Women entrepreneurs are key to any growing economy. They are most innovative and take risks when it comes to various fields, including health, wellness, engineering and fashion, opined a group of women entrepreneurs, writers and artists at the Road To Global Entrepreneurship Summit-Engendering Dialogue 2.0, organised at Trident here on Tuesday.
Amanda Parks, the sustainable chic fashion designer who inaugurated the meeting, said global tie-ups between designers and manufacturers were important for the growth of the field. Responding to questions from women who are into Indian textile business, she said sustainable local and global networks would have to be made in the fashion industry.
Speaking at the meeting, columnist and author Shobhaa De said every woman has an entrepreneur in her and most women were fiercely independent. “We need more women coming into entrepreneurship,” she added.
Some of the entrepreneurs that the forum featured include Aalima Sheikh Nowhera, founder of Heera Group of Textlies, Gold and Utilities; Natasha Poonawalla, director of Serum Institute of India; Megha Mittal, director of German fashion luxury band Escada; and Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a transgender entrepreneur. Ms. Nowhera, who hails from Tirupati, said she started her company with the staff strength of 20, including herself. “Now we have 50 units with several outlets in countries including Dubai, Bahrin and Qatar. There are 5,000 employees working in my companies and 80% of them are women,” she told The Hindu .
At a panel discussion on health and wellness, Ms. Mittal of Escada said she creates fashion for regular women. “Wellness is not about being skinny. I often find the models who come to us too skinny and young. In fact, I ask for women who look like regular women, who are of regular sizes,” she said.
Among those who redefined entrepreneurship was transgender woman entrepreneur Laxmi Narayan Tripathi. Speaking at the meet, Mx. Laxmi asked the entrepreneurs to help restore humanity by contributing to human rights causes along with building their financial empire.
