As part of our endeavour to bring compelling stories from the start-up ecosystem, we invited passionate and purpose-driven womenpreneur Anu Sachdev for an exclusive interview with us to understand more about her vision and her entrepreneurial journey.
Anu is a change enabler, social and behaviour change communication practitioner, storyteller & Co-Founder/Director at The Change Designers LLP. She has international experience and expertise in design, production, implementation and extensive monitoring & evaluation for social change programs. She has designed communication campaigns in India, South Asia, West and Central African countries. Her work varies on programs funded by international agencies such as USAID, UN and Wildlife Conservation Society on climate change, biodiversity conservation, education, health and nutrition. Anu has designed over 30 interventions on a variety of health, environment and social justice areas for social development. Let’s learn more about her motivational journey, way forward and her advice for our community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Anu:
Tell us a little bit about your background and your journey as a women entrepreneur thus far, please;
I started my journey in communication & social change when I started working with HIV positive children living in a care home of an NGO in New Delhi. I was 18 years old and anxious about what difference would my presence make anyway. I used to spend a couple of hours with children three times a week, to play, teach, celebrate birthdays and sometimes just hug them. These were children left to themselves after being found out they were HIV positive by their own families. I realized I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist or travel to the moon to change the world but just be there, converse, communicate and be compassionate. I became sure of what I wanted to do in life and went on to study development communication and innovations.
In the following years, I lived in the US, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste while I worked but mostly understood how humans function. My greatest lesson in life has been that people are people with feelings and in development, sometimes we only consider people as data or things we want to change.”
I returned to India in 2016, moved on from my dream job to create a new dream called The Change Designers. I was lucky enough to find a partner and friend in this adventure, Pallavi Jain. We together established three big principles for us, first, to work with communities and not for them. Second, believe in the power of community wisdom and find ways to amplify it. Third and most important for development, focus on quality, not quantity.
In the last three years, we have designed large scale campaigns for the most complex social problems following our principles, conducted exciting researches, built capacity of numerous professionals & students and most importantly, cultivated relationships of the heart with the connection. My journey is not of a single woman entrepreneur but of “Ubuntu” meaning “I am because we are”.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
I worked with an international non-profit in New York and learned a lot from the fantastic team I worked with. My work involved a lot of management and implementation of the team from afar. It was a perfect job but I spent most of my time in front of the computer trying to tell people how to change the world. I realized my passion, energy and motivation lied working with the people, right where they are at. What better way to start than my own country, India.
I returned, set up a company, not knowing how to run it. Then what is life and entrepreneurship without a risk? I am glad I got to decide that I wanted to be an entrepreneur at the age of 27. I have learned about business, finances, administration, client management, and partnerships all by doing it.”
When we started The Change Designers, our first project was research to find rural women entrepreneurs who succeed against all odds. Our first and the most important lessons of being an entrepreneur came from rural Uttar Pradesh.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
I love what I do. I am passionate about every step and feel very satisfied doing what I do- so it’s very easy to wake up and work towards changing the world. My personal motivation is my goals.
A new accomplishment every day- almost like baby steps keeps me fueled up.
And did I tell you about Chai:)?
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
It is hard to change the world. In our work, the way social and behaviour change has worked so far, it is difficult to show how innovation, a new way of creating communication models can work. It is always a challenge to come up with a new idea, work in a new place, a new language- but honestly, challenges are quite satisfying.
Besides that, we face challenges like all other businesses of making a mark with proof of product and in our case proof of change.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
Can I say stories? My brain is wired (like most other humans) to process stories, carve out emotions and find the rationality in action. You would not see me making arguments or debating, but telling stories with emotions. I am also a very dramatic person and it fits perfectly well with my profession.
To answer your question, I am an emotional person. Business needs to have emotions, not personal, obviously, but business ones like concern for quality deliverables, client satisfaction, targets & roadmaps, you planned & how you will achieve it, etc. Money is obviously the priority but I believe if your value creation process is right for others, the money will automatically come as an outcome of it.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Stress is natural and it is healthy. I am always in action- it doesn’t give me the time to think and self-approval is usually important.
Constant fear of what if I fail is something that stresses most entrepreneurs, in my experience, failing is important. Failing or falling marks courage and when you’re courageous, stress doesn’t affect you.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
As a person, empathy has been my biggest strategy to grow as a person. Being an entrepreneur, who is always pressed on time and resources, it is easy to become a person with a limited perspective and set in perceptions. However, the nature of our work- grounded in stories, different realities for sustainable behaviour change allows me to think of all possibilities, behaviours, constraints and perspectives. I am glad I get to connect with different kind of people with my work every day.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Success is subjective. I give satisfaction high priority. Success, in our case, how many lives have we changed! How many good relationships have we formed, how many smiles did we create.
During one of our conversation with a woman entrepreneur in rural UP, I asked Shanno, how do you know your business is doing well? For background, Shanno is a owner of a general store and a tailer- both in the same shop. She has a board outside her shop that says “Shanno’s Store”
Shanno smiled and responded, my shop is not just a place to shop for groceries, but it is a landmark. People refer to Shanno ki Dukan as a reference point for locations such as the “shanno ki dukan ke bagal me jo tubewell hai..”. She says when I hear this I know I am succeeding.
What advice would you give to someone starting out particularly aspiring women entrepreneurs?
Never miss an opportunity to have a conversation with new people. Entrepreneurship is not like having a 9-5 job, in fact, you’re always at work, even when you’re not. Having meaningful conversations with people who are unrelated to your field, who know nothing about your work, people of different cultures and backgrounds help you tell your story in different ways. Thus, preparing you for wearing your advertisement up your sleeve- targeted for that specific audience. Don’t just be a seller of anything, be a storyteller.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
