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Road ahead not so rosy for women edu-preneurs - Ms. Maya Shahani, Chairperson of The Shahani Group
I have never thought of myself as a woman entrepreneur. I am just following my passion and enjoying every moment of my work. If you are ethical, sincere and committed, have the right skill sets, opportunities and network, success is bound to follow. I have not chased success in monetary terms, but have always believed that the good you send out will come back to you manifold, and it has.
I was born in the year World War 2 ended and the United Nations came into existence. My parents told me that I was responsible for world peace, and this charted my life course at the moment of birth. Ever since I remember, I have been working for a higher cause, and Education according to me was the best way I could give back to society.
Through marriage, destiny brought me into a family of philanthropists and educationists who also believed in promoting quality education. Our Thadomal Shahani Trust has helped to open many schools and colleges in India, including the Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, run by the HSNC Board, and the Thadomal Shahani Centre for Management run by the Shahani Group.
The icing on the cake was when my son Akhil Shahani returned as an MBA from the Kellogs Graduate School of Management and after delving in startups which did not hold his attention, decided to follow his passion and build his career as an Edupruneur. This was my dream for him too, and we decided that the Shahani Group would focus on providing education to the rich and poor alike based on skills development and employability. There has been no looking back since then for both of us.
As a women entrepreneur, what are the specific challenges you are facing? How are you coping up with it?
In a patriarchal society like ours, remaining true to myself and finding my own voice were the keys to my success. A woman is not taken seriously and to overcome this she has to stop the negative self- talk and focus on building her self- confidence. I put in years of hard work to create my own reputation and today my confidence assures success, even when I am up against a boardroom full of men.
I am lucky to have a strong support network. As they say, it is not what you know, it is who you know that is important. At our Shahani Group and HSNC Board, The Deans, Principals, Faculty, Staff and students are like extended family and I share a great rapport with the Trustees of all the Boards I am part of. People ask me how I can wear so many hats and yet be so calm. My secret is collaboration and delegation.
Hiring the right people, time management, managing cash flow or funding growth and developing sales forecasts and hitting those targets are the key challenges. For a woman entrepreneur, there is always the real fear of failure, but I never allowed my insecurities to keep me from achieving my targets.
How do you maintain work-life balance?
It has never been easy for women to juggle a career and a family life, but resilience is one of the greatest strengths of a woman. To achieve my goals on both the fronts, I prioritise, delegate, compartmentalise, find some me time, take care of my health and stop trying so hard!
While I am skilled at multitasking, it is not possible to do everything singlehandedly, so on the home front I encourage my family to do simple chores, try to turn them into ‘mini managers’ and don’t feel guilty about it as this helps them in the long run.
In the current work from home environment, the lines get blurred, but it is a good idea to compartmentalise. I try to separate my work from home activities and focus fully on the work at hand be it on the career or home front. These are two separate aspects of your life that you have to tackle.
I learnt the importance of saying “No” and focused on attending only important events. For your own sanity, it is best to stop trying so hard as things do take care of themselves if you allow yourself to relax.
Could you please take us through the journey of Chairperson Emeritus of the Women’s Movement for Peace and Prosperity?
The Women’s Movement for Peace and Prosperity was started soon after 9/11 by Indu Jain and Ram Maheshwary, Chairperson and Senior Director of the Times Group respectively. Working on the premise that women could start a new world order of peace and non violence through their compassion, we focused on giving a voice to the voiceless women. I was the Founder Trustee and first Chairperson of the Movement and over the years we created Mothers’ Centres where the under resourced women were given health checkups and skills training, communication and confidence building skills etc. We had many sessions on Gems of all Faiths in order to bring communities together and create an environment of love and mutual support.
I am currently a Patron of Women’s Movement, which is also working on cleaning up Brijdham and Vrindavan as one of its projects.
Read Full Article: https://educationtoday.org.in/road-ahead-not-so-rosy-for-women-edu-preneurs/
