Month: October 2015

WIZARD OF YARNS

Ritu Kumar, the veteran Indian fashion designer, is one of the first to make traditional wears a trendy affair. She is famed for her fusion of vintage weaves with the contemporary designs. The first lady of fashion plays around with leather, silk and cotton effortlessly to create a masterpiece. She has reinvented Indian pathanis, kurtis and saris and has taken the Indian craftsmanship to an international level.

Having been in the fashion industry for nearly four decades, Kumar has carved out a niche for herself with the unique use of colours, fabrics, motifs, embroideries and rich Indian aesthetic. She has been hailed for her initiatives in reviving traditional Indian weaves such as Zardosi and Chickenkari that were once patronized by the Mughals and Nawabs but were fading into the oblivion.

Kumar, who began her career with just four hand block printers and two tables in a small village near Calcutta, has had a dramatic rise. She has received Padma Shri for her contributions in the field of fashion, textile and craftsmanship.
Thank heavens that Kumar, who is an institution in herself, happened to India!

MAKER OF PRESTIGE

With a view to streamline all branding and communication-related initiatives, Uzma Irfan took over the role of Director, Corporate Communications at the Prestige Group in 2007. Since then, the Prestige Group has grown by leaps and bounds, and she is majorly credited for spiraling the public image of the brand during the rapid expansion and diversification phase.

Currently responsible for Marketing Communication, Corporate Communication, Branding and all image-related initiatives for the Prestige Group, Uzma has also established a media-buying house “Sublime” to help manage the diverse and voluminous advertising needs of the Prestige Group.

Soon after Sublime, she founded “Sublime Galleria”, which is said to be India’s first sky gallery in UB City in 2010. The Galleria is an initiative to support and promote both performing and fine arts. It regularly organizes exclusive art pageants featuring the work of both young and upcoming artists as well as renowned masters of art.
One of the most enterprising women in the real estate industry in Southern India, Uzma is a lady of strict deadlines and perfection!

FIRST LADY OF INDIAN IT

Mother, wife and MD, Neelam Dhawan plays all the roles with the same enthusiasm. The MD of Hewlett-Packard India is a woman of grit and determination, and it is sheer passion that has made her reach the pinnacle of success. As the MD of Hewlett-Packard India, she is responsible for revenues and profitability, and ensuring the greatest leverage from HP’s Services, Personal Systems, and Imaging and Printing businesses.

Neelam holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi and a Masters in Business Administration from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.
She was also among the first women to head a technology firm in the country, when she was appointed India head of the world’s largest software company, Microsoft in 2005.

Neelam effectively took over the India operations of the computer-maker Hewlett Packard in 2008, and has scripted several success stories since then. She has also piloted the firm through rough times to take on rivals like Lenovo and Dell, and through the unstable market conditions in the first half of 2012 where a free fall of the rupee and scams deterred the economy, and decelerated private investment. She has worked on shaping the company’s overall business agenda, and leading its strategy and corporate development efforts to make HP the most admired company in India.
Even as Neelam focuses on her career, family remains her priority. She spends quality time with her husband and kids.

MISTRESS OF MACHINE

Mallika Srinivasan is one of the few who is working to make farming a less tedious task for the Indian farmers through her designs and innovations. She is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TAFE – Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited. Tractor manufacturing is considered a tough business; however, she has made a name for herself in the competitive business and is regarded as one of the most successful CEOs in India.

TAFE is the third-largest tractor manufacturer in the world, and the second-largest in India, by volume, with a presence in over 82 countries.
She is relentlessly working towards introducing a technology that is conducive to small farms. She has also changed the face of the company by rolling out new cost-effective products. Srinivasan also stresses upon the technology being relevant to the farmers.
A perfectionist by nature, Srinivasan always interacts with the farmers to take their opinion as she feels their feedback would give a clearer picture. She also promotes the cause of development of education and healthcare in India. A Padma Shri awardee, she believes in commitment and excellence.

INSPIRING AND ASPIRING

As the Head and Director of Online Operations, Facebook India, Kirthiga Reddy has built a reputation as a driving force behind Facebook India’s market operations segment. Being the first employee of Facebook in India in 2010, not only did she make a fresh start of the Facebook operations in India, (literally opening the office shutters on the first day), but also grew the user base in the Indian sub-continent. She and her team cultivated relationships with people and reached out to new customers with a view to getting business from both big and small brands.

Her position at Facebook India is a rarity for women in the country’s Science and Technology sector, as it is an industry that remains male-dominated. She was serving the US-based Phoenix Technologies before Facebook decided to start its operations in India in the year 2010. Facebook has seen a growth from 8 million users back in 2010 to 25 million users as of now, under her leadership.
Immensely excited about her current job – which she describes as a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity job – she dreams about creating a next generation of women leaders in India, wants to work on children’s causes of education and safety, and eventually wants to make a national-level impact.

