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A story of Rags to Riches - The original 'Slumdog Millionaire'

 

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Vandana Luthra. Indra Nooyi. Aditi Gupta. Shehnaaz Hussain. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.

Bingo! You got that right. Few of the most inspiring Women Entrepreneurs of India. Known for both their gut and wit, these wonderful ladies have their own stories to tell. That brings us to #WiseWednesdays of today where we get to know one of such women entrepreneurs who made her way right from scratch.

Born in 1961 in Vidarbha, Maharashtra into a Dalit family as the eldest of three daughters and two sons, she never imagined where life would take her.

She was married at the age of 12 and lived with her in-laws and husband who didn't leave any stone unturned to turn her into a mere walking corpse within 6 months of her marriage owed to the abuse she went through for not being the perfect homemaker.

Thankfully, her father was moved by her condition and decided to take her back home breaking all ties with her husband and in-laws.

Determined to not be a burden on her folks, she applied at a local women constable recruiting camp, nursing school and even the military. But either it was her age or lack of education that she was not accepted anywhere.

It was when her father suggested her to go back to school and continue her studies, that she came to face the harsh realities of the world in the form of people ridiculing her for bringing dishonour not just to her family but their whole community.

She then thought might be living is the only hard thing to do and she should die just as people around suggested. She attempted to commit suicide at the age of 16 in order to escape any further humiliation. When she opened her eyes, she realised life had given her a second chance and she had to make full use of it.

Owing to the increasing hardships of her family with her father losing his job as a Constable because of bureaucracy and her sister's failing health, she took up a job in Mumbai and became the sole earning member of her family.

She took up a business loan and started a small venture into furniture making which went on well for a while but the fact that 'MONEY IS A SCARCITY' hit her hard during this period.

She once bought a land that was caught in legal tussles, fought all battles in the court for 2 years and finally cleared it from all the issues. The price of the land shot up to 200% from what she had purchased it for at the end of the litigation paving way to her foot into Real Estate and Construction.

Kamani Tubes - a Metal generating company which was established in 1960 had to be closed in 1987 due to a conflict between the Management and workers. She was approached by the worker's Union in the year 2000. Initially she was reluctant but the plight of 3500 workers and their families moved her and she agreed to help them. Within no time the company became profitable again.

She was not only awarded the 9th Rajiv Gandhi Award for Women Entrepreneurs in India in the year 2006 but also was honoured with a Padma Shri in the field of Trade and Industries in the year 2013.

She currently holds assets worth $112 millionas the CEO of Kamani Tubes, is referred to as the original 'Slumdog Millionaire' at times and is proudly known as the First Woman Entrepreneur of India.

                                                                                                                            KALPANA SAROJ


I am sure you must have heard about her. Her life is a true #inspiration to all those who want to venture out into #entrepreneurship. A big shout out to all the entrepreneurs and solopreneurs out here. You can make it happen if you think you can.








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