Womens Era Archives

Aradhna Dayal: Bringing Foreign Investments in Asia

Even a few decades ago, Asian financial markets were frowned upon as they were a bit hard to access. In order to provide the perfect conduit for global families to come and invest in Asia, Access Alts Asia was born. The organization was founded by a pioneer in Asian investments Aradhna Dayal, who also serves as the CEO of the company. She is a proud global citizen who believes that Asia with its rapid transformation, innovation, and multi-culturalism, holds the key to the global economy. She is always passionate about people and connecting them as global communities.

Aradhna explains, “For as long as I can remember, my biggest joy has been traveling the world, eating at local haunts, chatting with cabbies, exploring cultural nuances, and understanding what makes people who they are.”

Aradhna’s other passion is social justice and societal global challenges that threaten humanity’s future; she has devoted her life to harnessing the power of people to solve them. “In many ways, AccessAlts is my way to create an interconnected community of remarkable people from all around the world who are passionate about making a difference and protecting our future,” explains Aradhna.

Early Career

During the late 1990’s Aradhna moved to Hong Kong and started her family investment office. Hong Kong provided her with the best seats to witness the transformation in Asian financial markets. Soon she witnessed the transformation of countries like China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India. With many Asian countries becoming economic powerhouses, the potential for global investors to come in grew by quite a few folds.

However, Asia was always frowned upon as opaque and hard to access. So, Aradhna saw this niche and leveraged her wide global network to bridge this gap. She believes that business families are inherently entrepreneurial and they like looking at new geographies. However, they prefer coming through a trusted network. Aradhna provided the perfect conduit for global families to come and invest in Asia, which eventually led to the birth of Access Alts Asia.

Bringing Global Investors to Asia

AccessAlts Asia is a Hong Kong-based platform that brings different global investors and ground-breaking technology to Asia. As we all know Asia is transforming, and it needs ideas and capital.

However, before Aradhna started AccessAlts, Asia was seen as a market that is opaque and hard to access. Aradhna understood the importance of this niche and leveraged her wide global network to bridge this gap. Started as a simple idea-sharing platform in Hong Kong six years back, Aradhna has led AccessAlts’ exponential growth into an influential, global “members-only” investment club with over 350 members, channelizing smart capital into transformative companies.

Aradhna’s unique business idea and vision are the main reason for Access Alts Asia’s growth. Launched at the right time and at the right place. Through AccessAlts, Aradhna inadvertently created the first East-West investment bridge that tied global family offices together. It was also the time when Asia was creating the largest number of Unicorns in areas like transportation, financial services, deep technology, and e-commerce.

Amidst this, Access Alts pioneered the concept of discreet, intimate Member Meets in key financial centers: New York, Dubai, London, Washington, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, giving the club a global footprint very quickly.

When the Pandemic Wreaked Havoc

According to Aradhna, Covid was disastrous for her organization, which relies on physical meets to bring its members together. The business stopped for three months. However, the organization soon leveraged the opportunity to pivot into a Digital Consultancy on Business Preservation and Impact Investing;

The club started providing 360-degree consultancy to family businesses, from digitalizing their operations to entering new markets and verticals.
The club also incubated multiple start-ups in Asia. The start-ups serve in areas like e-payments, electric vehicle batteries, e-education, etc.
Also the club has done many landmark deals with companies like SpaceX and Beyond Meat during the pandemic.
It used various innovative techniques to begin hosting Virtual Meets to replace physical meets, creating an online network of investors and experts from around the world. This led to a more powerful community than ever.

Preparing for the Future

Having created a formidable network, Aradhna wants to leverage it to empower women business leaders and entrepreneurs. “I have always been passionate about creating a just and diverse society that provides equal opportunities to all,” said Aradhna. “Covid has allowed me to take a pause and think about the legacy I want to leave behind.”

“We want to fund women-led businesses and create a formidable ‘she-economy.” We also want to nurture female talent and have launched a Women on Boards initiative that handholds talented young women for corporate boardrooms roles.”

Aradhna, along with her children, Pradyumn and Pankhuri Dayal, also runs the aid platform Move4Migrants to integrate migrant and minority communities into mainstream society.

Finally, through Access Alts, Aradhna wants to direct capital and resources towards technology that creates a fairer world. “As I head towards my 50s, I have become cognizant of the importance of focusing on social ROI rather than financial ROI,” explains Aradhna.

Quote: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Company Name: Access Alts Asia

Management: Aradhna Dayal, CEO, and Founder

URL: accessalts.com

Witness Gauri Das shifting the Paradigm in Human Resources

Meet Gauri Das, the Head HR Marketing and Admin at India Factoring and Finance Solutions, who challenged the traditional customary ways of HR processes through her optimistic approach. Her unique ideology and methods have directly and indirectly helped in creating a productive environment with the right HR strategies. Through her work, she has earned a name in the industry and led her company to achieve new milestones in the domain of HR.

We, at Tycoon Success, admire passion-driven leaders and take pride in featuring Gauri in its special issue, “The 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders to Watch in 2022.”

Below are the highlights of the Interview:

An Engineer turned HR Professional

After completing her engineering, Gauri Das continued to learn and completed double Masters in Human resources and Psychology to become an all round HR Professional. Prior to this, she completed her early education in vernacular medium in a small village. With her introverted disposition and lack of opportunities for personality development and extra curricular activities, communication was not her forte’ then but today she is an international speaker. Despite her uncertainties, she explored possibilities and grasped opportunities to later become Vice President – HR for a subsidiary of a European bank. She takes great pride in her work and pushes people to explore their unknown limitless possibilities. She inspires people to use their learnings from the past to trigger their future progress.

In her 15+ years of experience, as a strategic HR leader, she has crafted and aligned HR strategies with business goals. She supports businesses in setting the right culture, driving performance, reinventing employee experience and improving capabilities. She also carries a wealth of experience with both start-ups and well-established organizations thus she prefers to work in high energy and growth-focused environment. Moreover, she is well-known for mentoring students, young professionals. She is a passionate speaker and has graced multiple national and international forums as a keynote speaker and panellist. She is a TEDx speaker and her talk is about creating a possibilitarian mindset. Also, she was Lead Membership of the Professional Speakers Associations of India, Mumbai chapter (PSAI).

