I lost my father 42 years ago. I was just 12 then and the youngest among my siblings. My mother called all of us the next morning and said that from now on I am going to be your mother and father both.
At that moment, I could sense that our family was in some sort of trouble. For the next 35 years, my mother stuck to her word and took on the role of both a father and mother. She is not very educated and studied only up to Class 9. Yet, she raised us to be successful. She ran a school, a bakery, a tailoring unit, and worked other jobs to make sure we led a good life. She did not wallow in her grief and enjoyed life to the fullest. And that is what inspires me a lot. She believed in herself and made us what we are today. Most women are courageous, bold, and dedicated and sometimes men don’t have these qualities.
I came into entrepreneurship because of my father who himself was one. My wife Veena and I got into the business without any money just self-belief and a mutual desire of achieving something because we have learned through the process with shared involvement. I will always be the co-founder of my firm, my wife Veena is the founder and yes the firm will always belong to her only.
‘Failures Make You Strong’
We have 700 plus salon outlets, 450 plus financially independent women entrepreneurs, and thousands of jobs through that. We are working to explore Naturals as a national wonder and then more at the international level. It took us 20 years to be here. So yes, success is not something we can just grab in a single night. I have faced so many failures in my life. But failures make you strong and if you aren’t monitoring the process then only failure will arrive. Opportunities are everywhere but for me, the thing that is disturbing is an idea to convert it into an opportunity.
Our country lacked in women partnerships more. There is only 1 female prime minister till now, only 1 female president. Where women’s participation needs to be 50 per cent it’s just one-third of it. I have seen so many west countries example Newzealand, Germany America all these are aspirational countries for us. The women are participating in decision making, entrepreneurship, politics, etc and we should learn it from the developed countries and should start applying in our country too.
Sometimes I have been asked if I am an atheist or not. For me, this term is like if I have faith in achieving something I will just worship it.
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