pretending there was something that they were not because of fear of being shunned. I remember saying to a girl I once knew, “Imagine if Barack Obama denied his heritage? What kind of representation would that be?!”.  

I think this is because we just don’t have enough Fijian Indian women, in particular, leading the way and normalising our difference and our uniqueness that makes us so special. I think we all have an incredible, rich, interesting story, a uniqueness in our language and food, and each minority within the makeup of an Asian Australian deserves to be celebrated. So I’m glad to be one of them. I’m glad to be normalising it. 

 

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I’ve always loved the feeling of being bold and brave and following your great vision for your life. So it’s very humbling to be able to be represented this way and to shine the light on others to do the same. I’d like other little girls to look up and say, well, if she can do it, from the humble beginnings that Shivani has come from, well, then maybe I can too. I hope to instill a little bit of courage and a little bit of bravery in people when they see my journey. 

Ritam Mitra: What has your journey in start-ups, from ELLADEX to Upstreet and your involvement in others, taught you – about yourself and about other people?  

Shivani Gopal: My journey has taught me that you should always believe in yourself and your capabilities, that you should continually invest in it by nurturing yourself with ongoing learning and speaking and connecting to other mentors, but also that you should dream of having a big life, have a strong vision for your life, and then set about to fulfill it. 

I don’t think I ever would have set up ELLADEX or Upstreet or left my very secure and successful financial services career if I didn’t feel as though I could back myself and feel that I could and should make a bigger impact in life. And it’s what gave me the courage to jump off the cliff and build my parachute on the way down, as I often tell it. 

It’s also taught me about other people: to inspect what you expect. When you choose your team and to work with people, make sure that they are genuinely your kind of people that you can work with. Always partner yourself with people who inspire you and you feel can add more richness to what it is that you’re doing. 

 

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I love spending my time with people who are smarter than me, more capable than me. I think that’s how you build great businesses. It’s not about you; it’s about your team. And it’s also taught me what little old me is capable of. It’s taught me that I can turn up to an event three weeks postpartum and losing my voice through exhaustion but still put on one of my best keynote performances. Why? Because I believe in something greater than just the exhaustion of today, and that keeps me going. So having that vision, having a purpose, really is a guiding light. 

Shivani Gopal: South Asians, particularly first and second-generation migrants, are perhaps underrepresented in entrepreneurial fields, given the push towards more traditional, linear career paths. The challenge is of course compounded for women from those backgrounds. How would you describe the state of diversity in the start-up scene now, based on your own experiences? If it’s still not where it needs to be, what do you think is holding it back?  

Ritam Mitra: Well, it’s no secret that women only receive 3% of the world’s VC capital. Women of Colour are even less. And first and second-generation migrants are again a minority of a minority. I see that South Asians are starting to step up and step out of these predefined moulds. 

We have to understand that these predefined moulds are based on security because we hail from economically emerging countries and regions. So it’s only natural that through that economic conditioning, our families will want us to move into secure roles. And whilst these are great, they are linear and they are also unintentionally encouraging us to be really strong descendants. 

Whereas I keep thinking about the example that I might set for future generations. So what kind of ancestor can I be? What kind of ancestor can you be? We need to start thinking in this bold and brave way. And we need to understand the context from where our family comes from. They want economic security because they probably didn’t have it when they were growing up. 

 

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So how can you build your own personal runway as well as building your business runway, which gives you the economic security to take the leap? Have a think about those things and make a plan and go for it. 

Ritam Mitra: What would you say is the career achievement you’re most proud of to date, and if you’re allowed to tell me, what’s the most ambitious goal ahead of you that you haven’t quite reached?   

Shivani Gopal: I’m really proud of the businesses that I’ve set up and I am really proud of the fact that as a female entrepreneur, but also as a minority, I’ve been able to raise almost $1.5 million in venture capital across my businesses. And some of that has come from VC firms, and I know just how difficult that is to do. 

I am really proud of the network that I’ve created, the thousands of women that we’ve connected. I’m really proud of the technology that we’ve built. I’m proud of my ability to be able to pivot, coming from financial services, building a tech business, and not being a traditional tech founder, but still finding a way to do it and not letting anything stop me—just finding a way. 

I think that type of determination and self-belief is really important when you are working towards a career achievement. 

As for the most ambitious goal I haven’t yet reached, we’ve been able to go internationally, but just organically as we’ve been going. We haven’t done a targeted release of the US or UK region, which is next on our hit list. That’s an ambitious goal that we haven’t quite reached, but never say never. 

Ritam Mitra: Any tips to share with aspiring founders, particularly women and those from subcontinental backgrounds who might see it as too unstable a career path or who see the lack of diversity as an insurmountable challenge? 

Shivani Gopal: I’d say don’t look at those elements as challenges. Yes, we are a minority, but we will only get to normalisation of representation with you being a part of it. 

 

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What you need to be really clear on is what is the business that you are building. Be clear on if this is a problem that you’re solving or value that you’re adding. I like to think of it as, are you providing a pill—solving a pain point—or providing a vitamin and adding optimization to someone’s life? 

Verify your business idea through a quick and dirty MVP. Verify how big the market is, not just through research online, but actually go out and talk to people. Build a quick and dirty prototype and see if it sells. That way you’ll have a tested product to market fit and you’ll be able to build, test and iterate as you go.  

Don’t go to the naysayers for validation. Verify with the right sources, and that way you won’t ever need their validation. It doesn’t matter nor does it count!  

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