In addition to that, she sits on the advisory panel of various institutes and NGOs. While her love for writing never waned and her work has been published by leading publication platforms in the country including TOI, Economic Times, people matters, human capital, and others. Apart from this, she is passionate about women’s empowerment and is leading a Leanin circle called Leaders Lifting Leaders. She has been recently appointed as National President WICCI for Future of Work Council. She loves networking and knowing people beyond their profiles brings her happiness and therefore she is a core committee member of Navi Mumbai LinkedIn Local.

Gauri Das believes that every individual faces his or her challenges while laying the foundations of a successful journey. But she also reckons that times are continuously evolving and making things uncertain—which Gauri Das refers to as a case of forced OD. “Change is the name of the game,” she mentions. To overcome such obstacles, one must adapt an open-mindedness, be flexible with the work and new innovative aspects, and most importantly embrace the support provided by the people surrounding us. “People around me and my family keep me going,” she mentions. She defines success as a feeling of contentment and happiness by supporting others, by being with family and friends through their ups and downs. She believes that by being in the moment and having amazing people around as friends, mentors and well-wishers, one can easily prevail in his/her endeavours.

In her impeccable journey, by adapting such ideology, she has achieved many milestones. She was recognized HR 100 under 40, selected as LinkedIn person of the year,and very recently featured as Top 200 powerful voice in Leadership in 2022 globally and has also been featured as a speaker at TedX. She has gained the title as a Top HR Mind (India) and was highlighted as Economic Times Young HR Leader. Besides, she has been recognized as Lighthouse of L&D and WICA luminary growth.

A brief note of the Company

India Factoring and Finance Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is a financial services company specializing in working capital solutions through the Factoring product, aimed at converting receivables into cash. The company is a subsidiary of a European bank – FIMBank p.l.c., Malta, and is registered with the RBI as an NBFC – Factor. Through its global network, it offers one-stop shop solutions around receivables finance solutions. It supports business Spread across all segments of customers from MSME to large corporates; primarily manufacturers and exporters but also right domestic customers as well. It helps businesses grow with timely working capital support. Also protects against default of overseas buyers and helps balance sheet deleveraging. The company also provides solutions to the customers who are looking at new-age working capital solutions with a cost optimum approach.

Noteworthy bits of Advice

Gauri Das suggests that every individual must acquire certain traits to achieve triumph. In her opinion, she suggests that leaders need to be one with the teams with three H— heart, head, and hand. People value autonomy because it helps them to explore the possibilities and to be creative with their work; they also have individual ownership over multiple aspects of their work. This helps an individual or a group of individuals to develop a connection with the heads of the team members. However, the connection with the head merely completes the 1/3rd part of the whole process. But when these team members are made aware of the value added by their work and the relationship developed with the purpose, a leader can witness an increase in their passion for the work i.e. the heart. “Finally when you have their head and heart, hands support. 3H is my mantra of leadership and with this comes empowerment empathy and openness to diverse thoughts. In my view, these lead to great performances and innovations,” she concludes.

“Be limitless… be a possibilitarian. No matter how difficult the situation is, there are always some possibilities, all we need to do is keep looking for them,” –

Dr. Archana Surana: A Champion Of Education, Inclusion And Sustainable Social Development

The seeds of public service were planted when Archana Surana was a high school student. Witnessing her parents Dr. P M Bhandari, a renowned medical practitioner and Mrs. Sunitha Bhandari, a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Medal involved in community service, young Archana wanted to play a central role in effecting sustainable societal changes after her graduation.

A National Scholarship Awardee from the Ministry of Education & Culture, Government of India, Archana completed her bachelor’s in arts as a meritorious student. Her passion for making a difference in people’s lives through her work got a shot in the arm when she married Dilip Surana, Managing Director of Micro Labs, a leading pharmaceutical giant in India.

Tryst with passion

‘Making the lives of people and the communities better’ has been the common denominator for everyone at the Surana household. While her husband was busy driving science to bring affordable medicines to patient care, Archana chose ‘Education’ as the path for social development.

While she was sitting on the board of Micro Labs, she was invited by her father-in-law Sri. Ghewarchandji Surana, a visionary industrialist to helm the GDA Foundation – a Charitable Trust owned by the Surana’s. Today, the Trust manages four educational institutions in Bangalore and serves over 5000 students from primary school till postgraduation. The educational institutions that completed 25 years off service in 2020 have served 45000 students from various social and economic backgrounds.

Taking higher education to the next level

Having spent over 25 good years running academic institutions of all nature, Archana Surana wants to offer world-class education to Indian students. The giant leap of moving away from University shadow to an autonomous institution is a significant milestone for the educational institutes she manages. She is determined to make industryrelevant education a reality through autonomy. She is also in talks with many leading academic start-ups to offer global education options to her students. Under her leadership, Surana College is re-accredited with the prestigious ‘A+’ grade by NAAC, a feat achieved by very few institutes in India.

Archana spent the COVID lockdown as an opportunity to chalk down the vision document for the next decade for her educational institutions. In a major rejig, she has been infusing many young and experienced faces to take up high-performing roles to take the educational institutes to the next sphere of growth.

The joy of giving

Watching problems get solved in front of your eyes is very satisfying, says Dr. Archana Surana when you ask her what motivates her to give and continue giving. From slashing the tuition fees for the needy to the academically meritorious, from supporting the single/double orphaned students to helping students pursue their areas of interest, from sending relief materials to contributing to the PM’s emergency fund during natural calamities, Archana Surana doesn’t wait for an opportunity to give.

Her mid-day meal events for the visually impaired, donations to critical medical care and gifting of tractors to the local corporation for water distribution go beyond the ambits of education. According to her effecting a crucial societal change through education, healthcare, or rural development aligns with her definition of success. Her nature of giving is so contagious that the students and faculty members of her educational institutes are widely known for many social impact projects like blood donation, environmental cause, gender diversity and so on. She was also one of the Advisory members for Association for Health Care Providers-India (AHPI) for drafting Guidelines for Reopening of Schools, Post-Covid-19 Pandamic (Joint Advisory by AHPI & GCCMC.

A leader par excellence

The strong humanitarian side of Archana Surana has been the distinguishing quality of her leadership style. Today, she manages a workforce of over 500 across the educational institutes, most of whom she hired over a couple of decades ago. Archana strongly believes in diversity and inclusion. Her educational institutes are predominantly managed and run by women. Her hands-on approach and mentoring capabilities have benefitted people far and beyond.

