A bevy of women entrepreneurs who gathered at Edumart here on Tuesday afternoon celebrated International Women’s Day by sharing their entrepreneurial journey. Although Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8 worldwide, the gathering held three days ahead took a pledge to help each other to grow together.
The gathering underscored this year’s theme to ‘invest in women and to accelerate progress’, highlighting the importance of gender equality, women empowerment, and their right to happier and healthier lives.
“It’s very important that we focus on creativity and entrepreneurship, especially at a time when people are increasingly getting addicted to screen time in the post-COVID-19 period,” said A.K. Fairoose welcoming the gathering. Ms. Fairoose organised the event as she celebrated the first anniversary of her entrepreneurial venture.
Inaugurating the programme, young entrepreneur Lisa pointed out that the advantage men had over women was their networking skills. “We don’t have that networking. But we are excellent multitaskers, that advantage should be made use of. Let’s grow together by helping each other,” she said.
Many of those who gathered there had been inspired by Sofia, a top name in women’s boutique business in Palakkad. The ambition and determination of the women were visible when they shared their experiences.
Several of them had quit their profession, including engineering and teaching jobs, and took up entrepreneurship. Nasrin, Anupama, Aysha and Lijo were among those who changed their job for business. “It’s never too late to change your profession. And it’s never too late to take up something that you love,” said Ms. Lijo, who started her salon after quitting her teaching job at Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College, Kozhikode.
Aysha too had quit her teaching profession to become a make-up artist. For Jamshia, being a dental expert meant more than dentistry. “We are trying to enhance the beauty of people’s smile,” she said explaining her new venture named Eye-Dentity, which combines dental and eye care.
Most of the three dozen women entrepreneurs knew each other. They decided to start a social media collective using WhatsApp and Instagram platforms to help each other.
