( ENTREPRENERUIAL SUCCESS
STORIES)
Rita Singh: Woman Entrepreneur in the
Business world:
Rita Singh, founder of the M”escos ( mid east shipping
company) group, is one of the first women entrepreneurs to make it big in the
business world.
Rita’s is a rags to riches story. Starting from scratch
about 20 years ago, she now exports trendy M’escos shoes owns a fleer of state
– of – the art helicopters and ships and Rs.450 – crore steel plant.
The M’escos group with an annual turnover of over Rs.1500
crore, employs more than 7,000 people.
The only daughter of a Punjabi college professor who
migrated from Sargodha in Pakistan to Nagpur after partition.
With only a degree in science, she set up a small dairy
farm with two buffaloes near the Hindon air station and a sulphur plant at
Hapur. She sold off their small farm and started exporting rice and tapioca.
Then she went into shipping in a small way within a year, her annual income
crossed the Rs.50 lakh mark. In the coming years, she entered into steel,
aviation, shoes etc.
What are the factors behind her success ? ‘attribute my
success to one thing – never run away from left Face it boldly. Dare to be
different.
Why aren’t there many women entrepreneurs in the big
league? Singh feels that a false sense of security and fear of failure are the
main stumbling blocks in the path of success. “it hardly matters whether you
are a man or a woman if you are insecure inside. I have never been bothered
about security.
DESIGNING DREAMS
Name: Neeru kumar
Education:
B.Sc. (chemistry) Ahmedabad University, 1974; graduate, National Institute of
Design, Ahmedabad, 1980.
Experience:
Designer, fab India, 1980 – 81.
Track Record:
turnover has grown from zero in 1984 to Rs. 3 crore in 1994 – 95.
Investment:
Rs.10,000.
Employees: 10
Work style:
hands – on
Work philosophy:
Keep experimenting
Hobbies:
Collecting old Indian textiles and antique furniture.
Spinning off Her Old job into a New Business was really
not on Neeru Kumar’s mind. Until, that is the 1980 graduate of the National
Institute of Design, Ahmedabad was handed a Rs. 1 lakh contract from Tata
exports to develop a fabric for soft furnishings.” I started with their advance
of Rs.10,000” recalls Kumar. It allowed her to set up a small unit with
overheads comprising a monthly rent of Rs.1500 and a daily wage bill of Rs. 25
for each of the two weavers he hired to craft woolen carpets. Today her
enterprise, Tal, rakes in Rs.3 crore annually, selling its products through an
exclusive retail outlet in the capital as well as up market stores in the UK,
US and France.
FACT FILE
NAME: Ruty Birdy
Education: Presentation Convent, Kodaikanal 1964; dropped
out of St. Xavier’s college, Mumbai in 1965.
Work Experience: Designer, Star Industries; set up
Christina in 1987
Initial investment: Rs.40,000.
Track Record: turnover has grown from Rs.40 lakh in 1989
– 90 to Rs. 1.28 crore in 1994 – 95
Work style: Hands – on.
Management Philosophy: Enjoy your work and treat
employees as family.
Hobbies: Reading and Riding.
D. Jayalakshmi Devaraj
Smt. Jayalakshmi Devaraj was just like any other
housewife till June, 1983 when God took way her Husband Mr. Devaraj the founder
of the Sri Vigneshwara group of industries. Instead of closing down the
companies in despair, she rose to the occasion and took up the challenge of
running the industry started by her husband.
The total sales turnover of the foundry has been recorded
as Rs.33 lakhs in 1984 – 85 to nearly Rs.50 lakhs in 1988 – 89 Smt. Jayalakshmi
has been responsible for providing employment to nearly 200 persons through her
various concerns.
She was the winner of CODISSIA Award 1989 for the best
woman entrepreneur.
A SUCCESS STORY
She certainly has been the most powerful woman of Indian
origin living in the United States. Roman Malkani was listed by the respected
Washington magazine as one of the 100 most powerful women living in the US
capital, along with the likes of Jeane Kirkpatick, Carla Hills and Elizabeth
Dole. And more importantly her success has been in an area which even in the US
has traditionally been male – dominated of specialized high technology
communication systems.
Malkani left India in 1967 when her father, a professor
of engineering at Roorke University, went on a Fulbright scholarship to the
University of Virginia. In 1979, father and daughter who by then had a master’s
degree in computers, founded Information System and Network Corporation (ISN).
Roman who tool over full charge a year later has since turned the company into
the largest woman – owned US government contractor.
