Lakshmi Narayana Mankaji Ba

19th century Indian entrepreneur who became the wealthiest woman in India through indigo and textile industries, pioneering women's entrepreneurship

Lakshmi Narayana Mankaji Ba (1819-1890) was a pioneering entrepreneur in 19th century India, recognized as the wealthiest woman of her time. Born into a merchant family in Baroda, she defied societal norms by expanding her family's indigo trading business into a vast industrial empire. Her most notable achievement was establishing the first large-scale indigo processing factory in India, which revolutionized the textile industry. Through strategic marriages and shrewd business acumen, she accumulated immense wealth, estimated at over £1 million in 1870 - equivalent to hundreds of millions today.

Ms. Ba's business ventures extended beyond indigo to include cotton mills, banking institutions, and real estate. She broke gender barriers by managing her enterprises personally, a radical departure from traditional roles for women. Her philanthropy was equally impactful, establishing schools for girls and orphanages when education for females was heavily restricted. Her legacy is preserved in the Wikipedia entry and the Indian Express archives.

Her innovative business practices included vertical integration strategies that controlled indigo production from cultivation to export. This model inspired later industrialists like Jamsetji Tata. Despite her influence, her contributions were overshadowed by male contemporaries, making her a hidden figure in India's economic history. Historians now recognize her as the first woman to achieve such economic power in pre-colonial India.