Her thrust for quality and excellence has time and again brought laurels to the educational institutions she manages. Under her leadership, the educational institutes have collectively bagged more than 48 university ranks across streams in the last two decades. Archana Surana means business when she talks about ‘Holistic Development’. During the late 2000’s, she started giving more significant push towards churning students in the field of sports, culture, and media. It is a matter of pride that many alumni from the Surana Educational Institutions have made their mark in the national and international arena in sports and culture.

She encouraged the faculty members to embark on a research-driven teaching approach. Under her leadership, the educational institutes have organized many national and international conferences, symposiums, and thought exchange forums to address many pressing issues in the fields of science, arts, mental wellbeing, and literature.

When she is not at work…

A pious and religious individual, Archana spends time at the Jain temples constructed by her family in Bangalore. Today, the temples have come along not merely as a place of worship but as a monastery for wayfaring monks and spiritual seekers. Archana ensures that the facilities in these monasteries are top-notch so that the seekers of truth do not undergo any discomfort in their profound passage. She personally oversees the weekly ‘Anna-Dhana (food donation) at these temples for the public.

Archana loves to take quiet breaks from the mundane and globe-trot with Diya Surana, her Warwick Business School graduate daughter who recently joined the family business. Archana is also a most sought-after speaker on women’s rights, quality in education, child development, life skills and management.

Few honors received by Dr. Archana

Karnataka Gaurav Award
By All India Technical & Management Council
India’s Most Valuable Woman Educationalist
By Network 7 Media Group
Best Interactive Solution Provider
By The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)
Best Educationist Award
By International Institute of Education & Management
Mahila Ratan Gold Medal Award
By ISC-Indian Solidarity Council
Bharath Shiksha Ratan Award
By Global Society for Health & Educational Growth
India’s Most Valuable Woman Educationalist
By Network 7 Media Group
Star of Asia Award
By International Business Council
Outstanding Entrepreneur Award
By Management Teachers Consortium,MTC-Global
Mother Teresa Sadbhawana Award
By Achievers Association for Economic Research & Development
Honorary Doctorate (D.Litt)
By University of South America
National CSR Women Leadership Award
By National Awards for Excellence in CSR & Sustainability
Certificate of Excellence in Recognition of Exemplary Contribution to the Education Sector
By Stimulus Research Services
Daughter of Karnataka Award
By All India Conference of Intellectuals

Zaitun Khan: Persistence, Positivity, and Empathy can Offer Disruptive Results

Being a leader and spearheading innovative aspects to better the functioning of any business is a difficult task. It is an art that allows the blending of various developing factors in order to fabricate the pavement of success. A leader has to be imperative with his/her thoughts to provide an apt and all-encompassing solution to eradicate the issues if any. He/she leader must be able to consider every individual’s perspective in the team to present a mutually satisfactory resolution. Very few such personalities have been witnessed that have transformed the customary organization’s ways by implementing the essence of decisiveness and positive energy; one such is Zaitun.

Meet Zaitun Khan, the Director – HR at MouthShut.com, an avid business personality who has strategically brought a disruption in maintaining human resources. She drives with compassion for her employees wanting to assist them in procuring a productive approach to the betterment of the business. With a diverse industry experience of 10+ years, she has been a strong team player who is attentive to detail and has the ability to work in a fast-paced environment.

In the year 2005, Zaitun earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from SVKT College, followed by a degree in business administration. However, as she belongs to a family of lawyers, she was always motivated to acquire that degree for herself. Thus, she went on to study at NBT Law College for her Bachelor of Law – LLB, Criminology, and Business Law. “In all my years of experience, I’ve found that having a law degree has benefited me from comprehending the nuances of working in the IT business since the beginning of her career,” she asserts.

Changing the Customary Ways

Prior to joining MouthShut.com in 2016, she had the opportunity to work with major organizations such as Mahindra Lifespace Developers, MattChariot Education and Technology, and others. With extensive experience, she has been able to direct MouthShut to excel in reliability, emotional stability, workplace structure, and functional skill. It is India’s most popular social network for people to assess and review goods and services; a forum where customers can review thousands of items and resources that are accessible to everyone for free. It has earned a reputable stature in the market that combines all-encompassing information and provides access to customers in order to improve their awareness of the products/services and make it easier for them to make purchasing decisions. Simultaneously, Mouthshut enables businesses and companies with a large archive of reviews to help them improve their offerings, products, and company image. She mentions her company highly invests in Research and development (R&D) to develop and strengthen the business through market research and meeting consumers’ demands with superior products and services. “Businesses that have an R&D plan have a better likelihood of success than those that do not,” she emphasizes. She firmly believes that a research and development strategy can increase productivity and innovation while enhancing one’s sustainable competitive position. “Innovation can only be brought about by Research and Development, which is an essential component of any organization, and without it, the company would be dormant,” she continues. Moreover, the company desires to expand its operation in India and add additional brands to the platform from a variety of categories. “The future is bright because most businesses are now using reviews to enhance or develop new product lines,” she adds.

Overcoming all the barriers

One of the most difficult aspects Zaitun faced was to manage the entire company’s HR single-handedly. “It was the most challenging experience I’d ever attempted,” she mentions. There were times when she was the sole point of contact between the CEO and the staff. She has taken on roles that entail a high level competence and knowledge base. She used to inspire departments and assist in the formation of new teams, particularly in marketing and communications. “I’ve seen the essence of every job in the company,” she says. She feels grateful to her CEO, Mr. Faisal Farooqui, for trusting in her ideas and measures to build his business to a successful stature. Further, she says “I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to manage the complete functionality of the HR team.”

One of the most significant aspects of her career has been shattering the glass ceiling to ensure that all employees should accomplish progress and can relate to strategic initiatives in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance. By phrasing Betty Bender, “people should never have to leave their hearts at home when they go to work,” Zaitun tries to explain that empathy should also be implemented as a factor in creating a healthy work environment.

Insights to Cherish

Being a compassionate and optimistic leader, she recommends every business leader to be energetic, motivated, and inspired, for their employees to follow. A leader must maintain a decisive approach and sheer enthusiasm to complete his/her task. She reckons that empathizing with employees and offering imperative feedback to them can elevate their confidence substantially.