FULL OF COURAGE

One of the most powerful women in the biotechnology segment, Kiran Mazumdar chose biotechnology as a career option, something unheard of at that time in India, without the necessary infrastructure. Her first employee was a person who was a garage mechanic earlier; her model of business was untested; she didn’t have financial backup; but she moved on and started Biocon India in the garage of a rented house in 1978 with an initial investment of Rs. 10,000. Today, Biocon is a multi-million dollar brand! Biocon India released its IPO in 2004, which was over-subscribed 33 times, instantly making Kiran India’s richest woman.

With her husband, John Shaw being detected with renal cell carcinoma in 2007, she learnt how to help a family member cope with cancer. Understanding the expense of the disease and trying to make it more affordable for people across the nation, she joined hands with Devi Shetty of Narayana Hrudayalaya with a view to set up a hospital in Bangalore. She believes that once you have cancer, the fear never goes away but keeping up one’s spirit is crucial.

She has been felicitated with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. She believes in “affordable innovations”, which is also the driving philosophy of Biocon India

THE WATER ORACLE

Despite being trained in fashion styling, make-up and photography, Jayanti Chauhan, the only child of Bisleri owner Ramesh Chauhan, decided to follow her father’s footsteps. When she took over as the director of the brand, she faced a humungous task of proving herself to the world as the rightful heir of 1,000 crore iconic bottled water brand. She did not disappoint! She took calculative steps that would not only add to the face value of the brand but also preserve its stature. She started with infusing much-needed energy into the team, ensuring that the brand does not lose out to other players in the market, and also perking up the face value of premium water brands of the company like Vedika and Bisleri.

Bisleri was the first bottled water brand to venture in India, and such is the popularity of the brand that it has become a standard name for the bottled mineral water across the country. An Italian company bought by Parle in 1969, it offers mineral and mountain water in various packs for household and office premises. Jayanti believes in providing an affordable and purified drinking water to people, and also supports eco-friendly initiatives, that helps purify the natural sources of drinking water.

Having learned the finer nuances of the business from her father, Jayanti has scripted a success story that is worth admiration.

GRACEFUL SUPERSTAR

When the gracious and elegant Peng Liyuan tied a knot with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 1987, she almost immediately became a focal point for being the stylish first lady of China. She is a superstar folk singer, and is often joked about as being more famous than her husband.

She is often being mentioned as China’s centre of soft power for her graceful etiquettes. Having carried herself in panache at various charitable events, her preference for domestic designer brands is a source of encouragement for China’s apparel industry. After graduating, she was head-hunted by one of the most prestigious arts companies of all, the General Political Department of the PLA, which proved to be a stepping stone in her becoming China’s top party line singer. There also came a time when she was singing in as many as 350 shows a year.

Peng Liyuan goes with Xi Jinping on all the economic trips abroad. She also serves as a goodwill ambassador for the World Health Organization, spreading awareness on tuberculosis and HIV/Aids. She also chairs the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control.

THE MAKEOVER QUEEN

Flamboyant and a fashionista, Nisha Jagtiani is busy changing the fashion scene in Dubai. She is the Business Head of Landmark Group’s fashion and lifestyle brand, ICONIC. Landmark Group is a multinational conglomerate based in Dubai that focuses on the MENA region. It also has a large presence in India. Headquartered in Dubai, ICONIC is Middle East’s major fashion retailer.

The lady has her priorities right, and is working hard to strengthen her brand’s position and reach. She is always thorough with her research, and keeps a close track of customers’ changing preferences. Before joining ICONIC, Nisha studied in London and worked there for a while. But fashion, which had been close to her heart, pulled her into retailing business.

Nisha started her career with the Group by assisting in the establishment of Landmark International. She then moved to support Raza Beig on Splash, and they jointly launched ICONIC in 2009, the region’s trendy fashion destination. Nisha is also strategically involved in corporate functions of the Landmark Group.
She is ambitious and witty, and follows her intuition to success!

THE IRON WOMAN

Politics in Bangladesh is not easy with intermittent military coups and rules since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. Being a woman in such a scenario doesn’t make things easier. Sheikh Hasina Wazed took up the position of Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the third term in 2014, and has more than four decades’ experience in the field of politics. She is the eldest child of the founding father and the first President of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Hasina was born during the violence of partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, and grew up amidst fear owing to her father’s political association. The year 1975 proved to be an unfortunate year for Sheikh Hasina Wazed, as she lost her family (father, mother and three brothers) in an assassination by several military officers at their residence; she and her younger sister survived as they were in West Germany at the time of the attack.

Even after losing her dear ones, this brave soul did not run away from her responsibilities towards the people of Bangladesh. She lived in self-exile in India till 1981, and returned to Bangladesh after the assassination of the then President of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman; she was immediately house arrested. However, she resiliently faced the political hostility in her country and eventually emerged a winner.