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My drive is to not only establish myself as a successful business personality and a family woman but also motivate more women from lower backgrounds to move up in life and come up in the main stream is what propels me day in and day out.

Meaning, aspirations and goals in life differs from person to person and evolve from time to time. I would like to split my life into three phases and talk about what was, is and will be important for me. In the First phase, I will talk about the deep significance given to family in my life. Second is that of independent learning and third is that of sharing and support. In this living laboratory and on this testing ground, each phase in my life mutated in to another, strengthening my foundation to improvise myself and do better every day.

In my initial years as teen, everything I did was to win the appreciation and care of my family. According to the traditions and culture in our community, I got married at an early age of 19, while I was pursuing my undergraduate studies, into an affluent but orthodox family. Over a span, I realized that I somehow ended not knowing who I was. I felt that I was just a product of heredity, environment and other¶s desires. My strong determination coupled with burning desire to excel enabled me to top my college, and also graduated with a university rank, in computer science engineering. This endeavor has enhanced my confidence. I then felt the need to discover myself and look for a path entirely chosen and driven by me. This gave rise to my second phase of Independent learning. My decision to breakout of old mindsets and embrace diversity has enabled me to open up to new ideas and opportunities. I entered in to an unknown territory and tried to create a mark. Being a female in a male dominated liquor and real estate residential industry, starting my own business and being on my own, growing my business and making it profitable, balancing marriage, motherhood and a career have been some of the challenges I've faced, but the majority of the time I've

chosen to leverage and capitalize on my strengths and work on my weakness instead of brooding over the challenges. I can honestly say that I've learned more and evolved more as a result of each obstacle I've encountered in every phase of my life. My life itself has become a motivational force for me and I learned to make the best out of any given situation. I believe that my determination, passion for what I do and my refusal to give up have enabled me to accomplish many of the things I have .My work has been an important part of who I am and who I have become and also has helped define myself in the long run. In fact, I've enjoyed the journey far more than reaching a destination. I learnt that if I am realistic about what i can and cannot do and focus on my goals, then the challenges i face won't stop me from continuing on and accomplishing my dreams. This phase was filled with assertiveness to reach goals and aspirations. It also gave me immense focus and spirit to make the most of myself. Learning has become most important to me and I understood that it guides me, frees me and humbles me.

I have been fortunate enough to have the best that life had to offer in terms of education, family and monetary support. I don¶t believe that other women are as lucky as me. Until recently, I started observing that whatever I have done in life and business has taught me to be a person with great individuality and socially responsible and I wanted to share the same with other women. During my stint as a member of ALEP, I worked with hundreds of women who seek support, guidance and training to enhance their lives by breaking barriers and to earn respectable position in the world. Despite claims of strong support for women by banks and government organizations in India, women are yet to get their dues. Through my venture capital firm, I plan to support more and more women in not only in financial terms but also through the experience I have gained over the years. My humble but strong will is to encourage women especially women from the downtrodden to mainstream and also make them independent and self sufficient. Going forward

this is what matters most and I believe I could make justice for my education and help improve the quality of life for Indian women.



 
 
 

   
 
 
The greatest achievement in my life was a life changing experience; not only for me but for also for the 30 odd children supported through my initiative called ³adoption of a child´.

One day, I came across a newspaper article highlighting the plight of a µschool for the poor¶, after the demise of its caretaker. I was moved by the hardships endured by young children in this school. I determined that I will do everything possible within and beyond my means to device a sustainable long term solution for the livelihood of these poor kids.

On the lines of ³Cry foundation´ I conceptualized a µvirtual adoption of a child¶ where the complete expenses of a child would be borne by a donor. To initially get things going I voluntarily adopted 3 kids and also encouraged my family and friends to adopt some more kids. It gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction to have led this journey from destitution to this day where kids have access to Education, health care and nutrition. I would place this activity as one of my most significant achievements till date far greater than Professional and Monetary accomplishments.

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My role at ³Adithi Constructions´ involves handling field operations, which is the life line of any construction company. Initially, when the operations were small, I was able to manage most of the work. With Increase in scope and scale of business delegation became important. This necessitated for a highly committed and talented team, which could help ease the pressure off me and also help me prioritize my activities and time.

Since the company was still at a nascent stage, finding experienced resources from the market was a challenge. So I had to develop a team from within. I started off with a small number of trusted aides and gave them the required knowledge and freedom to understand and explore their respective roles. Initially, I had to work along with them to make them feel comfortable with their respective business functions. I also arranged sessions with field experts to give them insights into respective business functions. I also devised an incentive scheme to increase motivation and commitment among team members. Slowly, the team was able to seamlessly operate. My job was to ensure the smooth functioning of the team with minimum disruption to work. This process helped me understand the various challenges in building and running a successful team.

