On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Entrepreneurship Forum of Vidarbha Industries Association felicitated six women entrepreneurs for their contribution to the world of business. They also shared their stories of trials, turbulence and eventual success.
Dr.Meghana Tidke a qualified Doctor and also the Director of ‘Aroma’, an ayurvedic products manufacturing company spoke about how she always thought of womanhood as a matter of pride and not a liability. She said every woman must have a positive outlook towards life and try to achieve their goals in spite of all the hurdles in their ways.
Ms. Bhawna Sharma founder ‘Cure Veda ‘ which is into the manufacture of ayurvedic products and health supplements, which has an impressive turn over,  stressed upon the importance of education in her career. According to her, it is very important for a woman to be educated before becoming an entrepreneur so that she develops confidence and is able to understand the nitty-gritty of business much better. An alumni of London School of Economics, with a stint with the corporates, before turning into an entrepreneur, Sharma spoke about having clarity of thought and being focused towards her goal, as the main reason for having achieved success at an early age.Â
Dr. Farhat Daud who has a cosmetic brand in her own name, spoke about how the family needs to support women in their quests for excellence. She stressed upon the importance of education and also said that we should not look at men as our adversaries, but as someone who helps to balance out our lives.
Rakhi Agrawal, Director of ‘Daffodil Engravers India Pvt Ltd’ shared her impressive story of taking up the challenges of sales in a completely male dominated field after 16 years of marriage and two children. She spoke on how she struggled to understand the rudiments of business and how she finally carved a niche for herself. In spite of the life threatening ailment of a family member, she continued undeterred. She advised all the women to engage themselves constructively from an early age so that she can face any crisis in life successfully
Neerja Pathania, Founder & Director of Innovations Solutions & Events Pvt Ltd., spoke on how life took her to the unchartered path of entrepreneurship from her dream of excelling in adventure sports. A keen mountaineer, she explained that in entrepreneurship too as one scales up one, just like mountaineering one must pause to take a deep breath so that it gives you the required energy to go to the next level.
Ms. Ankita Sarda a young serial start up founder and presently the Vice President of her family owned business ‘ Vachchaan Dairy Products’ stressed on persistence, resilience and hard work as a sure shot recipe for success for women entrepreneurs.
The success stories were followed by an interactive and lively question and answer session.
The program began with all the awardees being welcomed by program coordinator Meghna Jaiswal. The opening address was given by the Chairman, VIA Entrepreneurs Forum, Akash Agrawal. The women entrepreneurs were accorded a memento and bouquet by Dr. Suhas Buddhe, Vice President – VIA, Dr. Anita Rao, Joint Secretary VIA and Akash Agrawal.
The vote of thanks was proposed by Tejaswini Bhandarkar.
In attendance were Ms. Chanchal Loya and Ms. Meghana Kalgaonkar, members of the forum.
The program was held in VIA hall and live streamed on ZOOM and Facebook.
