“Journey of an Entrepreneur”

FLO Northeast organised the 1st programme “Journey of an Entrepreneur”, on May 3, 2014 at Guwahati Gymkhana Club, under the leadership of Smita Agrawal, as the Chairperson.

Mrs Rashmi Khosla, Entrepreneur and President, PRERANA, IASOWA was the speaker in the exclusive interactive session, which was organised on the side-lines of the General Body Meeting of the NE Chapter.

After the welcome address by Smita Agarwal, Chairperson FLO and introduction by FLO member,Ms Hussina Salam, Ms Khosla elucidated on the journey of a successful entrepreneur, which is a result of immense patience, perseverance and nerves of steel.

Articulate and conversant, Ms Khosla gave anecdotes from her own experiences of supplying high quality Homestyle Furnishing Products to American, European and Japanese markets, starting with Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales among many other high end Brand names.

She highlighted on the various challenges faced by women entrepreneurs such as scepticism from financial institutes for offering loans, bankers who are sceptical of her ability to pay back the loans, incredulity from vendors of her capability to deliver goods on time, cynicism from her work force.

To overcome these, it is important to have a good marketing strategy, effective communication skills with both clients and suppliers, become market sensitive and savvy, as well as an understanding of numbers. She stressed on how important it is to have a positive and cohesive team around you to take the business forward.

She further added that the achievements come as a sense of being master of yourself, meeting interesting and varied people, travelling all over the world, confidence and empowerment that comes with being financially independent, and you do manage to make a little money much later on, after the struggle and hard work.

“If you want to learn real business, you have to do real business” was her message.

She briefed members on PRERANA, the organisation of IAS officers wives, which helps people who are really in need .Secretary of Prerana, Faryal Hussain, spoke about how she started a school in Dibrugarh, and is now running a very successful resort in Pobitora, a sanctuary for rhinos.

FLO and PRERANA look forward to formulate a mutually beneficial association to work together, against domestic child abuse, spread awareness of self-defence tactics and sanitation, and provide toilet facilities in public spaces for women.

Jayashree Varma, Senior Vice Chairperson, FLO NE, gave the Vote of Thanks followed by High Tea, arranged by GeetashreeBarua.