Considering my experience in building, mentoring and managing high potential teams, I feel that openness and ability to think from others perspective are key ingredients to an effective team work. (. 
My role at ³Adithi Builders and Developers´ involves handling field operations, which is the life line of any construction company. Initially, when the operations

were small, I was able to manage most of the work. With Increase in scope and scale of business delegation became important. This necessitated for a highly committed and talented team, which could help ease the pressure off me and also help me prioritize my activities and time. Since the company was still at a nascent stage, finding experienced resources from the market was a challenge. So I had to develop a team from within. I started off with a small number of trusted aides and gave them the required knowledge and freedom to understand and explore their respective roles. Initially, I had to work along with them to make them feel comfortable with their respective business functions. I also arranged sessions with field experts to give them insights into respective business functions. I also devised an incentive scheme to increase motivation and commitment among team members. Slowly, the team was able to seamlessly operate. We were able to finish four projects in just five years and yet one more project to be completed by April 2011.We set a target of constructing 200,000 sft in five years but exceeded the target and achieved 276,000 sft. The turnover of the company has been increased from USD 1.5 million to USD 5.57 million. Considering my experience in building, mentoring and managing high potential teams, I feel that openness and ability to think from others perspective are key ingredients to an effective team work.


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The need to quickly scale up the scope of my various business¶ and skill sets required to bring in a global perspective to each of my businesses prompted me to look for a 1-year MBA program. IE with its one year program along with an International peer network would provide me accelerated learning combined with

the opportunity to enhance my business skills in just a year. IE¶s curriculum focusing on sophisticated management tools can help me improve my existing business and also generate new business.

The value that I see from IE¶s course on Entrepreneurial Studies is that it provides the network, tools, frameworks, and mindsets to help me succeed along the always challenging entrepreneurial path. Also, IE¶s Entrepreneurship portfolio includes courses focused on every element of the entrepreneurial life cycle was one thing that attracted my attention when selecting a business school. I intend to participate in the IE Venture Lab to focus my entrepreneurial energy in developing business plans.

An MBA from IE would give me holistic view of the business and further help me to become a more successful business woman and to realize my long term goal of becoming a venture capitalist.

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As a computer graduate I was sold upon the idea of IT being a business enabler for corporations in the 21st century. Post graduation I came across an opportunity to prepare a IT business roadmap for our Family¶s distillery business. Though profitable I saw huge opportunities in improving bottom line by the adoption of automation solutions. After deep dive understanding of processes and discussions with my family members, I developed a business plan to implement automated processes aiming at 20% reduction in operational costs and a payback after 2 years. Initially my business plan was not agreed upon by my family considering the fact that I was a greenhorn and the automation was a huge investment. I had to explain the idea and how it will benefit not only the business but also the employees from a productivity perspective. Finally I could dispel all doubts about

the strength of the plan and my family members decided to invest in the project. This was one of the first technological investments that we made in the history of the company.

The next move for me was to have discussions with the labor unions in our company. This was a difficult task as most of the employees are not educated and I have to explain and provide confidence to them that their jobs will be safe. Also, I went a step further to take the labor union leader to one of the other automated distilleries to show him the benefits. His interaction with other employees at the distillery dispelled all his misconceptions and eventually he threw his weight behind the new plan.

My challenge was more with respect to the management of change than the implementation of technology. Reduction of skill gap among employees was my first step to success. Along with the union leader, I identified the training needs for employees and parallel started on the trainings. The change was noticeable with the increase in know-how among employees.

On a parallel track, I dealt with the vendors, government organizations to ensure that the on-time completion of the IT hardware/software installations. We completed the project within schedule and also managed to only use 80% of the budget. The project challenged me on many aspects: My leadership abilities in playing a role to motivate people, drive change and execute the project to completion by utilizing available resources. Our accomplishment to drive IT implementation, helped my family business improve not only its brand image but also my confidence as a person.

I believe IE can help me further hone my leadership skills, negotiation skills and most importantly help me improve my abilities to drive and manage change across organizations.

