Are you an entrepreneur, a self employed woman who has tasted the joy of being on your own? Have you often thought “if only I could grow my business more …” or “how do others address the kind of challenges I face … raising funds, getting people, managing multiple locations, expanding business.. ”, then this program is for YOU.
Come join us for a two part workshop that helps you introspect firstly on “Are You ready to Scale”, i…dentifying your key motivation for “Dreaming Big” and then prepares you to address the challenges of scaling up through interactive and insightful sessions. You will also get the opportunity to meet and interact with other successful entrepreneurs who have walked the path before.
The Workshop is designed in two sessions of two half days, a month apart, and with some project work in between. The Workshop will be lead by two eminent TSS members who bring extensive experience in their fields.
Module 1: Are You ready to Scale? (29th July, 3-6pm)
-Why Should I Scale
Understanding Your Motivations
Identifying the Key Challenges
-When is the Appropriate time to Scale
The Lifecycle of a business
Analysing the scalability potential and entrepreneurial readiness
-What Does it take to Scale
Scalable Business Model
Identifying and securing required funds
Team Building
Establishing Systems and Processes
Managing the Dilemma of Work Life balance
- Project Work
Developing a Scalable Business Plan
Fees for Module 1:
Members – Rs.350
Non- (TiE)Members – Rs.700
Students – Rs.250
Speaker profiles:
Paula Mariwala, Executive Director at SeedFund
As Executive Director with Seedfund, one of India’s only early etage funds focused on the start-up space, she has seen over two thousand business plans in the last three years and has engaged with many young entrepreneurs across industries. Seedfund’s philosophy of investing little money and a lot of time, has resulted in a portfolio of 12 start up companies, most whom have scaled successfully to be leaders in their respective fields. Besides managing the portfolio companies, she continues to be very active in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and is involved in various capacities with academic institutions, incubators and other relevant events and forums.
- MS (Applied Physics) from Stanford University, USA . Several papers and patents in the field of Laser Physics and Optical Communication.
- A technocrat by profession, with experience of over 20 years of experience with leading high technology companies in USA and India.
- Director with Hinditron Group, one of India’s oldest IT / Technology companies where she started and ran the Fiber Optics, Telecommunication and Broadband business
- TiE Charter Member, member of Computer Society of India, IEEE, Indian Merchant’s Chamber.
Smriti Dalvi, MD & CEO – Florista India Pvt Ltd
-Smriti is the Managing Director and CEO of Florista India Pvt. Ltd., that runs a chain of fresh flower retail stores, under the brand name – FLORISTA.
Florista today has presence in 4 cities and has plans for a national roll-out by December 2010.
-Smriti, an electrical engineer by qualification, has spent over 14 years in the IT industry before starting out on her own.
-She last worked for a German Software Company SOBIS (an IBM partner) as Joint. C.O.O., where her role was of Business Analysis and Development in European markets and overall operations of the company’s Mumbai division.
-She was awarded the ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the year 2008’ organized by Indian Merchant Chambers and Mariwala Foundation.
-She also featured in the list of nominees for the TiE Stree Shakti awards for the Year 2009.
-Smriti’s family includes her husband Sameer who runs a successful Advertising agency and 2 children – 13 year old son Brij and 9 year old daughter Teesta.
Swapna’s Lahari Holiday Homes is into the hospitality business. Blending luxury with an innovative format of activity drives the spirit of Lahari holiday homes. The resort brings together adrenaline pumping action and leisure where the
entire family can enjoy and have an experience worth cherishing for a lifetime. When Lahari holiday homes was conceptualized, most financial institutions did not believe in the concept of resorts, hence funding was difficult to come by. Swapna overcame this problem by offering memberships to individuals, thus arranging for the much needed capital. Skepticism of people to the
concept and competition from already existing players was another major hurdle. However, Swapna successfully overcame all these challenges to build an enterprise that today boats of a turnover of Rs 891 lacs.
Nominated in TiE Stree Shakti ’09 : Medium Enterprise
Tags: lahiri holiday homes, resorts
Suvarna heads Sarvesh Industries, a company that deals with manufacturing of corrugated boxes and sheets. The company also specialized in craft and duplex paper cartons required for packing purpose and supplies these to various large
manufacturing industries.
Operating in a business that is usually male-dominated didn’t come easy. Suvarna had to fight off stereotypes associated with women in a Tier 2 town and this particular industry. Securing funding for the venture too wasn’t easy. Even today, quite often she is referred to Mr. Deshpande – a clear reflection of the male bastions she has broken into.
Nominated in TiE Stree Shakti ’09 : Medium Enterprise
Tags: cartons, corrugated boxes, Sarvesh Industries, sheets, tier 2 town
Shweta heads ZIQITZA that provides a network of equipped life support ambulances on a 24X7 basis. Her multi-level pricing strategy makes the services accessible to all (users transferred to private hospitals are charged while those transferred to government hospitals are subsidized). Ziqitza also deals with training citizens of Mumbai in first aid and basic life support and runs a women’s helpline which acts as bridge between a woman in need and NGO’s working for women’s issues.