Personally, she encourages her employees to bring their A-game to work each day. Thus, she understands the possible benefits of offering imperative feedback to employees and empathizing with them. She advises companies to start their workforces immediately in order to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 quandary. “COVID-19 has accelerated the use of totally digital approaches to re-create the best of in-person learning through live video and social sharing,” she adds.

It has been predicted in the future that a larger priority on category-based emphasis, will be placed in order to help end-consumers, make better purchase decisions and its clients handle difficulties and develop their products. Thus, she also suggests to aspiring business leaders to research the population and demographic-economic statistics for the targeted area/zone before starting a business. He/she should also ensure that market is vast and powerful enough to accommodate the type of consumers or targeted audience. Zaitun also states that one must he/she invest in employees who are committed to the company’s success and also share its values and ambitions.

To conclude, Zaitun as an exceptional HR professional will continue to encourage her employees and their leaders to acquire a strategy to cumulatively provide a better solution for the greater good of the company. She believes that as IT sector is growing at such a rapid speed, one must constantly focus on the quality, modernity, and distinctiveness of the work. With this industry’s ever-increasing expectations and the world recuperating from a pandemic, it is critical to find the correct balance between the company, the customers, and the staff. It has been critical to keep employee morale at an all-time high. It is a difficult experience to keep an eye on everyone else’s mental health while preserving your own. It is harder to cope with such a volatile and high-stress workplace. Now that things are gradually returning to normal, she highlights that she envisions an exponential growth in this industry.

Marika Gederte: An Entrepreneur on a verge of Making a Difference

Imagine an individual applying for a job, not for the required position but the CEO of the company, and gets the job. It is highly strange to witness such an instance, but never implausible. This incredible excerpt of life belongs to Marika Gederte, Founder of the International College of Cosmetology. It requires strong determination and belief in oneself, to take a risk and pursue one’s desire. These are the traits of a true entrepreneur, and Marika remarkably portrayed the spirit of entrepreneurship. Her risk-taking ability and perseverance often assisted her in grasping various opportunities in her professional journey. Even while applying for the job, she made an alliance with her courage and proved the fact that no dream is unrealistic. “Looking back, I would say that I am not afraid of safe and completely opposite solutions,” she proudly mentions.

Marika belongs to a small but extremely beautiful country with less than two million inhabitants—Latvia. From a very young age, she desired to attain financial independence and was determined to put efforts to engender it. She firmly believes that being open to learning new things is the key factor that helps an individual to grow. She has completed 25 years as an entrepreneur still she studies hard to educate herself with new things. “At the moment I call myself an eternal student,” she adds. “The more I study, the more I realize that I know so little and that this eternal engine makes me achieve higher and higher goals in my business as well.”

She founded International College of Cosmetology almost 20 years ago; currently, she co-owns it and prepares specialists in cosmetology and therapeutic massage within two and three years. Her clients at the college are students or people who purposefully want to take up the profession and work in beauty or health care. She has spent many years building her impeccable reputation and developing credibility in her work. It is significantly important to her as she wants to be a good example and inspire others through her work. Moreover, receiving the first international prestigious award from UK, from the Confederation of International Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology, as the best new school, she began to believe that her work is making a difference. Her company also received an award for diversity management.

“Such recognitions are incredibly motivating to continue the great work with even more passion,” she says with relief. She believes that she and her team are setting benchmarks for education in beauty and wellness. In 2019, as the only educational institution and company in Latvia her company also received an international award – EFQM Committed to Excellence Certificate and Sustainability Silver Award. Meanwhile, she has received the Human Development Award given by the Civic Alliance in Latvia together with the American Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Embassy in Latvia in the category of Social Responsibility for organizing various charity events. She earned these recognitions by overcoming all the obstacles. The main challenge she generally faces is to build a loyal team that believes in her ideology and has the same “drive” to be better. She claims herself an incorrigible optimist individual who constantly expands the comfort zone of her and her team. “But not everyone is into force. I am also inspired by the staff and individuals and it creates mutual synergy,” she adds.

Changing the whole world is very difficult, so Marika’s recommendation for the industry is to focus on one thing and to do it well, at least within the organization. She exemplifies that they must start with respecting equal employment opportunities, the right to education and training. “Unequal career and educational opportunities, constrained by pregnancy, maternity and childcare responsibilities, and the increased risk of poverty associated with unemployment, especially for women of pre-retirement and retirement age, are having a negative impact on the situation of women in the labor market. Age, disability, and ethnicity are additional aspects that can affect women’s and men’s opportunities in the labor market and thus their quality of life in general,” she adds.

She suggests everyone must discover a new life balance as pandemic has not only disrupted business but also created new business models. Thus, one must dwell towards adaptation and provide new solutions to sustain in the market. On contrary, she also believes that pandemic in-a-way helped individuals to re-focus on their approach and set new ambitions and goals. Being a passionate creator of companies and projects, she feels very inspired by new things. For prospect, she wants to focus more on mentoring, traveling and blogging, real estate, and investing. “I don’t want to take on such a huge emotional responsibility anymore, but think more about myself, about my health, sports discipline, and new goals,” she quotes.

You must least ‘Try’

She recommends both men and women aspiring entrepreneurs to ‘try’. One is not aware of his or her destiny, but one must try tirelessly for his/her ambition. Further, she states, “once as a mentor, I tried to tell young entrepreneurs about my mistakes, but then I realized that the path is different for each of us and the best teacher has his own mistakes.” She believes, though good education is necessary it is not the sole deciding factor of attaining success in entrepreneurship. Moreover, she feels important to believe in what you are doing, to find a way of doing business that helps consumers solve their problems, be in the right place at the right time and take risks. “As we say, those who do not take risks do not drink champagne,” she concludes.

Elca Grobler ensures Women stays Undoubtedly the strongest Pillars of the Society

Women empowerment has always been a key aspect while updating plans and policies for the growth and development of any nation. In India, NGOs have remarkably contributed to facilitating the process of empowerment among women. In this issue, we take pride in featuring an exceptional female leader who has worked tirelessly over the course of the last 10 years to develop programs that would meet the challenge of domestic violence and sex trafficking in India, by serving women in India by working for their education and empowerment and ensuring that they are given the choice to live a life free from abuse, violence and exploitation.

