Nagpur, Aug27
The Lady Entrepreneurs’ Wing of Vidarbha Industries Association conducted a virtual session on 'The Incredible Story of an Amazing Entrepreneur- Dr. Kalpana Saroj' recently.
The guest speaker Dr Kalpana Saroj, is an entrepreneur and social worker and to her credit has transformed many non-profitable businesses and projects into success stories. “The Incredible Story of an Amazing Entrepreneur” is the rags to riches story of Dr Kalpana Saroj a 2013 Padmashree awardee, who is known for her business acumen of turning around the loss-making unit, Kamani Tubes Mumbai.Dr Saroj is also the CMD of Kalpana Saroj Aviation Pvt Ltd and has recently acquired space in MIHAN Nagpur to start an MRO. Since she hails from Vidarbha she is keen to develop this region and contribute to the employment generation. As a part of social work she provides homes to the homeless.
Dr Saroj shared the rough phase of her childhood, when she was married off at the tender age of only 12 years. She spent her childhood in slums and later faced domestic violence in her married life. She attempted suicide but was rescued on time. It was then that it dawned upon her that God had destined her to do something great in life. She shared her struggles in life and how at each point of time she faced difficulties. But it was her self-belief & confidence which helped her to cross each hurdle coming across her path. She started her journey from earning a daily wage Rs.2 in a garment factory and today the net worth of her company is Rs.2000 crore. When Dr Saroj took over Kamani Tubes, the company had having160 litigation cases. But she won each of them and scripted the history of making the company profitable. Today in Mumbai there are two roads named after Kamani Tubes.
Today Dr Kalpana Saroj is a proud recipient of several awards and accolades but according to her the proudest moment for her is when her workforce address her as ‘Aai Bhavani’. She is a workaholic, who works for over 16 hours a day. Her success mantra is grit, determination and passion for work and she believes in living life king size!
At the start of the program Poonam Lala, Chairperson of VIA LEW welcomed the guest speaker and updated the audience about the activities of VIA LEW for promoting women Entrepreneurship.
Vandana Sharma, Past Chairperson of VIA LEW introduced the Dr Kalpana Saroj and conducted the programme. Anita Rao, Past Chairperson of LEW moderated the session. Secretary Rashmi Kulkarni proposed a formal vote of thanks.
The Session was attended by VIA LEW Advisory committee members namely Sarla Kamdar, Prafullata Rode, Madhubala Singh, Sarita Pawar, Immediate Past Chairperson Manisha Bawankar, Past Chairpersons Saeeda Haque, Chitra Parate, Y. Ramani, Anjali Gupta, Shachi Mallick, Reeta Lanjewar, Vice Chairpersons Indu Kshirsagar, Shikha Khare, Treasurer Yogita Deshmukh, PRO Poonam Gupta and EC Member Sania Ramchandani.