From corruption in the healthcare system to lack of trained professionals and existing social beliefs about ambulances, Shweta has fought them all to build an organization that is today known by its emergency code – 1298.
Nominated in TiE Stree Shakti ’09 : Medium Enterprise
Tags: 1298 ambulance, life support, Women entrepreneur, ziqitsa healthcare
Sandhya’s The Caretakers sought to capitalize on the outsourcing space by providing manpower and payroll management services. It also deals with statutory compliances administration and flexible hiring by providing contract staff.
Sandhya started The Caretakers using her personal savings as seed capital. However, the lack of exposure to the world of entrepreneurship and the lack of funding hampered operations. Notwithstanding these challenges and those on the personal front, Sandhya did not budge and now leads a successful outsourcing company.
Nominated in TiE Stree Shakti ’09 : Medium Enterprise
Tags: manpower management, outsourcing, payroll, the caretakers
Manisha‘s Aptsource Software offers consulting and advisory services in the areas of offshore transition, enterprise IT transition and specialized solution practice (SOA etc) including enterprise solutions using open source
technologies, assembling of free and commercial open source products for quick turnover of business solutions. It also offers offshore development services such as product development and maintenance, quality assurance and testing and remote environment support.
Aptsource has defined and implemented the innovative concept of open source commercialization through software assembling. The company firmly believes that there is no more point in trying to build software from scratch. Aptsource’s proprietary integration framework coupled with a plethora of pre-built components that can be improvised, re-architected, extended and assembled into complete business solutions make complex application integration seem easy. Quitting a full time job to found her own company was a struggle for Manisha. However, strong support from her family and friends, helped her build a strong enterprise that is today one of the known players in its field of work.
Nominated in TiE Stree Shakti ’09 : Medium Enterprise
Tags: Apt Source Software, off shore development, SOA, Women entrepreneur
Gayatri heads New Delhi based Q2amedia, a leading education content provider to the U.K, and U.S. markets in the pre-k to 12 segments. Q2amedia was the first Indian company to design and develop a program for U.S. state adoption (from concept to disc) and is today the largest library book packager in the world, developing more than 25 titles per year.
The company chose to do creative work for the West at a time when no one believed this could be done in India. Over the years the company transformed itself from doing creative work from India for the U.S./U.K. to developing innovative education products for these markets . The company is now looking at taking these products to the Indian and other developing markets.
Being a pioneer in its line of business, Q2amedia faced all the problems a young company does. From lack of initial funding to the skepticism meted out by the West to Indian entities, the company faced it all. On the personal front, Gayatri faced severe family opposition as the organization was initially spending more than what it was earning. However, each time the organization fell, it decided to lift itself up. Through ceaseless commitment and dedication, the company has to some extent achieved its objectives and plans to expand in other horizons soon
Nominated in TiE Stree Shakti ’09 : Medium Enterprise
Tags: education, Women entrepreneur
Smitaben’s Sona Enterprises deals with production, sales and service of electronic instruments. Smitaben was the first woman to start sales and services for electronic items in her vicinity. Her low formal education made it difficult for her to manage and understand technical products. Lack of seed capital and funds to sustain the business, along with breaking into a male bastion were some of the many challenges she faced. However, she overcame these challenges to make Sona Electronics an established and growing
business.
Nominated in TiE Stree Shakti ’09 : Micro Enterprise
Shahenaz’s organization is a one stop shop for all requirements of the village communities thus revolutionizing the way people shop in her rural vicinity. Shahenaz also designs and sells her own innovative products which include gift articles, crockery, household articles, dupatta etc. It also handles marketing of products for schools, households and decorative items. Being a woman from a traditional Muslim community, she faced immense social opposition. Zero financial support from her family for the venture was also a deterrent. In the face of these obstacles, Shahenaz started the organization with the collective help of other women in her vicinity. She took personal training in enterprise management and has now been able to build a business that is expanding by the day.
Nominated in TiE Stree Shakti ’09 : Micro Enterprise
Tags: crockery, household items, paris cutlery and general stores, social challenges, Women entrepreneur
Ghatilya runs an organization that is in the business of making and selling various types of sweets. Making sweets out of Chotila Prasad is their speciality. Catering to the requirement of sweets at wedding ceremonies is also a line of business. Ghatilya has mentored her own team of women that make sweets in line with Chotila Kandoie’s specializations and expectations.
Ghatilya faced grave personal issues and was widowed shortly after marriage. She needed economic independence to be able to support her family and children. Fighting off these challenges, she managed to build a business that is now famous for adding taste to life.
Nominated in TiE Stree Shakti ’09 : Micro Enterprise
Tags: chotila kandoie, prasad, sweets
