For the last six years, Ms Priyadarshini Majumdar has been building Inovatyv into a versatile product-development and consulting company known for creating solutions across diverse industries.
From early experiments in e-commerce and blockchain marketplaces to its latest venture, FootprintIQ – an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered energy efficiency and carbon accounting platform – Inovatyv is Ms Priyadarshini’s answer to efficient problem-solving through technology. It is, she said, the culmination of years spent observing how systems work, understanding where they break, and designing tools that fix real-world issues.
Her drive toward innovation began long before Inovatyv existed. In 2019, during a solo trip through Europe, she found herself consumed by the idea of a travel app, one that would improve how people explored new places. Six months later, she walked into her consulting firm and told her manager she needed to resign - not to escape corporate life, but because she would regret it forever if she didn’t pursue her idea.
Ms Priyadarshini’s roots in entrepreneurship stretch even further back. As an engineering undergraduate at the National University of Singapore, she found herself surrounded by business school friends whose conversations about finance, marketing, and strategy seeped into her worldview. In one memorable semester, she and her engineering friends launched Supperman, a tiny student-run supper delivery service years before food delivery apps existed.
“This was before Grab and Foodpanda existed,” the 32-year-old said. They took orders through a form, crossed a bridge to buy supper from a nearby hall, added a modest markup, and earned S$36 in a week. That simple experiment, along with internships at startups and even a role helping launch an experiment to the International Space Station through SpaceX, shaped her understanding of what building truly means.
However, the creation process isn’t linear. In 2019, deep in preparation to launch her travel app, Covid-19 hit, and the world shut down. “By the time we had the app and initial users ready, Covid hit,” she recalled. With travel collapsing and investments drying up, she and her team pivoted fast, turning Inovatyv into a company that built products for other businesses. That pivot became the foundation that enabled the company to expand into larger, more impactful technological ventures.
Her journey as a woman entrepreneur has deeply shaped her leadership style. She recognises that being a woman brings natural strengths such as warmth, empathy, and care, which creates a nurturing workplace where employees feel valued.
Yet she also acknowledges the challenges. She and her co-founder, both women, were often overly protective of their team – fighting battles on their behalf, shielding them from difficult conversations, and absorbing pressures. “What this often led to, for me personally, was exhaustion,” she noted. That is when she learnt about “drawing the boundaries and putting myself first. Saying no, even if that sometimes could lead to strained relationships.”
While Inovatyv solves problems at scale, Ms Priyadarshini’s work on weekends is intentionally personal. Through godmodefounder.com, she teaches adults how to use AI to create opportunities for themselves. In partnership with Sustainable Markets SG and the Singapore Red Cross’s Young Hearts Programme, her AI workshops in November and December this year raise funds to support the education of underprivileged children. Adults gain digital fluency, and children gain access to futures they might not otherwise have. “Everything will change at an unprecedented rate in the next five years,” she said. “It’s imperative that we learn to use technology for our own self-expression and make it our superpower.”
For her, being a female entrepreneur in today’s world means having the ability, platform, and privilege to build profitable companies that serve customers and society. When she looks ahead five years, she said the world is changing too quickly for certainty. As AI reshapes modus operandi and society evolves, Ms Priyadarshini’s strategy is to stay nimble, stay grounded, and stay centred. “The only way to get through this transformation,” she said, “is to keep the world inside our minds completely still.”
To the next generation of purpose-driven female founders, she offers advice drawn from experience: Don’t chase revenue – focus on creating a product or service that genuinely solves a problem.
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27 Nov 2025 14:10
