Watch Shruti Venkatesh from Outlook Business in conversation with Simran Bishnoi, Senior Vice President of Amway India and three prominent business owners from Amway.
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#PanelDiscussion #AmwayBusinessOwners #AmwayPanel #Business #OutlookBusiness #OutlookMagazine #OutlookGroup
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00:00 On that note, ladies and gentlemen, let's talk further about entrepreneurship.
00:05 Now, India is slowly but surely embracing the power of women in shaping a society and
00:12 in contributing to the economy's growth.
00:14 Founded 60 years ago on this very spirit of entrepreneurship, Amway is a firm believer
00:22 and supporter of women empowerment, and it has inspired entrepreneurs across the globe.
00:28 In fact, Amway India has more than 60% of its direct sellers comprising women entrepreneurs.
00:35 This evening, ladies and gentlemen, we have with us three such women entrepreneurs, Amway
00:43 business owners, who will take us through their entrepreneurial journey and share their
00:48 experience.
00:49 May I please now call upon stage Shruti Venkatesh from Outlook Business to moderate a conversation
00:55 with Simrat Bishnoi, Senior Vice President, Amway India, and three Amway business owners,
01:02 Roma Wabi, Pramila Olson, and Dr. Hemi Gara.
01:06 (Applause.)
01:17 the stage.
01:38 Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you so much for joining us this evening.
01:41 Now, you know, entrepreneurship is a very difficult journey, and all the help that you
01:46 get in it is much appreciated.
01:49 So you know, Simrat, who's the Vice President, Amway, I would like to, you know, understand
01:53 from you of how really does Amway work with women entrepreneurs?
01:57 How do you create a cohesive ecosystem to help them achieve their dreams?
02:02 Thank you for that question.
02:04 Amway, I would say that, you know, from past twenty years we've been in India, and we really
02:10 realize the true potential of women.
02:12 We really believe that women can make a difference.
02:16 And if we actually see that, you know, I was studying some data which says that in China
02:21 and U.S., with nearly half a population being women, they're actually contributing already
02:26 around 60 percent to the global economy.
02:30 And if this continues with the gender diversity increasing, I am sure that by 2025, we will
02:37 reach 20 - 12 trillion dollars to - and women will be contributing that much to the economy.
02:43 And India's not going to be behind.
02:45 I'm sure that with that rate, at least India would be able to achieve 16 to 60 percent
02:50 with a given gender diversity.
02:52 So I would say that, you know, for Amway, very clearly empowerment comes, you know,
02:59 as one of our core philosophy, empowering women around.
03:02 We have been in India since past 20 years, and helping women realize their true potential,
03:08 because we know that they are there, they're already, you know, a lot of women continue
03:14 to struggle sometimes between household chores and work-life balance.
03:18 But I feel that, and especially given the, you know, they have a true potential right
03:23 now, given the demographic dividend which they can leverage upon and where the economy
03:26 is growing, I think there's a huge potential, and we've been supporting that by helping
03:32 them with certain skill sets which help them grow faster.
03:35 And I think that all women here are worth, right?
03:38 It's all about women are worth.
03:40 So be it skilling, so that's on the direct sellers, be it even employees internally,
03:45 I mean, how we are empowered, how we feel that, how Amway is a company which really
03:50 helps you reach your true potential, to even communities.
03:53 So we are even going out to communities where, to the underprivileged communities where we
03:57 are helping women in self-skilling, life skills, where they are able to actually be able to
04:04 train the others and earn a good living for themselves.
04:07 So I think in every true aspect that what we are doing, and here you have the true leaders
04:14 sitting next to you, I think what better than them, who can actually endorse that and say,
04:19 talk about their journey.
04:20 Correct.
04:21 So, you know, probably, if you could start, you know, by telling us a little about yourself
04:24 and what encouraged you to take up entrepreneurship?
04:26 A little about yourself and, you know, what prompted you to take up entrepreneurship?
04:32 Okay.
04:33 So, basically, I come from a business family, so I have my husband who is very, very well
04:39 settled and we were settled in Muscat that time.
04:43 And then overnight, you know, it happened that my husband's partner cheated and we had
04:49 to come overnight to Mumbai.
04:51 And we landed up with a big zero.
04:53 And coming from a very good background to suddenly to a zero, especially when you're
04:57 very well settled, you don't think of anything else that you want to do.
05:01 And when this downfall happened, you know, something that bug in me caught in that I
05:06 really want to be an entrepreneur now and do something on my own also.
05:10 Because usually when you have a family who has a very well set business, you don't think
05:14 of other things.
05:15 And that's when I thought of diversification.
05:17 That's when entrepreneurship caught on to me.
05:19 And that's how I came into the business.
05:22 Sure.
05:23 And has that been the same for you?
05:24 What's the journey been like?
05:26 My name is Dr. Hemigala.
05:31 I was born in Mumbai and we had six sisters and one brother.
05:37 My background came from also the business.
05:40 My father was a businessman, middle class.
