FLO Acheivers Award & Change of Guard Ceremony

Dear All,

The entire year passed by so fast, so soon!  Time is so relative .   There  were  obstacles , there  were  doubters , there were  confusers , but  there were  angels  too  who  declared , that  with  hard  work &  persistence , there  are  no  limits .

We sincerely  thanked Neerjaji  for taking  out  time  from her busy  schedule  to  be with us  today . we are  also honored to  have  Nimrat & Shayamal  amongst  us . Their presence was our  privilege.

Our work ,  this year revolved around our Motto “Unlimited You “ , made us dabble  in to  scores of events  dealing with Success , Leadership & Peer Pressure , Negociations, Brand Building , Investments , Emotional Intelligence & so on .

Introduction of UID Cards , Inaugural B2B meet ups  & B2C exhibition , Skilling of  506 under privileged  women  , 40  of  them  were  empowered  to  start  their own  business  , are some more highlights of this tenure  . We also successfully  conducted  Re-validation of  all Institutional Memberships  as per decisions taken by our Past Chairpersons Council.

We are sure , our sincere intent , to keep our member’s aspirations at the core of our programmes& events has  achieved it’s purpose .

One  of  the  objectives  of  FICCI FLO is  also  to  recognize  Women  achievers from  various  walks  of  life  .   From Jhansi Ki Rani to  P V  Sindhu, Indian women have always  inspired  millions   They are the shining beacons of hope and have displayed exemplary dedication in their respective fields. Here are 9 Indian women  who have stood out  with sheer  grit  &  determination  & inspired  us to be passionate, consistent and hardworking. These women bring us the hope that every woman has the potential to achieve whatever she wants to .

We awarded Hemalta Singh, Kirthi Jayakumar, Manju Yadav, Narmada Devi, Navika Kumar, Patricia Thomas, Poonam Soni, Priyanka Kumawat & Usha Kiran.

1. Hemlata  Singh – Auto Ricksaw Driver

Hemlataji has been driving an Auto Rickshaw since the past 5 years. She has a diploma in music and is an excellent dancer. However, due to the color of her skin, she realized that she would never get the opportunity to dance in the front row.  She was a target of domestic violence in her marriage, and so she filed for divorce and started looking for a job in order to support herself and her son. After getting a commercial license, she started driving an Auto Rickshaw. This was not an easy task. She was beaten up by fellow drivers, also damaging her Auto. She is a fighter, who has fought against all odds, to earn her living proudly.

2. Kirti Jayakumar – Social Activist

Kirthi is an activist, artist, entrepreneur and writer from Chennai, India. She founded and runs the Red Elephant Foundation, a civilian peacebuilding initiative that works for gender equality, as well as fynePRINT, a feminist e-publishing imprint. She has coded an app for survivors of gender-based violence called Saahas. Kirthi was invited to Michelle Obama’s United State of Women Summit in US and to attend President Obama’s Town Hall at New Delhi.  She is the recipient of the US Presidential Services Medal for her services as a volunteer to Delta Women NGO. She is the two-time recipient of the UN Online Volunteer of the Year Award.

3. Manju Yadav ji –Porter

Hailing from Sundarpura village, in Jaipur, Rajasthan, Manju ji, and her three children fell on hard times, after the death of her husband, who was a porter and the family’s primary bread winner. However, Manju stepped up and decided to become a porter as well. While this decision came as a shock to her family members and others, she soldiered on. Five years later, her earnings fluctuate, but her determination is constant, and she has become a role model for women fighting patriarchy and poverty.

4. Narmada Devi Ji – Points woman- Railways

Narmada Devi has been a points woman with the Indian Railways for the last 14 years. She discharges many important duties like repairs of the tracks, flag signaling of trains, taking empty rakes away from the station and sending them for repairs. Even with a work shift of 8 hours, there is no fixed time for meals or tea breaks. They work 365 days a year with no national holidays, to keep the trains running.

5. Ms Navika Kumar – Media

Navika is widely regarded as the best investigative reporter in contemporary India. She is currently working with Times Now, an English news channel. She was previously working with the Indian Express in print media. When Bennett, Coleman and Company decided to launch a news channel in association with Reuters, they were looking to find someone with wide contacts in the Indian political and business circles. They could not find a better option than Navika. She was approached and finally persuaded to accept the offer. Navika is well known for exposing many political and economic scams.
Navika could not be here to accept her award, her colleague did

6. Ms Patricia Thomas – Entrepreneur

Ms Patricia Thomas was married at the age of 17.  Soon, her life took a downturn when she suffered abuse at the hands of her drug addict husband. At the age of 18, she was left to fend for herself and her two children.Her passion for cooking fuelled her will to survive. She started making Jams and pickles at home, which her mother sold to her colleagues. She then set up a kiosk at the Marina beach, selling juice and cutlets.  With a journey spanning over 30 years, she took up catering contracts for cafeterias.