Meet Elca Grobler, the Founder of My Choices Foundation, an MBA graduate from South Africa, who feels compassionate about justice and giving back to the community by empowering women. After completing 15 years in the Financial Services sector, she decided to utilize her skills and experience to empower developing communities, joining Opportunity International Australia—a world leader in micro-finance in the developing world. She spent 3 years with the organization and shifted to India in the year 2011. There she met many women across India to understand their situations and needs. With every passing-by story and experience, she realized that she was stepping towards the greater good, hence she laid the foundation of My Choices Foundation. The first initiative taken by the foundation was

Operation Peacemaker. This initiative focuses its efforts on counseling, and resolving violence through mediation (counselling) and including every member of the family, including the perpetrator, in the process of establishing peace. Since its inception, My Choices Foundation has grown and established Operation Red Alert, addressing sex trafficking and the exploitation of women and girls in India. It commissioned an 18-month research paper (that won the ESOMAR Best Paper of the Year Award 2015-16), doing landscape analysis and studying the behavioral aspects on both the supply and demand side of sex trafficking.

My Choice Foundation

My Choices Foundation is a non-profit organization based in India that aims to witness a transformation of the nation into a safe, peaceful, and flourishing place for women and girls, by empowering them with the awareness, education, and support they need to become their change agents. It addresses two of the most pervasive and intractable human rights abuses, domestic violence and anti-sex trafficking, through their two initiatives – Operation PeaceMaker and Operation Red Alert.

Operation PeaceMaker aims to stop domestic violence while promoting gender equality through sustainable grassroots programs that empower girls and women while addressing the issue of domestic violence by providing free counseling, legal and safe home services through their 5 counseling centres and 11 regional partners across India. Customized awareness programs are also conducted based on the demographics to be addressed.

Operation Red Alert created the Safe Village Program that aims at sensitizing at-risk community members about human trafficking risk factors, creating awareness about ways to prevent sex trafficking, sustaining the awareness, and empowering the community through Rakshaks, Nodal Teachers, and Gram Mitra concepts. Focused on rural India, this program includes innovative tools such as comic books and a national helpline. It is tailor-made with special messaging for each of the stakeholders to speak to their particular situation and provide powerfully relevant information and motivation to be safe. Moreover, The Safe Village Program uses an innovative technology called the Village Mapping Tool that helps identify villages that are at high risk for being on the radar of traffickers.

Moreover, My Choices Foundation is an 80% women-led organization and has a 100% women-led board. Equalizing any industry and making it more balanced, as it believes in empowering women and offering them the chances that they deserve.

Desire to Speak for the Oppressed

Elca’s deep desire to speak for those that are most oppressed and for those that cannot speak for themselves was fueled by her experiences working in micro-finance. This desire for social justice, specifically for women and girls, acted as a seed that had grown in her heart for many years which eventually paved the path for the foundation. My Choices Foundation helps all women, children, and families get a life free from abuse and exploitation. It firmly believes that people will only attend counseling or awareness sessions if they trust the organization. “The leadership that they employ ensures that a culture of trust is instilled in the rest of the team and through this, they build their faith with the clients that they meet,” Elca adds.

Yet, the work done at My choices Foundation is difficult as the work deals with immense pain & suffering. “In the process hearts are repeatedly broken with grief that sits deep in the souls,” Elca states. But investing one’s energy in such work also makes one attain courage and the amazing thing about courage is that it is contagious. Elca believes that courage can change families and communities and villages and cities. For example, the courage of a 14-year old that phones the helpline, stating that her parent is forcing her into a child marriage, and can we please help her. It is this type of courage, resilience and beauty of these girls that inspires Elca and her team to get up every morning to stand up for them, especially when they can’t do it for themselves. “To transform themselves, but also those around themselves,” she continues.

Elca Grobler and her team have been given the privilege to step into thousands of families’ lives and help them slowly repair the broken pieces, and replace violence with peace. She states that most women do not have a choice to live a life without abuse and exploitation. They have to go back to their homes for the sake of the children and that displays true courage. The spirit of the human soul that does not give up can be reflected in the schoolgirl’s absolute commitment and courage to look after one another and not make the same mistake that their mothers made. “In most cases, this is not the mistake of the mothers, since they were born in this situation,” she states. “But to think about a girl who dreams of a better life and is willing to learn and sit by candlelight only to have a better future and be educated.”

Future Endeavours

My choices foundation has successfully completed 10 years and is currently operating in 10 states. Further, she desires to deepen and expand the work of their two national helplines dealing with domestic violence and prevention of sex trafficking respectively.

Furthermore, she and her team envision giving women and children the choice to live lives free from abuse, violence, and exploitation. Their work has been impacting many lives thus, they are determined to grow in the next 10 years and ensure to make India free of inhuman activities. “Overcoming abuse doesn’t just happen, it takes positive steps every day. Let today be the day you start to move forward,” she concludes.

“We have to be willing to do uncomfortable things, to do inconvenient things—that’s when the world changes,” Bryan Stevenson

Awards & Accolades:

2015, eNGO Jury Special Mention for Women Empowerment. Awarded for online campaigning against gender-based violence.
2016, Social Media for Empowerment Award Grand Jury Award for Women Empowerment. Awarded for the #Respect2Protect campaign.
2016, ESOMAR Paper of the Year Award for excellence in Market Research. Awarded for the Red Alert Research Paper exploring the determinants of male behavior perpetuating sex trafficking.
2017, 50 Most Impactful Social Innovators Award
2017, AGSM Alumni Award for Social Impact and Public Policy
2017, Notes to My Father, the world’s 1st VR documentary on sex-trafficking created in partnership with Oculus and Facebook made its world premier as an Official Selection at SXSW Film Festival.
2017 Grassroots Justice Prize for The #WalkTogether Prize for Courage
2018, Operation PeaceMaker chosen one of the top 5 ideas globally in the BridgeBuilder Challenge, organised by GHR Foundation
2018, Global title of one of the 100 Sparks of Hope, The Elders
2018, Elca Grobler was recognised as of the 100 most impactful CSR Leaders, by World CSR and World sustainability congress and World federation of CSR Professionals
2019, Elca Grobler was recognised as of the 100 most impactful CSR Leaders, by World CSR and World sustainability congress and World federation of CSR Professionals
2019, Winner of the Eastern Bhoomika 2019 Hyderabad edition for excellence in social work.
2020, Elca Grobler was recognised as one of the 101 Impactful Global CSR Leaders, by World CSR and World sustainability congress and World federation of CSR Professionals
2021, My Choices Foundation was awarded the 2021 Global Choice Award Certificate of Excellence for the Most Trusted NGO for Women Rights and Education
2021, Elca Grobler was awarded the International Achievers’ Award in Recognition of Outstanding Professional Achievement & Contribution in Nation Building by Indian Achievers’ Forum & CSR Tim