05:43 And when I started studying and I passed my SSC, I had a distinction as well as I was
05:49 a gold medalist.
05:51 But those days, women were not allowed to study.
05:54 So both of my sisters got married at an early age.
05:58 Now it was my turn.
06:00 But I said no.
06:02 And with great difficulty, my teachers and a lot of people convinced my father to go
06:07 ahead and make me educated.
06:09 So I became a doctor from KM Hospital.
06:13 It was a great thing, great difficulty, great financial challenges, sitting in the library,
06:18 studying about medicine.
06:20 But I still finished my medicine.
06:22 In 1971, I got married and went abroad.
06:25 Abroad also, I acquired two MD degrees and started my own practice.
06:32 I was the only woman doctor in 100-mile radius.
06:35 So you can imagine how busy the practice was.
06:37 But the biggest challenge, I had no time.
06:40 I had no time.
06:41 I had no breather.
06:42 I had two children.
06:44 And being in US, you have to manage everything.
06:47 So I was juggling.
06:48 During that period of time, of course, I was an entrepreneur but couldn't do anything.
06:53 A friend of mine shared this opportunity and told me, "Hemi, you have a choice.
06:59 You can choose."
07:01 So I looked at this opportunity.
07:03 I couldn't believe it.
07:05 I was so thrilled.
07:07 And 1987, we started with this MBA opportunity, which changed our lives.
07:14 This is the journey how we started.
07:17 Because I realized if I want to make choices in my life, this is the only business can
07:23 do it.
07:24 - Thank you so much.
07:25 And how about you?
07:26 Please do share your journey as well.
07:28 - There was no entrepreneurial bug in my case.
07:32 Many people are fortunate, many young people are fortunate to actually know clear goals
07:37 at a young age.
07:39 That's not my story.
07:40 I got a lucky break.
07:41 I was young.
07:42 I got employed by a multinational company.
07:45 I was hardworking, ambitious.
07:47 I got promotions and I did well in my career.
07:51 I never thought about being an entrepreneur.
07:53 I never thought about business.
07:55 I think I just was comfortable being an employee.
07:59 About 11 years ago, I got married.
08:01 My husband had a substantial MBA business.
08:04 And I kind of quit my job because that gave me the option to quit my job.
08:11 And I was living a comfortable life.
08:13 Just about at that time, I started to get involved in the MBA business.
08:18 And that's how I started to get involved in this opportunity.
08:21 - So at what point did you start seeing a lot of success?
08:24 Or when did you feel that you can take this up, really scale this up?
08:28 When was that point for you?
08:29 - I think five years ago, I started to see results in people's lives, especially women's
08:36 life as a direct result of me making decisions to grow this business.
08:42 And it's interesting for me, it's exciting for me to see today that our business, our
08:48 organization, we have business in all the metro cities in India, some small cities,
08:53 some international markets.
08:55 But the most exciting part for me is to see that our women entrepreneurs have grown to
09:01 more than 200% in the last five years.
09:04 And I think that was a direct result of me making decisions to grow the business.
09:09 - Sure, and Dr. Hemi, when was that inflection point for you?
09:12 When did you feel that this can really change more lives than one?
09:16 - Well, as soon as we started, it was amazing that we had a great success because we had
09:23 no preconceived idea.
09:25 We were just pure, we just got excited with the opportunity.
09:28 And I saw a lot of family could benefit because we saw the result in very first month.
09:35 What I, me and my husband experienced that with such a small investment, the very first
09:41 month, we were able to make some serious money.
09:45 And you know, we both looked at with all this education, and this is different.
09:50 So we got very excited about it, we started sharing with our friend.
09:54 What touched me, this business is different, that when you share with the people, unless
09:59 they're successful, it's not your success.
10:02 So you're not pushing somebody down, but you're pulling everybody up.
10:06 And you keep pulling, you know, helping them, helping them to succeed, and you succeed.
10:11 And that's got excited, you know.
10:13 - And same question goes to you.
10:15 What was it for you?
10:16 - Well, what I would say is, you know, I come from a background where I wanted to be an
10:19 entrepreneur, but I come from a very conservative family.
10:23 So I had a goongat on my head, I had a sari clad.
10:26 And from there to here, it has been a journey for me.
10:29 But I saw the success, you know, the smallest, smallest successes which came on the way.
10:34 Because success is not something just of money.
10:37 It is also first of your personal development.
10:39 And I saw that this business, with the right mentorship, and the coaching, I saw a 360
10:44 degree change in myself.
10:47 And that made me so proud and happy because I could not travel alone, I didn't know how
10:51 to travel, I didn't know how to speak very confidently.
10:54 I learned all of this via the mentoring and coaching that was happening in the business.
10:59 And I saw that with me coming to a certain level in the business, and a lot of women
11:05 who are there in my organization, I saw their lives changing.
11:09 Because when money pours in, not only in your pocket, but when it pours in everybody's household,
11:14 you really feel happy.
11:15 And that gave me a little bit of satisfaction, happiness, and I felt that yes, we are successful.
