• Women Entrepreneur

The Indus Entrepreneur Mumbai chapter’s annual Stree Shakti Conference and Awards, 2011, were held on September 30 and October 1 at the ICICI Bank HO at BKC, Mumbai.
The first day of the conference was flagged off by a very inspiring Zia Mody addressing the audience. In a conversation with Rama Bijapurkar, Mody, Founder and senior partner of AZB & Partners, a globally reputed law firm, traced her journey as a woman lawyer.
The second session saw writer, entrepreneur and youth expert Rashmi Bansal talking to some of the nominee women entrepreneurs. Post-lunch, Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial director of HT Media Limited, shared her ups and downs in building a business in the world of media in a conversation with Vinita Bali, Managing Director and CEO, Britannia Industries.
The next session—Understanding 360 degrees of HR—saw eminent panelists sharing insights on the HR function. Anand Lunia, ED, Seedfund, explained why the team is so important for investors assessing ventures. Entrepreneur Mohit Dubey, who has successfully co-founded and scaled Carwale, spoke about recruitment, attrition and team building. Jer Masani from Florista spoke about the operational aspects of handling a team. The afternoon saw Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO, ICICI Bank, sharing the secrets of her success with the audience.
The TiE Stree Shakti awards felicitate outstanding women across the MSME spectrum each year. This year TiE had 24 nominees from which 12 were awarded a certificate, trophy and cash prize of Rs.1 lakh. PwC was TiE’s process partner for the award definition and selection process. Vijayalaxmi Suvarna of Liberation Coaches and Shravani Hagargi of Safe Hands 24*7 won in the small category; Trina Talukdar of Kranti and Minal Pawar-Mer of Centre for Defence Careers won in the micro category; Komal Talwar of Talwar and Talwar Consultants, Saloni Malhotra of DesiCrew, Saundarya Rajesh of Avtar Career Creators and Jayshree Periwal of Step by Step Group of Schools won in the emerging category; and Priyanka Bapna of M/S Priyanka Bapna, G Sree Vidhya of Ravindra Services, Pratibha Pilgaonkar of Rubicon Research and Sonal Chitroda of All Services Global won in the medium category. All these women entrepreneurs qualified with an annual turnover ranging from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.25 crore and emerged winners in their respective categories.
The morning session on the second day focused on marketing as a core activity of each enterprise. Meenakshi Madhavan of Spatial Access, Pushpita Gaur of Murcia, Smriti Dalvi of Florista shared their views in a panel moderated by Vinita Bali. Amrita Singh, co-founder, TLC Childcare Services, spoke about how they started their first daycare center and their target of starting 12 centers pan India by 2012. Manju Mary George, co-founder, Intellecap, lent a social angle to the discussion while Pratibha Pilgaonkar, Founder and CEO, Rubicon Research, spoke about moulding scientists and forecasting industry trends before they actually happen.
The final session dealt with raising funds. Vineet Dhar from ICICI Bank spoke about the criteria for securing debt. Vineet Rai, founder of investment fund Aavishkaar spoke about getting equity funding for the enterprise. Post-lunch, Rajshree Pathy, Chairman and MD of Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals, shared her perspective on the sugar industry. Dr Preetha Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, spoke about how she always wanted to be a doctor since she was a little girl.
The conference came to a close with Dr Swati Piramal, Vice Chairperson, Piramal Life Sciences, and Director, Piramal Healthcare, talking about swadharma and how each woman should listen to the voice within. TiE Stree Shakti’s theme for 2011 was ‘Dreaming Big and Making it Happen’ and the conference gave women entrepreneurs a chance to share their concerns and dreams with like-minded delegates and successful women.

Tags:
Anand Lunia, Chanda Kochhar, Indus Entrepreneur, Shobhana Bhartia, Shravani Hagargi, Stree Shakti Conference and Awards, Zia Mody