Please visit My Choices Foundation’s website for more information: https://mychoicesfoundation.org/

Witness Shubha Rawal, changing the Customary way of Businesses

Meet Shubha Rawal, a proficient, focus-driven, and decisive leader acting as Head-Sourcing at IG International Pvt. Ltd. She has been associated with the company for the past 12 years. During her tenure, she has attended many professional development programs from premier institutions; Executive Education Program, Artificial Intelligence from Indian School of Business Hyderabad, Digital and Social Media Marketing Strategies from IIM Bangalore, Organizational Excellence Through Leadership from Delhi University, and many more to be updated and well-versed in the industry. She has opted to be a practical businesswoman and has developed absolute clarity for what she does. This has helped her professionally in achieving many milestones in her pathway.

Additionally, she manages Corporate Communications and Public Relations, Relationship Management with international business associates; manages end-to-end promotions for global brands in the fresh produce industry, among many others. Also, she is the running Head of IG Wrapple Street, the company’s newly launched retail venture.

Exemplary Offerings by IG

For more than 50 years, IG International has been a prominent leader in supplying fresh fruits all over India; making it the largest importer in the country. “We import premium fresh fruits, from established and leading growers all over the world, to a tune of more than 1,20,000 Metric Tons annually from around 22 countries,” she adds. The company equips a plethora of infrastructure of temperature-controlled warehousing spread across the country, a large cold-chain logistics of more than a hundred reefer trucks, and an organization aptly developed to support its business. In the central state of India, Madhya Pradesh, the company cultivates premium blueberries, licensed by Australia’s Mountain Blue for domestic market and exports. It also owns farms and orchards in states like Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, and Telangana to grow apples, kiwis, and other fruits. Moreover, its orchard-based fruit growing is spread across the globe, specifically cultivating cherries and apples in Czech Republic. It is also indulged in a logistics venture named IG Logistics providing third-party logistics in India.

Shubha Rawal and her team, recently, have offered a brand-new concept in the culinary world—IG Wrapple Street and Fruitisserie. It is a concept-eatery and a takeaway, first opened at Bandra, Mumbai. Like there are patisseries—Fruitisserie is about the unique assortment of gourmet desserts and delicacies with fruit as the core ingredient. The specialty of the place is its innovative Apple Wrapples. “Both IG Fruits and IG Wrapple Street have a robust online presence with fully developed e-commerce and eco-system,” she asserts with pride.

The promise of IG BRAND is the bond that holds its customers. IG’s commitment to bring them the best fruit of the world, farm fresh at their doorstep, anywhere and everywhere in India—is what ensures their patronage. “The quality and the taste they find in our fruits holds them with us for a very long time. It is something like—once an IG customer, always an IG customer,” she highlights.

A Glimpse into the Future

“Going by our brand tagline, I would say our future is Fresh & Sweet, Always! That’s because the imported fruits category is growing its popularity in India, especially among the youth,” she mentions. “Even in smaller cities and towns, our fruits sell.” The health and nutrition aspect has increased the demand for health products propagating IG’s business. Imported fruits have become trail-blaze in India as these fruits are not only good to look at but also highly nutritious. Though the pandemic has hit almost every business in the market, it has miraculously boosted the demand as people’s choice of healthy options became a lifestyle aspiration. This may secure the targeted market but, securing market share is more essential. She optimistically feels in aiming to capitalize on this market opportunity for the company.

Moreover, she and her team are excited about IG Wrapple Street, as this venture will be a trendsetter in the Fruitisserie business. It is futuristic, youthful and healthy, and meant for today’s consumer, and people like it. “We had an encouraging start with our first café and we have clear blueprints of our expansion in near future,” she says. Hopefully, the business will be available across the places in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, and other metro cities. Whereas, the company is already available on eCommerce and blooming robustly as the demand increases. “Health is going to stay and so is the demand,” she says.

Note-worthy bits of Advice

Shubha Rawal recommends that, first and foremost, the companies should lean towards the merit of meritocracy by defying any discrimination, especially gender’s, whatsoever. They must realize that man or woman can do any work with equal efficiency. It is this belief that forms the core of gender equality at the workplace. She desires that every company should change its mindset to eradicate any sort of gender discrimination. “From the top person to the most bottom level, gender sensitivity and gender equality must be promoted throughout,” she emphasizes. She further utters, women employees should be given equal opportunities to work breaking the gender barrier and supports teamwork in the organization. She also comprehends prioritizing safety of women employees in enterprises by taking appropriate measures like adequate surveillance and security within and around the office premises. Also, strict compliance of prevention, prohibition and redressal of harassment of women at workplace and companies should assure the women workers of its commitment to adherence to zero tolerance policies.

She understands the obstacles a businesswoman might face while building the success path for herself. Amidst such instances, Shubha Rawal advises one to be authentic and not try to force-fit oneself in any kind of mold. “Always remember, you are who you are. Be your own voice. You don’t need to prove yourself every time.” She recommends one to march confidently and grasp every opportunity put forth. “During these times, it’s important to remember why you started to begin with. Focus, prioritize and things will fall in places. After all, it’s not that difficult,” she concludes.

Quote: “Enjoy the sweet fruit of your work every day and don’t store it for future use. It’ll just rot.”

Sarah Lines: Answer your Awakening with Sarah Lines through Goddess Alchemy Academy

Meet Sarah Lines, Founder of Goddess Alchemy Academy, an influential leader who enhances your awakening and helps you explore an unexpected yet beautiful journey of spirituality. She leads visionary women into superconscious creation., she assists them to awaken the goddess within and shine their light to the world. She offers an exceptional experience where these women are able to manifest the life and business they desire.

