K Srujana Reddy, 30, never thought silica sand would mould her into a full-fledged entrepreneur. When the idea of trading in silica sands struck her in August 2006, her middle-class family, though welcomed it with scepticism, went along. However, to be taken seriously by the automotive industry, which uses these sands to make moulds, was a tough call.
The struggle started right from finding finances to convincing customers, she reminisces. But Reddy persisted. What started as a modest consignment of 125 kg has now grown into a producing capacity of 1,000 tonne a month and a business worth Rs 3.4 crore a year. Reddy boasts of clients like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Toyota Kirloskar Motors and many more.
The case of Vandana Maheshwari, is no different. She, then 29, started making PVC sheets for car dash boards and white panels. The business that began with a capital of Rs 2 crore in 1995, fetches her a turnover of over Rs 7 crore at present. Tata Motors is her main client.
Reddy and Maheshwari are among the 23 first generation women entrepreneurs of Andhra Pradesh who have braved into manufacturing engineering and automotive parts for big companies.
Shunning the option of making home-based food products like papad, jams and pickles, these entrepreneurs?none from elite business families?drove into male bastions making muscular products like bus bodies, turbines, valves and other components.
Soon these entrepreneurs would move into a 30-acre automotive park, set up by the Andhra Pradesh Industrial and Infrastructure Corporation near Hyderabad. Each would get an acre plot in the park for Rs 30 lakh. They would together employ over 6,000 women for over five years. Automotive majors, their units mostly in Chennai, have already started outsourcing work to these enterprises purely on merit basis. Since none of the big procurers, including state-run Bhel, give gender-based concessions to these entrepreneurs, they are one-on-one with men in the cut and thrust of business.
Though the economic slowdown has given nightmares to the auto industry and reduced offtake down the line, these entrepreneurs take the downturn for what it is. Business has risks and we should face all difficulties is the bold answer that comes. Of course, entrepreneurship has lent to these women more confidence and independence. Factories, they say, have helped them become better home-makers, turning them more rational in decisions, more patient and less prone to ego clashes.
The prospect of operating within an industrial park has made the entrepreneurs ambitious. All are working on strategies to hit a turnover of Rs 50 crore each in five years. Already, four of them have an export turnover of close to Rs 100 crore each.
Helping these businesswomen with infrastructure and support is the Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs (COWE), a 520-member non-profit body founded by six like-minded people in 2004. The German Chamber of Commerce (ZDH) is a partner of COWE. The confederation also has the support of state agencies and banks like State Bank of India and State Bank of Hyderbad.
According to COWE officials, these entrepreneurs will now seek collaborations and joint ventures with foreign companies to set up their units in the automotive park. Partnership with ZDH will come handy in this. Talks are on with five automobile companies for joint venture projects. COWE is also assisting them in tapping the Integrated Infrastructure Development Scheme of the Centre, which grants Rs 5 crore for setting up common facility.
The hard but fruitful journey of these businesswomen?with no pedigree or godfathers but solely driven by a passion for manufacturing?has inspired COWE to scheme more industrial parks for women entrepreneurs of the state. It is giving shape to a 30-acre food park, which will have clusters for producing mushroom, cereals and dairy goods with 10 entrepreneurs in a group. Also, COWE is in talks with retailers, including Reliance, AV Birla, ITC, Heritage, for buyback arrangements. A biotech park is also on the anvil. Both these parks will be exclusively for women entrepreneurs.
Second to none
• A total of 23 first generation women entrepreneurs have braved into manufacturing, engineering and automotive parts for big companies
• These entrepreneurs, none from elite business families, make muscular products like bus bodies, turbines, valves and other components
• The entrepreneurs will soon move into a 30-acre automotive park, set up by the Andhra Pradesh Industrial and Infrastructure Corporation
• Each would get an acre plot in the park for Rs 30 lakh. They will together employ over 6,000 women for over the next five years
• All are working on strategies to hit a turnover of Rs 50 crore each in five years. Four of them already have an export turnover of close to Rs 100 crore each