PANEL DISCUSSION ON WOMEN LUMINARIES IN BUSINESS SETUP: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Chandigarh, February 21, 2019: As a Placement initiative, Government Home Science College conducted a panel discussion on Women Luminaries in Business Setup to apprise the students of the challenges and opportunities in the field of entrepreneurship. Successful women entrepreneurs from around the city were invited as part of the panel. Ms Jyoti Arora, owner of VataMa Solutions was the first speaker of the day. She shared her journey of learning to manage your own waste which started off by seeing her daily garbage collector. Her idea about segregating our wastes and using it as compost was brought about after a lot of research and technical expertise. She gave up all inhibitions about putting her hand in the dirt and has gone on to save more than 2000 kg waste daily in Chandigarh and recycling it to help save the environment and make the air clean. Ms. Gayatri Sood from Monica's Puddings and pies, a professional chef discussed her journey about how this brand was established. She spoke about how her passion developed and her first baking experience at the age of 8 years. She went on to study at Le Cordon Bleu from Paris, the best pastry school in the world. Her Challenge was to add on more desserts and recipes to the existing established brand name. She discussed how running so many stores is challenging and to procure quality ingredients and management of staff. She motivated the girls to follow their dreams and passion. Ms. Lalita Grover, the next guest speaker encouraged the girls to take up any challenges that come their way. She runs a family business of ready made garments and spoke about how her journey was challenging in terms of lack of support but its her passion and determination that kept her going. She shared how gender bias and societal pressure bagged her down but she kept going on and emerged as a successful entrepreneur. Ms. Ashna Narula, the founder of Psychopedia a training institute to help people find the light hidden in them was the next speaker. She shared how she invested all her savings and did not borrow money from her family. Her journey included not just acting as a faculty, but also managing the whole institute. She discussed how her attitude shifted from one of complaining to gratitude. She encouraged the students to let their work speak for itself. She motivated the girls to become financially independent and not to depend on anyone else as' you have you'. Mrs Savita Ahluwalia, the last speaker of the day, is the owner of designer boutiques-Ujitaa and Vastram. She discussed about her growing passion for Fashion and trends. She emphasized the role of team work in achieving a target and to overcome major challenges in one's field. Students also got an opportunity to interact with the guest speakers and further discuss their queries regarding entrepreneurial ventures. Principal of the college, Prof. Sudha Katyal, expressed her gratitude to all the dignitaries for sharing their experiences and challenges in their fields and further motivated the students to set their goals and move ahead and become successful.