Why I Believe Availing Right Opportunities Is First Step To Any Ladder

Having been born into a business family, I have always wanted to be a businesswoman. After completing my BCom and MCom, I felt this wasn’t enough to fuel the businesswoman spirit. The entrepreneurial spirit in me drove me to pursue an MBA in Marketing and Finance to get a professional qualification which will give an impetus to my entrepreneurial spirit, a qualification which will give me a 360-degree view into multiple aspects like Marketing, Finance and Operations which is why I plunged into pursuing MBA with a dual specialization in Marketing and Finance. 

I assisted my father in his business to get work exposure and with the mindset that it would stand in good stead when I dive into the entrepreneurial role. It seems life had different plans for me. And a good plan, indeed. While pursuing my MBA, I got married and post-marriage I had the opportunity to join Window Magic, a family business which my husband owns and runs in the capacity of CEO & Director. This was in early 2013. I am the Executive Director today. This has been a dream come true and the closest that I can get to starting “my own” business.     

Journey As A Woman In Business 

As the saying goes, “Life is not a bed of roses” and being a woman it was a bit harder for me. And here’s the icing on the cake - it is never easy to join and work in a company where your team is as old as the company. But then, perseverance and the right leadership helped me create a strong position for myself. 

Initially, I was handling the retail sales division here. The task was to contribute to the department in achieving sales numbers and implementing better and improved monitoring mechanisms for effective and efficient working. Believe me - it wasn’t easy. Added to that the industry – Fenestration – was completely new to me which made my journey, or I should say, the learning curve, steeper. But the never-say-die attitude in me kept me at it and I found innovative ways and means to put in place mechanisms.  

Shifting Gears 

While perfecting the methodologies and mechanisms of retail sales and giving it final touches, I found my calling in digital media, a platform that was fast catching up. The creative side of me came into the forefront and I took the driver’s seat to drive digital communication, social media platforms, collateral development, finding ways and means to be more visible among the masses through expos, events, conferences, and seminars.

That’s music to the ears. But behind the music, there was an uneasy restlessness. Something was bothering me. I penned down all possible things that could probably go wrong. One might say “Why think of anything going wrong when all the elements are working in perfect harmony to render the perfect symphony”. But it is always better to “plan” for the worst and when that hits you, you are better prepared.

That was the moment of reckoning. With sales burgeoning, I quickly narrowed my options and put my finger on one question – what if there is an after-sales customer complaint? How are we going to track it and how do we rectify it? That very moment, I got down to developing an aftersales complaint monitoring process with a proper escalation matrix and today I can say with pride that our firstly, customer complaints are less than 1% and even if there are any, we can trace them, track it and get to the root of the problem within no time and find a solution within a few days. This is one of our key highlights and USP. Continuing the streak, I am also actively spearheading an initiative to develop an ERP solution for the company which rests on the vision of going fully paperless by the end of the next financial year. 

It would be an understatement to say that this journey of 11 years has been beautiful. It is nothing short of exhilarating, both personally and professionally.