When tragedy struck in the form of her daughter’s death, she quit for 2 years, only to return to stand by her son. She set up her first restaurant named after her daughter Sandeepha. Today, the Sandeepha chain of eateries runs very successfully across Chennai. She also runs an ambulance stationed at Chengelpet, where her daughter died.

7. Ms Poonam Soni – Jewellery

Poonam  Soni is the pioneer of bespoke jewelry in India since 1989. In a journey of 26 years, she has made many unique collections like the Greek and Egyptian based “The Sistine Chapel”. Her “falcon brooch” was auctioned by the Sothebys for Prince Albert’s charity. These collections created history when they featured in the collectors books along with the Jar and Van Cleef and Arpels. She was also recently featured in the limited edition Coffee table book by Rolls Royce. She is now making waves in New York where Michael Kors has endorsed her. In Michael’s words, “Soni brings an artists’ eye for colour/, detail/, and imagination to her magnificent one-of-a-kind pieces.”’

Ms Soni could not be here to accept her award. Her son in law, Mr Suhail Bhatia will be receiving the award on her behalf.

8. Ms Priyanka Kumawat – Badminton Junior Champion, North Zone

Priyanka Kumawat is a renowned badminton player of Rajasthan. She has remained a champion among women badminton players from 2008 – 2017 in the Under-19 category.  In National Junior Badminton Championship, she won the silver in Girls Under 19 Singles and bronze in Doubles Category, the first from the state to win these medals. In 2015, Priyanka made Rajasthan proud by winning Gold in Junior and Senior North Zone Championships. She has set a national record by winning consecutive golds in Sub-Junior, Junior and Senior in State and North Zone Championships.

9. Ms Usha Kiran – Assistant Commandant, CRPF

Usha kiran is the 27 year old Central Reserve Police Force officer of Baster who has earned the title of ‘Lady Singham’. She is setting up a new image in the Maoist hotbed Bastar- from battling Maoists to protecting villagers from every kind of assault. With keen interest in sports, especially athletics, Usha Kiran became a national athlete of India, representing Delhi in the Triple Jump event many times. However, since the previous generations of her family have all served the CRPF, she decided to continue this tradition and made it to the 80th Male Battalion in Chattishgarh range, a great achieveme…

Synopsis of the event : Guest Speakers Shayamal Vallabhjee, Nimrat Kaur & Neerja Birla.

Shayamal Vallabhijee : Champions & Defining Moments

He said the first and foremost quality of a champion is humility . Only a humble person can listen to someone and improve and become the best. Focus is defined by what you are looking at and perspective is from where /how you are looking at .There aren’t enough women in every field of sports which is a pity . More women should come forward in it. In sports the penalty for failures is too high.

He told a butterfly story since stories resonate best with us. Once a man walked in a garden and saw a butterfly struggling to come out of the cocoon … he was sad to see it like that. He went and came back again after 3 -4 hours and again saw the struggling butterfly … this repeated 2/3 times more and in the end he helped it come out of it .

he said once you find out the frequency you want to radiate ; tune in everyone who you want to radiate to.

This story teaches that a good leader identifies struggles through the journey. How to choose a right master –

1. Competence – the skill to teach the person;
2. Comfort in the relationship
3. Confidence in you
4. Character.

I am trying to force sports and spiritualism to come together.

If u can’t control what you can see then how can u control what u can’t see – this was in the context of mind and how it works.

The one thing that’s common in winners is that they are true to themselves .

Neerja Birla –On Millennium Women

it is extremely inspiring to be here today. The number of lives you have touched is commendable “. Who is the millennium woman and what does she stand for ?
For times immemorial , the females have always been made to feel under confident , that they just belong to kitchen. And even they have been silently bearing as they think that they are destined to do so . They still have to deal with unequal pay ; exploitation ; harassment . But minds are changing now … some places rapidly .
They are becoming what they wanted to be ; go getters ; chasing their dreams ; confident in their own skins ; believer; equalists .

Nimrat Kaur: We are all Achivers 

She began by saying that she is addressing a forum for the first time . She talked about achievers in her life whom she has grown with. .
Nimrat lost her father as a very early age . But she was always encouraged by her father to reach the best . She once dared to dream of the only seat that was left in a school in patiala and she could take it .
Then she talked about her grandmother who was married at the age of 14 and lived upto the age of 78 .. had a wicked sense of humor . Was a remarkable lady and lived her best .
She had sheer zest for life . She always wanted to look the best . She was a super achiever for me . She used to ask which make up brand Nimrat used and to cross check she used to even check her bags .
Then her mother was another big achiever for her who took so much care of her 2 daughters and sent one of her daughters to the big bad world of Bollywood..
Another example of an achiever was her daily help who used to work for her since past 10 years who had lost her daughter. How she came out of her black hole and started working again .