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As an Engineering graduate, I was sold upon the idea of Technology being a business enabler for corporations in the 21st century. After graduation, I came across an opportunity to prepare a business roadmap for our Family¶s distillery business. I saw huge opportunities in improving bottom line by the adoption of automation solutions. After deep dive understanding of processes and discussions with my family members, I developed a business plan to implement automated processes aiming at 20% reduction in operational costs and a payback after 2 years. Initially I found it difficult to get the plan approved since the automation was a huge investment. I did a lot of convincing and also showed productivity benefits to operations. Finally, I could dispel all doubts about the strength of the plan and my family members supported my idea/ initiative and decided to invest in the project. This was one of the first technological achievements for modernization that we made in the history of the company. The next move for me was to have discussions with the labor unions in our company. I provided confidence to them that their jobs will be safe. Also, I went a step further to take the labor union leader to one of the other automated distilleries to show him the benefits. It dispelled all his misconceptions and eventually he threw his weight behind the new plan. This was the most important step for my company in terms of modernization. Because of this initiative today, we have one of the most competitive distilleries in our state and our operation costs are one of the lowest. Even in terms of complexity, it was one of the most complexes from a technology perspective.

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In the long run I envisage myself to be the one of the most influential and respected business women in India.

I intend to start a VC firm through the

surpluses generated from my family business. In order to provide employment to the burgeoning Indian population, entrepreneurship is the only way to address this problem. By starting a company, one can cater to the needs of only a few people. But, by starting a venture capital firm, I can encourage hundreds of startups which in turn will cater to a larger subset. As a women entrepreneur, through my focused and systematic approach I have bootstrapped and managed multiple businesses. However, I believe that there are still greater heights to scale. Along with my family I managed to scale our construction company from a fledgling organization into a multi-million dollar enterprise in just five years. At this critical juncture, I believe an MBA will catapult my business know how and thought process towards solving complex business scenarios. I set 2 realistic career goals. Goal one, is to grow the market share of our distillery company in the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) segment within the next 5 years. Skills learnt in marketing courses such as Consumer Behavior, Market Research, Branding and Pricing taught in the Stanford MBA program will help me achieve this goal. Goal Two is to grow our construction company into a full-service design/build contracting company, offering majority of services in-house; then expand the operations to a similar but new geographical market. I believe I need to develop a holistic perspective of businesses, economies to realize these goals. A Stanford MBA, through courses in strategic management, will help me learn the tools necessary to accomplish my goal. Stanford¶s MBA curriculum focusing on sophisticated management tools can help me improve my existing business and also generate new business. The case based learning and experiences of fellow entrepreneurs at Stanford would help me

tide over challenges which people previously stumbled upon. The diverse peer group will enable me to better understand the strategies and the dynamics of various industries and markets. The alumni networks across geographies can provide the necessary guidance to scale up the scope of operations The value that I see from Stanford¶s strong focus on Entrepreneurial Studies is that it provides the network, tools, frameworks, and mindsets to help me succeed along the always challenging entrepreneurial path. Also, Stanford¶s Entrepreneurship portfolio includes courses focused on every element of the entrepreneurial life cycle was one thing that attracted my attention while selecting a business school. I intend to participate in Entrepreneurial club and VC club to focus my entrepreneurial energy in developing business plans. I believe the Stanford MBA will be a game changer and act as an inflexion point in my career.  
 

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Having looked after my family business, I always wanted to start my own venture. To pursue my ambition, I took the franchisee of ³Fly Abroad ³, which is an educational consultancy. This is where I faced the most difficult challenge of my career.

During my engineering days, many friends and classmates of mine wanted to pursue their higher education abroad. They frequented many consulting companies which specialized in sending students to their dream destinations. Looking at the demand, I thought of getting into educational consulting. I saw an ad in the newspaper asking for franchisees for a firm ³Fly Abroad´. I jumped at this opportunity and took up a franchise.

Initially, the company promised me a lot of help with regards to research on colleges, universities, countries, etc. But, after starting the franchise, I didn¶t receive any help from them. After repeated appeals and requests that fell on deaf ears, I met the head of operations to expedite the issue. The response from them was sub standard and I realized that I was a victim of false promises. I had to shut down the franchise and I started a new venture on my own called ³Fly Overseas ³.

Since I had the necessary infrastructure in place, ³Fly overseas ³took off like a duck to water. In a short span of time, I secured representations with various universities. The process involved meeting the university representatives, giving demos, apprising them of the value add and various other promotional campaigns. In order to market the services, I arranged for demos, seminars, presentations in various colleges and educational institutions. Slowly, people started trickling in and were pretty satisfied with the services on offer. I had made a good start. After overlooking the operations for a few months, I noticed that, unlike my family business, this business had seasonal variations. The demand was only at a certain time of the year, generally before the fall admissions. For the rest of the year, the turnover was very poor. Even though the business was profitable at the end of the year, I felt that, I can better synergize my energies in a different area to produce more value. I had to make a challenging decision of relinquishing the firm.

Even though the end result is not what I intended, I had the satisfaction of learning a lot of lessons in the process, which paved the way for my other successful businesses.