Bypassing the glass ceiling

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Ltd, “What a man can do, a woman can do better. Today, it’s not just women with access to education but women in rural India are also realising the importance of being financially independent. They have the mindset along with the skill set. All they need is a little encouragement.” She is also the chairperson of Saarc Chamber Women Entrepreneur Council (SCWEC). The council is actively involved in implementing activity-based programmes to empower the women council members of the Saarc region.

Herbal beauty products poster girl Shahnaz Husain couldn’t have agreed more with Dutta. The young girl from a traditional family she was married at the age of 15. But, she emerged from a sheltered life and upbringing to step into the world of business. She had the will and let nothing come in her way. “Internationally, billions of dollars are spent on advertising and packaging. But, I stuck to my solo ‘India and Ayurveda’ image. I stood alone at the counter and sold my country’s 5,000-year-old ancient heritage in a jar. Deterrents did come up in life, but I have tried to meet them as challenges,” she recollects.

Today she has a chain of over 400 franchise clinics, shops, schools and spas worldwide as well as Ayurvedic formulations for skin, hair, body and health care. She has been also encouraging ordinary housewives to open salons in their own homes, so that they can become financially independent. “I have seen how shy housewives have blossomed into confident entrepreneurs,” she says.

Being good at their work, points out Ritu Nanda of Ritu Nanda Insurance Service, comes naturally to most females. “Women have 40% more nerve receptors than men, which I think makes them better at communication and management, and in being better leaders. They are doing what men can do and doing it more efficiently.”

Hers is another case in point. Though her initial 10 years as an insurance agent were probably the most difficult, today she is woman in a man’s world and doing very well. “I still can’t forget how people laughed at my face when I became an insurance agent. I think that drove me more towards proving them wrong,” she recounts.