A compassionate leader

Sarah describes herself as a soul-driven and heart-centered individual, who is very much fond of cats. Through her work, she helps spiritual entrepreneurs on their mission disrupt the old paradigms to more deeply connect with their inner being and activate their purpose. As a Soul Coach and channel, she assists visionary women to become a superconscious creation and catapulting them into a new energy of radiance, abundance and purpose-driven lives.

Sarah Lines admires discipline. She understands that well-being requires a perfect blend of compassion with discipline to motivate oneself every day. She wakes up at 7 am, without delay, to help her son who has special needs, and help him to ready for school. At 8 am, she spends an hour having coffee, attaining peace, meditating, and talking to her spirit team about the day ahead. Later after an hour till 10 am, she integrates her energy in office-related work and where she facilitates a meeting or prepares for presentations or launches. The rest of the day she spends with her son and cats, whom she loves the most, and channelizes her energy towards peace of mind state. Through her daily routine, she encourages women to follow their call and accept their well-being at first. It was Sarah’s soul calling to go big, to help women across the globe birth their dreams into reality.

Be the Goddess with the Goddess

Her company—Goddess Alchemy Academy is an educational, healing school for women who want to ascend in their life and business. She and her team teach women how to achieve success and 5 figure months while living their soul mission. Her clients are dedicated to changing their typical early lifestyle to accept their spiritual calling. Her clients are female spiritual entrepreneurs and are ready to create their dream life through sharing their sacred purpose work with the world. These clients are aware of the honesty Sarah Lines offers on the platter and she will never break integrity to win popularity. She always advises everyone, to tell the truth, be authentic and serve their purpose wholeheartedly. Her team understands that she must maintain the integrity and be heart-centered when dealing with any aspect of her business. “Good Intention, honesty and soul-service is very important to me,” she asserts.

She, too, encountered difficulties along the way and did not change course. She stayed soul-aligned and followed the next right thing to do each month. In 2014. Sarah Lines was homeless and was suffering from addiction, but she found her awakening and changed her life altogether. She lived her life in poverty, addiction and despair thus wanted to share how possible transformation is. Because she truly believes that it’s possible for anyone. It was her determination that helped her in achieving many milestones in her pathway, she says, “I never considered giving up. Ever.” She has consistently released blocks, beliefs, and people in the way of her success. “Anything not of my highest good – goes,” she adds. She always has a coach at any given or specific time, as it is very important for her to have someone that carries out the functioning and holds her space in her absence.

With over 4 books published, she has become a multi-best-selling author on Amazon with books also being published by Lovely Silks and Austin Macauley. She was always fond of writing and thus she invested her energy and time into it. She states that each one of us could live from our hearts— “we truly could change the world through successful heart-centered entrepreneurship,” she adds.

Insight worth Appreciating

Being a self-help enthusiast, she suggests every individual, suffering and non-suffering, to not give up on his/her ambitions or life. Rather one must furiously adapt to an ideology to be optimistic and apply decisiveness to evolve. He/she must fabricate a growth strategy that depicts a crystal-clear notion of one’s approach and try to sustain that strategy. Whereas, if a business aspirant desires to make a name and influence others with the work, then he/she should also implicate the above-discussed points. One must offer all of the energy to make prevail in achieving their ambitions and set an example for others to follow. She suggests leaders never back down from an opportunity and invest whenever seems fit. Lastly, she also mentions her favorite book Secrets of a Millionare Mind by T Harv Ecker, and recommends every individual to read this masterpiece as it assists them in the early bit of entrepreneurship. “I loved it. I still go back to it,” she highlights.

She comprehends the sufferings of the less fortunate and feels compassionate towards helping them. She desires to become to secret millionaire so that she can help such individuals across the globe and end their sufferings. She paraphrases Carl Jung, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” Moreover, she is at the beginning stages of planting a forest in partnership with tree-nation., and desires to contribute towards the well-being of the environment.

Guiding and Transforming your Team with TyAnn “Ty” Osborn

It can be undoubtedly stated that women are changing the paradigm of business throughout various industries. Although gender discrimination still lurks in organizations, female business personalities are working to attain a successful stature in their respective stream. It has been witnessed that gender neutralization is a must in business as it allows an adaptation of cumulative approach for success as a team. To assist such entities, TyAnn Osborn offers authentic and innovative business coaching and training programs so that these companies can establish their employees to become a perfect blend of skilled individuals (a team) that then seamlessly help enterprises achieve their milestones.

Meet TyAnn “Ty” Osborn, an exemplary entrepreneur helping Fortune 500 companies through innovative reforms. She founded Osborn Consulting Group LLC in 2012, a transformational strengths-based coaching and training company that empowers employees to discover the value of their unique abilities so they can learn how to engage with their fellow team members, be more productive, build stronger relationships, and authentically show up in their daily lives. Ty has spent her career enabling business leaders, managers, and employees to improve their performance and effectiveness through innovative professional development and strategic talent solutions. Prior to launching the business, she served as the Global Director of Human Resources for the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, an organization with a $2 billion endowment dedicated to improving the lives of children in urban poverty. The foundation is the family philanthropic foundation started by the founder of Dell Technologies.

Being an entrepreneur, Ty has faced various obstacles while building a name in the industry. There were some difficult times which she refers to as a bottleneck and then the sticking point where her business stagnated instead of growing. “I had said yes to too many things and had too little help to make it happen,” she admits. “That was a recipe for burnout and I actually ended up with a health scare and a trip to the emergency room.” This gave her the urgency and drive to make drastic changes in the business. “Then I started asking for help, which was so hard! But that was a game changer,” she adds.

A peek in Osborn Consulting Group

Her venture can be defined as a speaking, training, and coaching company that focuses on strengths-based performance, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness. She was among one of the first groups of Gallup certified Strengths^© coaches and trainers in the world, and the strengths methodology forms the foundation of all of the work that she and her team do. Simply stated, this enables employees to understand their unique gifts and then apply those gifts to their roles. Research shows that people who know and use their strengths are more engaged at work, are more productive in their roles, and are happier and healthier. The global pandemic brought about unexpected benefits to her business. “I am delighted that we can offer our services in dynamic in-person events as well as engaging virtual formats,” she highlights.

