‘Economic empowerment of women helps corporates too’

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: The concept of corporate social responsibility was not in my mind when I started my career, but unknowingly, in the effort to translate my vision and philosophy, I feel I have fulfilled this responsibility to a great extent. It is true that corporates and individuals must think beyond immediate profits. I feel there should be sustained and long-term commitment towards betterment of society.

When I adopted herbal beauty care based on ayurveda, 37 years ago, it was a path-breaking concept. I created awareness of the dangers of chemical treatments through my treatments, articles and books. In the minds of the readers and clients, I have reinforced my philosophy that “nature is the best cosmetologist.”

To that extent, we have influenced markets and minds. We have also set up a herb and flower farm, using natural composts and fertilizers, in our endeavour towards organically grown plant products. In doing so, I believe I have also drawn attention to the need to respect nature and protect the environment.

We recognise the value of organic foods and extracts, but the growing of organic produce is easier said than done. It cannot be done in a day, because it means swinging the pendulum the other way. We have been going towards modernisation of agriculture and now we must turn back towards nature. This cannot be achieved by the efforts of a few. It has to be a widespread movement and also needs the support of enlightened government agencies and individual efforts.

Woman empowerment and vocational training have been two of our concerns. By encouraging housewives to secure training and start herbal beauty salons in their own homes, we have tried to help them achieve financial independence in keeping with the social environment at the time. It was the beginning of our franchise system and beauty training institute. At that time, only apprenticeship training was available in beauty. By introducing professional beauty courses, we drew attention to the need for vocational training, in keeping with international standards.

Where social responsibility is concerned, there is the opinion that it goes beyond charitable activities. But we do contribute towards the community through charitable activities. However, there should be long-term commitment.

We wanted to make a positive contribution by providing vocational training to the physically handicapped. So, we opened Shamute, our free training institute for the speech and hearing impaired in 1984.