Ms. G.Sree vidhya is a first generation entrepreneur. Born to parents who were Carnatic musicians, she went on to pursue her dreams and passion. Being a single mom, she started her life from scratch with “nothing” at all. Even as a college student, she paid her own fees for education by doing stage plays (back in the ‘80s). Hence she is a woman of strong convictions, and self pity is a bad word for her. Music has been her constant company. She loves studying and wants to pursue criminology.
Sree vidhya is the first entrepreneur in the space of guarding and security services, which is generally considered a male bastion.
She is an active member of MMA, FICCI, SICCI, Vice President of Central Association of Private Security Industry, and TIE Chennai.
She, however, had different ambitions initially before joining guarding and security services. “I had an ambition to become a cop or play back singer. Both didn’t materialise,” she shares.
Like many, she was very apprehensive about choosing this Industry. A couple of decades back, this Industry was not the chosen one for many, especially this being a male bastion. “I had challenges in dealing with the work force which constituted majorly of men. And being a woman boss was a challenge in dealing with the blue collared workers,” explains Sree Vidya.
Even though she got into this space reluctantly, but very soon Sree Vidya realised that she had fallen in love with this Industry, since uniformed services have always been her passion. “It is very gratifying when you can provide employment to thousands of families. It is more gratifying when you are instrumental in empowering women, especially the destitute and under privileged,” states Sree Vidya.
Till date Sree Vidya has received many awards. Stree Shakthi award from Tie mumbai, Emerging India Award - woman enterpreneur of the year 2012, Jeppiar Icon award 2014, Woman Achiever Award from Roundtable 42 and Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani Award to name a few.
“When a woman makes it big, then it’s always never accepted as a result of handwork. “Those insinuations” were difficult to stomach. But then your vision and mission, makes you move forward with your chin up to your next goal, while those who were busy talking about you, either stayed there or went down their own whirlpool,” shares Sree Vidya.
Pursuing a dream online
Ayshwarya Prabhuram, a mother of two, finds a new way to pursue her dreams and having a career by selling online. She is an Amazon.in seller based in Chennai with the brand name The Great Banyan sells natural homemade and organic products. Prior to this, Ayshwarya had a well-paying job which she decided to give up after having her second child. She wished to be independent but did not want to go back to her old job. She even contemplated starting her own company but, with zero experience, she felt unsure. At this point, Ayshwarya found a new way to keep her hope alive and pursue her dreams of having a career by selling online on Amazon.in.
Amazon.in provided Ayshwarya with the opportunity to fulfill her dreams of staying independent financially and transform her life by boosting her capabilities to achieve success as a seller. She joined Amazon.in in June 2017 with the objective to bridge the gap between today’s highly processed, unhealthy, and ready to eat foods and our ancient healthy food practices. The Great Banyan offers100% natural, organic, homemade food products suitable for adults and kids, including infants.
Ayshwarya left no stone unturned to leverage the growth of e-commerce to scale greater heights. With a good monthly income and a heartfelt contentment, Ayshwarya today is able to spend time with her children without giving up her dream of having a career and is leading the life that she wished for.
Ayshwarya said, “Only mothers who have left their well-paying jobs to take care of their kids will know the pain of losing careers and dreams. Amazon.in provided me with the highest motivation and inspiration at the time when I needed it the most. I’m extremely happy with my association with Amazon.in and as a seller on the marketplace; I aim to continue bringing back our lost legacy of traditional natural homemade food in the current way of life.”
Baking, never wasting
Niranjana is the lady who has chosen her profession and passion as baking for her own. She also donates the food which is not sold out in a day from her shop to the poor children almost every day, only for the purpose that food should not be wasted. Cooking and baking was her online learning and a course of practice for her only as a profession in this field.
“We are an all-women team”, she added while telling about her employees and her future plans. They have been working as a six-person team in both the shops. At present, she is running the bakery ‘The Baker Ninja’ exclusively on Uber EATS along with a bridal wear boutique with her friend. She grew up in her family at Coimbatore with the mentality to concentrate on cooking apart from having other streams of exposure. Her liking for the people hosting guests at home influenced her most to come up with trying out new dishes and bake items for them, and gradually getting into such a profession. Those were the initial days.
When Niranjana went abroad for a one-year master’s degree course on business analytics, it was the first time she came face to face with what was to be her passion. “My passion really came to its face when I popped out from India to UK,” shared the 28-year old master baking lady.
At the her cake shop near TTK Road in Chennai, she handles the technical part of the kitchen as a whole with healthy baked items, not using sugars in each and every baked delicacy like French Macaron, Baked Cheesecake and Almond Banana loaf. But now, keeping an eye on the cost of cakes ranging from Rs. 60 to Rs. 170, they are focusing on making healthy fruit cakes without sugar, replacing it with ingredients like almond powder and fruit dust.
While going abroad saw her make her debut in cooking profession of cooking and then baking and in the kitchen following other’s recipes was okay for her but by exercising her right to bring in innovative ideas. As it was very unhealthy and expensive eating out in UK thrice in a day, she started cooking and she started baking afterwards while finishing the course of study coming back to India.
After coming back and settling down in Chennai in 2013, she joined as a full-time data analyst. After working there she joined the baking profession on October last year. To reach out to more people and more outlets in Chennai and outside cities are the priorities for the budding baking lady who is serving healthy fruit cakes in the city for last six months.
“In the food industry, I feel it’s more appropriate to have women employees”, Niranjana shared while speaking on increasing her female employees profile as a big team. Her biggest comfort zone was in investing money and let the working women earn it.