Her clients range from small-scale non-profits to Fortune 500 companies. Her services span functions and industries, so they are useful regardless of what an organization’s industry definition is. “If they have employees and are interested in accelerating human potential, then they are a client for us,” Ty says. She feels fortunate to have been able to work with amazing companies over the years such as Dow Chemical, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, PayPal, EA Sports, Indeed, EY, Abbvie, Qualcomm, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Realtor.com, the University of Texas, and many more. Her company ensures continued business by delivering on its promises, being easy to work with, and customizing each solution. “There is no ‘one size fits all’ product in a box that we offer – each client deserves a solution tailor-made for their unique environment,” she highlights.

Osborn Consulting is also certified as a HUB – a Historically Underutilized Business- by the state of Texas. It is very important for Ty to provide growth and business opportunities to other women and minorities. She feels delighted that her team is comprised of amazingly talented people who are specialists in their fields, from administration to operations, social media to coaching. One of Ty’s Top 5 personal strengths is futuristic. People equipped with this gift often energize others with their visions of the future. Being a visionary, she is always planning to keep one step ahead by looking at future possibilities.

Advice from the Expert

Ty takes pride that in 2022 she is celebrating her tenth year in the business. “It has absolutely flown by! Each year has been more successful than the previous,” she asserts. She envisions continuing to impact clients by helping them discover their potential and shine at every point. She looks forward to expanding her business by recruiting more skilled professionals in her team.

Currently, among other clients, she and her team are working on an innovative full-scale strengths rollout with a large, distributed campus school district from the superintendent down to the students, and they are looking forward to the opening of many more possibilities in the future. “Clients often ask “what’s next” so I’m excited about building custom solutions for them,” she mentions.

She values bringing a tangible and meaningful difference in their lives through a speaking, training and coaching company. “What keeps me going is seeing my clients light up from within,” she says. Her clients have always been the inspiration for her continued success. She recommends that every individual be open and stay curious in learning new things about themselves through the Gallup CliftonStrengths Assessment. “If you want to be successful then study success. Hang out with successful people. Read about success. Be careful with what you ingest – if you only take in negative things then that is what you will become,” she offers.

Leian Harosky: Building Life-long Relationships

Every individual deserves to build wealth and financial freedom through real estate, either by investing in a house or buying a home to retire in. Many realtors in the industry offer to make this dream into reality, but few have earned a name in the market through remarkable strategies blended with kindness.

Leian Harosky—the principal broker and Owner of Harosky Homes LLC—is one such compassionate business leader who has remarkably contributed in bringing her decades of experience to the local real estate landscape. Through her venture, she and her team have dedicatedly worked to help current and prospective homeowners make their dreams come true. It is a full-service real estate office conducting various real estates seminars such as home buying, home selling, 1031 exchange, luxury transactions, shortfall and lender sale. Her team holds expertise in home buying and selling, 1031 exchanges, short sales, and Veterans Affairs (V.A.) home purchases.

Moreover, her company arranges buying seminars to talk about all the details involved with the process so prospective clients are ready when looking to buy and sell properties, as well as learn about rental property strategies, and Oahu market trends. It also assists a lot of military families stationed in Hawaii.

Into the Shoes of Leian

At the age of 28, Leian worked at a U.S. Embassy in an Islamic country where she had coveted security clearance and received vital training. This experience helped her to build relationships with multiple countries and an array of people, as she kept up with foreign affairs and helped employees of the embassy with housing needs. She recalls, “I grew up on a farm, so that helps me remain grounded and down to earth, we treat the business and our clients like a family. Through my business, I believe in giving back so I give to organisations and feel to promote goodness to others to create a better world.” She is one of the VA educators for veterans, active military and their dependents and teaches two times a month at VA centers and once a week inside a military base. As Harosky Homes LLC includes four retired military officers on its team, Leian explains the diversity within the company shines through as everyone can speak different languages. The staff can speak Tagalog, Mandarin, Malay, Indonesian, Spanish, Italian, Thai, and Korean to further assist clients.

Leian cherishes every day of her life; she feels blessed to have an exemplary team through which she can help many people to have their dream home. “The balance in work life is a big factor was the reason why I choose to pursue a career in real estate,” Leian adds. But the work is not as simple as it seems. She states that the primary challenge that she faces is establishing everything from scratch, and later finding good vendors to work together as a team, as it is crucial. There is a need for good vendors that work as hard for the company as the company works for their clients. Fortunately, Harosky’s Homes has a diverse group of realtors who vary in age, ethnicity, and culture but work together to create a promising experience for their clients.

Building lifelong Relationships

Leian has completed almost 18 years in the business, since then she has developed various abilities including being multilinguistic. Growing up with a diverse family and being exposed to various cultures helped her learn and adapt quickly, be respectful and think differently while helping people. Her diverse background also helped her in connecting with a distinctive range of people. Most of her clients whom she has assisted have been able to resell their properties and make money because of her strategies and brainstorming sessions. Firstly, she prefers to educate everyone on the significance of a true team effort, and later provide them with the crucial education to equip clients with achieving their real estate goals; be it a home to retire in or an investment. Her clients can benefit from the energy, creativity, and technology reach that Harosky Homes LLC brings to the industry. It has directed thier attention on building local relationships and immersing itself in the community by focusing on leveraging their professional sphere to expand the local network.

Leian has been awarded Hawaii Women Means Business 2019 along with the listing in AREAA A-list 2022; number 1 closed transaction in Hawaii; and number 3 in sales & volume. She has also earned the Soaring Eagle Award and Fallen Warrior Award. Moreover, Leian is also a real estate investor with experience working internationally, as well as with the U.S. State Department, US Embassy in Asia assigning houses for Military Diplomats and Foreign Service Officers. “So, with that government and corporate background, I learned how to be discreet and diplomatic,” she asserts.

A Glimpse into the Future

Leian Harosky is planning to establish a non-profit organization called Helping O’Hana and Untraffick. She envisions expanding to other branches to share their experience in helping others find a home and contribute to orphanages and their non-profit organizations. She looks forward to getting more involved in the local community and giving back. She believes that a woman should not fear and embrace their womanhood and not let themselves get pushed aside because they are female. “You can think like a man and act like a lady. You are more powerful than you think.” she states.

To conclude, we can state that Leian Harosky is instilled with the importance of homeownership, equity, and property maintenance, and believes in running an ethical and honest business. “If there is no space for you in whatever you intend to do, then create space and invite them to your space,” she adds.