11:20 - Wonderful.
11:21 So, you know, Simrat, if you can help us understand, you know, what campaigns or how do you kind
11:25 of increase awareness for more and more people to know about this form of entrepreneurship?
11:30 - Our campaigns are truly inspired by their stories.
11:34 You know, on the occasion of when we were celebrating our 20 years, so we came out with
11:40 a campaign called I am way of life, which was truly inspired by their experience, which
11:45 shows that how a mother who's been associated with a brand for past 20 years, single handedly
11:50 brings up a child, it's a nostalgic moment.
11:52 The other campaign that we've done recently, which has got an overwhelming response is
11:58 for the youth, because these days, of course, it's young India who's growing an attitude
12:02 of brand, which is targeted at youth skin care beauty brand, where there are women who
12:08 are breaking stereotypes who've risen above the shackles of the society and are able to
12:13 establish themselves and prove that yes, this is, you know, have managed to find the ground.
12:18 So I would say awareness and for us, I would say very importantly, what really, you know,
12:24 in me in my personal life, and I see all of them and when I hear stories, because one
12:29 is of course, I'm working for the corporate and we and I'm extremely pleased to be you
12:34 know, getting so many opportunities where I'm empowered.
12:37 But I think what is really gratifying for me as a professional is seeing and looking
12:43 at all of them how we've gone beyond the realms of just you know, what we are a charter that
12:49 we're supposed to do and inspired and made a difference to their lives.
12:52 So, you know, if you can one by one kind of tell me the one change that you see in yourself
12:57 after taking up entrepreneurship.
12:59 I think, coming from a background of being an employee, the one and most important change
13:05 is of course, our business requires personal growth, it requires to change personally and
13:12 to change your approach to because it's a business of relationships.
13:17 But the one most important thing was for 15 years, I worked in a corporate work in the
13:22 corporate world.
13:24 And every single year, somebody else decided my worth, how much money I made, how much
13:30 time I spent with my family, there was not much time left for anything except career.
13:34 But today, with this opportunity, I decide my worth, if I want to grow, it's up to me,
13:40 I decide, I live life on my terms.
13:44 And in the process, I enable hundreds and thousands of women to live life on their terms.
13:50 How about you, you know, if you could tell us the one change that you see in yourself?
13:57 The one change which I would have seen in myself is, of course, number one is being
14:03 confident is something that I've told you already, I think being more positive in life.
14:08 Okay, because all around, you know, we all have so many negative thoughts going around.
14:13 And I think that this business definitely gave me a lot of positivity.
14:18 And I could help many women.
14:20 So that's, that's the change that I like is being confident, basically.
14:24 How about you?
14:27 The change that I have, I have experienced is, I've become more humble, understanding
14:33 other point of view.
14:35 You never appreciate other people, but you learn to appreciate here, because everybody
14:40 is important.
14:42 Just think like that, if the sweeper did not come one day, how dirty everything will look.
14:47 What if the maid did not come?
14:49 Ladies get heart attack, because you know, they feel paralyzed.
14:53 So everybody is important.
14:55 I learned to appreciate people in their own terms.
14:59 And when I found working with the women here, there are many things that came to my mind,
15:06 their nutrition, like Mickey said, talking to them, every time I asked them, what do
15:11 you eat?
15:12 I know, and they start doing the kathak, you know, so I realized the nutrition was a problem.
15:17 The children nutrition was problem.
15:19 The Nutralite was one thing that pushed me to educate them, how they cook, what they
15:27 cook, what kind of oil they use, and how they feed their children and their family.
15:33 Second thing, I taught them four Ps.
15:37 Any woman that needs to be empowered, they need to have a passion, they have to have
15:42 purpose, they have to be persistent and consistent, and then they have to persevere.
15:48 There are going to be problems, but you have to persevere and go beyond that.
15:54 This is how they succeeded everywhere.
15:57 This reminds me also about one simple thing.
16:03 How do you change everything?
16:04 A little story, there was a little boy near ocean, and he saw a lot of starfish washing
16:13 on the shore.
16:14 And there was an old man, he was thinking, what is he doing?
16:19 So he asked the child, what are you doing?
16:22 You are not helping anything.
16:24 What is the difference you can make?
16:26 He picks up one starfish, throws in the ocean, I made difference to that one.
16:32 Picks up another one, I made difference to that one.
16:36 Picked up third one, I made difference to that one.
16:39 Every one of you can make difference in this country.
16:45 Everyone has a responsibility and we all can make a difference.
16:48 That's what you learn.
16:49 Thank you so much.
16:50 And Sumit, I think we are out of time, but if you could quickly tell us, what are really
16:54 the things that keep you excited about going to work every day?
16:58 I think the biggest thing that keeps me excited that I'm able to contribute, add value.
17:04 And that's what makes me feel worth at my workplace.
17:09 Thank you so much all of you for joining us.
17:11 Thank you.
17:11 [Applause]
17:16 [BLANK_AUDIO]