Final Address

“Neerjaiji ,  Nimrat  & Shyamal,  your  words  are  million  inspirations   &  will  be  frequently  remembered  by  all of  us here  . Thank you so  much .
I would like  to  thank  Our  Founder  Chair person&  Past  president  FLO, Ms. Neeta Boochra, for all her  support &  guidance . I would  also  like  to  thank  all our  past  chair  persons, special  mention  to Indiraji & Alka for  being there always. How  can  my  thank you  be  complete  without  the  mention  of  my  executive  &  working  committee. This  year  would  not  have  been  possible  without   you  burning  midnight  oil  with  me.
It’s been an honour to be a part of this fabulous FLO family . Our work revolved around out motto * UNLIMITED YOU* made us dabble into scores of events dealing with all aspects of our life & persona .
The subject topics were as varied as follows:

•How to Live before you die – Lisa Ray

•Insights on success – Kabir Bedi & Radhika Apte.

•Fusion of Flavors – Chef Vicky Ratnani.

•Dream ,Dare, Do , Building the Brand you- Anand Pillai & Tanvi Bhatt.

•Eat-Delete – Pooja Makhija & Gul Panag.

•Leadership & Peer Pressures- Ashish Vidyarthi.

•Tales in Black & white , Love , Possession & Power – Devdutt Pattanaik & Anil Srinivasan.

•Battles of the Mind – Anna Chandy.

•Life Stories ,True tales & Screening of movie Kajal – Dr. Jyothi Reddy & Sonaly Luthra.

•Negotiation Skills – Prof. Shankar Venkatgiri, IIMB.

•Beaut-i-intelligent- Monica Dogra.

•Rock, Raft & Rest- Retreat to Rishikesh.

•Investment Mantras – Bhishnu Dhanuka.

•Fellowship & Nagada Jamming- Anu Menon & Nathuram Solanki.

•Murphy Rocks – Pratish Nair.

•Dance of Love : Crescendos of Rumi & Shiva – Zia Nath & Sanathan Chakraverty.

•You ,The game changer – Abhay Maryada Banerjee.

• B2B & B2C Exhibition- The Business of Fashion- Vikram Phadnis, Strategy Management- Prof Ganesh Prabhu- IIMB , Expensive Fashion or Personal Style- Mandira Wirk , Jewellery & Self Expression – Eina Ahluwalia , Social Media Marketing – Prof. Seema Gupta – IIMB, Leadership Agility & Intra-preneurship- Anand Pillai.

•Emotional Intelligence- Prof Neharika Vohra , IIMA.

• Being spontaneous & Original- Shekhar Kapur.

•Re-invent Yourself – DR. Rajdeep Manwani.

•The Leading Edge & Don’t think , Just do – Rahul Kapoor & Varun Agarwal.

•Millennium women- Neerja Birla.

•Champions & Defining moments- Shayamal Vallabhjee.

•We all are winners – Nimrat Kaur.

I am sure , our sincere intent to keep your aspirations at the core of our programmes & events has achieved it’s purpose !
Our heartfelt & sincere thanks to each & everyone of you for your active participation & enthusiasm throughout this tenure from 27th April 2017- 27th April 2018. Members  maketh FLO . FLO  members  need  special  mention for  their  continuous  encouragement &  participation . A huge round of applause for our members .

My  heartfelt  thanks  to  My  family &  my husband  Atul  for  being  there for  me , watching my  back  &  for  all  the midnight  filter  coffees  . And lastly , would  like to thank our friends from  the electronic & print media for your tremendous support “.

This year we skilled 506 women for Tailoring, Beauty & Computer Education. Many of them had started earning their living . We also empowered 40 Underprivileged women out of the 506 women Skilled for Tailoring & Beauty to start their own business on 26 th April 2018 by distributing sewing machines & beauty kits .

The Change of Guard Ceremony was schedule after this . Passed the baton to Ms. Nitasha Chordia. After which she gave her aceptance speech & vote of thanks.
Look forward for a super, enriching, rocking year ahead with Chairperson Nitasha Chordia 2018-19 & Team FLO .

As Mother Teresa said & I quote
“ I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples “ unquote .

Warmest regards,

Minal Jain ,
Chairperson 2017- 18,
FLO Jaipur Chapter.
+91 98292 10234