Creator Economy Summit | Ananya Birla on music, business and being Birla

Ananya Birla, singer and business leader

Ananya Birla, business leader and singer, will be unveiling her own consumer brand, along with a couple of other launches, she said at the Moneycontrol Creator Economy Summit on October 31.

Birla’s passion for building businesses is not unknown. Earlier this year, she was inducted as a director on the board of Aditya Birla Fashion. She also rechristened Aditya Birla Global Trading.

“Being born in the Birla family meant my life was already planned before I was born. Every other girl in the family was married at the age of 22, I am 29. No girl was involved in the family business, I am on the boards,” Birla said at the event in Mumbai.

Among the launches there will be a "couple of fun consumer brands" she added without providing more details.

While running companies, Birla said she ensures that everyone in the room is smarter than her and likes to delegate work. “In businesses, the point of a team is that you don’t have to be good at everything. As a leader, in my team, I bring on people who are much better than I am. Imagine a ‘T’, I try to be ok at everything, but then there is one line that goes very deep,” Birla said.

People management, marketing, design, positioning, understanding consumer and building products are some of her strengths.

Chandra R Srikanth, Startups and Tech editor, Moneycontrol (L) with Ananya Birla, singer and business leader (R) at the Moneycontrol Creator Economy Summit 2023 in Mumbai

Birla also runs Svatantra Microfin, a company which recently acquired Sachin Bansal's Chaitanya India Fin for Rs 1,479 crore.  Interestingly, Svatantra Microfin was founded after she dropped out of the University of Oxford. "Svatantara wouldn't have been what it is today if I hadn't dropped out," she said.

When she’s not working, Birla composes music. The Let There Be Love singer said she begins and ends her day with music. At one point Birla was also told that a lot of listeners weren’t listening to her music because of her last name and was asked to drop her last name.

But she’s not looking for external gratification. “My name does not bring pressure, it brings pride,” Birla, also the daughter of Kumar Mangalam Birla, said. For creators, the comments and the number of likes on content can suck them in and Birla said the whole process is a “vicious cycle”.