6 outstanding women entrepreneurs share insights from their journey with existing & aspiring entrepreneurs

One day I hit upon an interesting face book page “50young” and  knew it was just meant for me. Sure enough it turned out to be a platform for 50+ and raring to go women just like me….and the focus of the group? It simply focuses on productive, progressive and empowering activities, conferences, forums and groups offline and online.  

Founder Anita Gurnani and her co-founder son Anand has opened up a world of learning and interaction for me and the 50+. It did not surprise me when I learnt that Anand started his first venture when he was 15 and today best known for his persistent evangelism of the Indian Animation Industry in India and Internationally.  Anita on the other hand is the wonderful connect who has over the past months connecting women like myself to women like myself with unique and innovative programs like workshops, walks in the morning for good health and even a smart phone training classes, etc.

Networking and interacting with others in itself a big motivator and even more when you hear stories of entrepreneur achievements. 19^th November was one such motivating day. 50young organised an Entrepreneurship Forum and unleashed motivation par excellence with six outstanding women entrepreneurs sharing insights from their journey with existing and aspiring entrepreneurs. Let me share with you a bit about and nuggets from each of the speakers.

Dr. Suju George of "OR organic living" worked in a corporate until she found her calling. The fields of her hometown in Kerala beckoned her and she turned an idea into a reality of bringing organic food to the doorstep. Having spent her childhood there, she realised that farming was somewhere deep inside her and today she is striving to bring home grown vegetables free from pesticides, etc. to our homes. On starting a business in the golden years, she says "for me at 60+ the risk taking capability is very high. Nothing to lose, only Dare, Dare to win". Suju shared her thoughts about manifesting an idea into a business reality the dos and don’ts of starting a business and the importance of learning to brand your products, creating its identity and most importantly the legal aspects to be taken care of when moving from home business to enterprise with all the women entrepreneurs

On the other hand, here was Suman Srivastava a maverick soul who grew up in an affluent family but turned to social work and today has helps treat over 20,000 people annually free of cost. For her it's not about the money. She says "it's so easy to know others but very difficult to know ourselves". She remembers how she felt the first time she sat down on the floor amongst the needy and how she felt when the layer of dirt and grease covered her finger as she went on to treat them for their pains. While sharing her extraordinary journey and thoughts on the many kinds of entrepreneurship and how to scale up your start up, she joked that she considers herself a quack but in fact she is indeed an extraordinary woman with a purpose. She is the founder Director of Healing Touch Research Centre working in Health Care, Education, and for the betterment of Senior Citizens. She has organised medical camps, national conferences on health, nutrition, education, science development and even climate change. A trained expert on Marma Vacuum which is a therapy that works with 108 points in the body to open up energy channels, she continues to serve and help eradicate pain of others.

And then there was the extraordinary full of life and humorous, Kalpana Talpade, the woman chef behind Kalpana's Kitchen. Kalpana spoke about following your passion and doing what you love and brought a smile to each of our faces as she shared her journey from working in an office to pushing herself into competing with the men folk to learn programming and computer technology to starting Kalpana’s Kitchen.  Her determination to learn and excel is what has helped her today to record, edit and load her own videos all on her own.  What started out as a video for her family is now a YouTube sensation with over 3000 subscribers and is probably the best place to find homemade food recipes from deserts to snacks to dinner. Kalpana shares new recipe videos every Tuesday and Fridays as also handy hints & tips also on how to improve your culinary skills.

Milestones & Insights in my 20 year Journey as entrepreneur with Neelam Sethi of 'tinSelwinkel' boutique with the catch line 'from fabric to finish' learnt her craft in Amsterdam. She realised that she had time on her hands after her kids grew up and  decided to put her learning and talent to use in a professional way. Her friends always waited to see what she wore for she claims every outing deserved a new outfit which she cut and sew one day prior and wore.  Starting off small, her amazing sense of colours and fabric today has kept her connected with her over 1200 loyal clients. The loyalty of the people who are working with her since inception is a reflection of her caring for them and she on her part spreads the joy by taking them on an annual picnic or 5 star outing. She explores the world of fashion in a unique way and it was an inspiring to hear what talent hidden in the boundaries of the home can do.

Out of the confines of the home came another home grown entrepreneur - Nafisa Kapadia of the Bohri Kitchen fame. Here was another amazing story of entrepreneurship success. Opening her home to an event experience in home cooked food, Nafisa shared the joy she brings to her guests. This community meal venture is run out of her home at Colaba where authentic Muslim meals are served in the traditional thaal to groups of guests. Nafisa cooks the meals herself and is a generous host who gives away goody bags too - now that’s what I liked! What was heart warming to hear was that the individuals around that thaal at the end of the meal become friends for life after sharing and exchange thoughts over the two hour meal. Staying unique and original is the mantra according to her and most importantly  personalizing consumer experience

The last speaker, Mona Doctor of The Integral Space questioned and challenged us to think who area and we where are we. According to her Individuality is undivided in thoughts words and action. Returning to the Journey of balance is what she spoke about. Her own life story full of challenges today has her opening her heart to holistic and integrative health, creative expression, artistic exploration, and personal transformation at her initiative -The Integral Space. Mona shared simple tools to making our life for peaceful, focused and purposeful. The best tip she shared for calming oneself including insomnia is humming to yourself just as a baby does when you are rocking him to sleep and most importantly “learn for the sake of learning without expectation”

It was a learning experience and as Anita and Anand rightly summarised, “The 50Young Women's Entrepreneurship Forum was an empowering experience for all those who took part and for the organizers as well. It was Inspiring, it was academic; it was professional, relevant, full of witty repartee and uniquely humorous. 

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Aging, Not Me!

Aging, Not Me!

“You don't stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.”
― George Bernard Shaw

Who wants to grow old? Someone told me "It's just a number!", and so once I crossed that threshold they call ‘senior citizen” I decided to protest. I began to hate the thought of being called old or senior.  After all for me, it had  always been “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind it doesn’t matter”. Even then, ageing is going to happen whether we like it or not. So is it not better to face it gracefully than fight it.  I decided to live life king size and do all the things I did not have time for during my working and family years, right from learning craft on-line and making gifts for friends, to acting, to voicing, to pestering my actor friends and going to watch shoots, joining a women’s forum and organising workshops. What’s more, I even pushed my  husband to join a singing group even if I regret having to hear him sing loudly at home without a care in the world!  You can too find that one thing that was pushed on the back burner during those years when you were busy raising your family.  I am going to share with you some thoughts that you would have heard a million times, but may not have really registered it into your daily life.

Where do I start? Maybe from the day our children turn adults or maybe from the day we retire or maybe when we become grandparents. That’s when the mind begins to think “hey I am over the hill” and then you begin to feel it too. It’s that time when you are no longer burdened by responsibilities and demanding careers and the children are raised  A lost feeling takes over and then you take that morning walk in the park and look at people your age and ask yourself are they looking older than you or are you looking older? That’s where we go wrong, because it’s that time when actually “time” is yours, to use the way you want. Time comes free for you to use and spend and by the way who was that who said time and tide waits for no man. It will stop for you, if you can learn to use and control it. You get the point don’t you? so why are you putting it off saying "when I get the time?" The time is now and here already.......and “time” is what you have plenty off so make that beginning.  So just get started and don’t waste precious time. Make that wish list of things you had in the back of the head since long and would like to do before you leave this world. It doesn't have to be anything drastic like jumping of a plane or climbing Mount Everest, but if you can do that, well then go for it !!!!! Try just those simple things that you wished you had done earlier. I made new friends and then more friends by the day and as the family of friends grew, so did the activities that I could participate in like workshops, outings and new hobbies.

Do the things you like and of course things that make you happy. You won't be able to do everything like you used to, neither can I, but when I started doing things I loved...... then nothing came in my way - not even my creaking bones.  The more you begin to find new things to do the more engaging your life will become. So simply just fight fatigue of that afternoon long nap which is so common for us just because we feel nothing is waiting. Play word games and recall exercises by yourself, like I do often. Say a word for example, ‘senior’ and then a next word with the last alphabet “r” and so on and you will find yourself enjoying your own company too. I love to check out car numbers and making a total of the numbers just to keep that ticker in the head active. I looked for  shapes in the clouds, observe people, look for objects during a walk and recalling them when back home. You could join a class and learn something new not because you need to make a career of it but  just for fun.  How about sharing that expertise of yours with others?  Ageing does not necessarily need to stop us from learning. After all as someone said “there is a lot of valuable gold from experience that comes with the silver in the hair!” Break the boring routines and the change will make life interesting...... because "if you really want to do something, you will find a way.  If you don't you will find an excuse"~Jim Rohn

Most important of all; you and your spouse need not have to do the same things or share the same interests. After all, no two human’s like the same things anyways. So let loose your spouse to follow his/her interests and encourage each other to do whatever interests him/her and watch the bonding and sharing multiply multi-folds.  I believe that there is still loads to learn and enjoy beyond the certainty of growing old, but it’s up to me how to use that time and manage the later years of my life with grace, dignity and fulfillment.......and because .......