At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Ranjeeta Greta Chatterjee for an exclusive interview with us. Ranjeeta is an Entrepreneur, Founder & Formulator of Bluoilz and Leader of EWA Catalyst Council. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, background, and advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Ranjeeta:
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
I grew up in a very different environment, my parents were philanthropists and they used to run Orphanages, daycare centres, feeding programs and schools in Kolkata and different nearby areas. As my sister and I started growing up, we got involved in different programs and started taking responsibility at a very early age.
It was during this time in 1999, I submitted a proposal to a handicraft grant agency and I received a grant of ₹40,000, to start a sewing project under the name of “Rehabs’ Needle Work”, with tribal young adults. We immediately started training the girls, to learn embroidery, stitching, sewing etc.
The project started creating enthusiasm among young girls and they showed great interest. We participated in exhibitions, and some of our finished products were also sold abroad.
And it was good to see the young girls earning their own wages and paying for their expenses. This ignited the flames to pursue passion to attain financial independence. After my graduation, I took charge of the schools and started implementing different activities and making the curriculum exciting.
Long story short, I continued my studies along with my work. I completed my Masters in Development Studies and MSc in Psychotherapy and Counselling. I strongly believe, that in any profession, the influence of psychology is tremendous because we are dealing with all humans. To know and understand each other better to create a better environment is essential.
How did you discover your passion?
Sometimes we have to put a stop to certain ventures to pursue life, so Rehab’s Nedlework took a back seat and life happened with its twists and turns. In 2019, the passion which was kept in the cupboard, wanted to live a life of its own. We renamed and reformed ‘Women of Wonders’ on a bigger platform.
Our only mission was to create a platform where women could promote their handmade products and present it to the world. We did our first exhibition at EZCC, Kolkata. We got a good response. We had scheduled another big event in March 2020 and unfortunately, COVID happened and we had to put WoW back in the cupboard. There is a quote which says if you love something let it go, if it comes back it’s yours, if it doesn’t it never was. So was it with WoW.
The urge to ignite the passion was reignited again in 2022. We joined hands with the Wicci Karnataka Council for Personal Branding, (Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) being the President of the Council encouraged me to blow oxygen into WoW again. This time with an entire team based out of Bangalore. Our prime agenda being the same, promote ventures founded by women.
During the journey, I have realized that I love to reach out to others to support them if there is anything possible in my purview. I like to connect people, I like to create success stories by connecting two individuals. My personal brand journey has been very tough as a manufacturer of therapeutic skincare products.
Too much confusion, ups and downs, running from pillar to post, too much stress. And it was then I realized if we can create a one-stop solution to meet all individual entrepreneurial needs, it makes life easy. So we Concretised the organization renamed and registered it as EWA CATALYST COUNCIL where EWA stands for Enabling Women’s Achievement.
A platform to enable Women Entrepreneurs through five pillars: Business Development, Legal and Finance, Funding, Sales and Marketing and Branding. It is a one-stop solution to meet all your business needs under one organization from digital marketing to logo creation, website development, guidance for packaging, funding, company registration etc everything, at a very affordable price, and all monitored by the organization itself. It’s always very comforting to know when you have a business buddy to support and guide you.
All you need to do is Ask, Talk to the experts, the Directors who are experts in their individual roles and layout out the cards to understand your business and then stack them up with milestones and goals to assist you to reach the next level of success. EWA wants to be your business buddy to take your venture to the next level.
Despite the challenges, what keeps you going when things get tough?
It’s not an easy task to run a Catalyst Council, especially for women. As women have many roles to play, their focus on their own ventures most of the time is compromised. Household chores, children, health, staff, etc, and one always have to be motivated to understand these situations to speak to them, encourage them, push them, and guide them.
Some are going through personal problems, and financial issues, to understand each and every situation and accordingly plan their business stage is not easy, it’s very tough. For eg, you plan a masterclass for them but they prioritize other things over their venture and don’t turn up.
It takes a lot of patience and strength to motivate oneself as a Founder to see through such situations. Disappointments along the way when one does not get any support from the ecosystem. Corporates don’t come forward to support. Everyone only wants data in exchange.
At times it becomes a war like situation. But the only thing which keeps me together and focused is to remember the first day what made me start this and what is the outcome I am expecting from it. Every success story of my members will be my success story.
The biggest challenge is no support from the so-called “Ecosystem”. You reach out but no response is the only answer you receive. Only data speaks. In such a growing scenario where collaboration is the key, my experience has been disheartening.
Rejections and ghosting would be the appropriate word. It is a collective effort, when we talk about women’s empowerment, let’s aim together to work for it and not compete with each other. Setbacks, drawbacks, and hurdles are all the name of the game, but you learn to rise above, that I guess is the winning formula to challenges.
Difficult to cut them down to 3. However, the most important lessons are:
Be calm and stay focussed no matter what the situation is, keeping in mind the same thought why you started this in the first place.
Second, listen to all but pursue your own dreams and passion. Don’t get confused by others achievements and opinions, advices and suggestions, they might not be relevant for you.
Thirdly, always respect the people who put their trust and belief in you. They portray you under a different lens as a person, and that’s is why they have put their faith and belief. It’s not easy to earn trust so try to respect them and not disappoint them.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
I will say it straight that there are many factors but if you really have to have the key elements then
> Perseverance
> Vision
> Discipline
> Strength to fight
> Believe in yourself
> Rise above disappointment
> Persistent hard work
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
Not very good at giving advice, no matter what career you pursue, put in your best. Persistent hard work takes perseverance, focus and discipline to achieve success.
Last but not the least.
“Make your passion your profession, You will love your work everyday, and Eventually meet successful on the way”
What about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
Definitely, it’s been a very exciting journey. Have met with disappointment, hurdles, success, and valour at every hairpin bend of the road. Learning every day. Pivoting thoughts and plans to play on a larger canvas.
As long as the vision and focus remain strong every journey becomes exciting. After all, it’s the journey that is interesting and not the destination.
Any plans you want to share about your organization to make you grow?
We definitely want to take it to different cities, tier 2/3 cities, where mentorship is very important.
We are trying to reach out to different organizations like the UN, and UNDP to be part of their women empowerment program to take it to every corner.
We are not only an urban organization but an enablement organization that is open to all sectors of society through different plans and programs.
We are trying to connect with banks and the Indian Chamber of Commerce and ministries, to collaborate with any platform from where our members can benefit.
We are open to inviting City Directors, to lead the chapters in their cities under our guidance.
We are open to conducting corporate workshops under different topics. Our expert trainers and coaches are certified to conduct workshops on various topics.
Inviting the corporates to get in touch with us for corporate gifting as some of our members have intrinsic hand-curated products.
We are coming up with Inter City Exhibition, Trade Fairs. Talent hunt, Inter City Convention, Pitch Competition, 1-2-1 Industrial visits, 1-2-1 Mentorship with Industry Experts, Health awareness camps. We are sector agnostic. We want to be the Business Buddy.
We don’t only want women entrepreneurs to join us for business but also for overall physical and mental wellbeing too.
We are a section 8 company and we are Inviting Corporates, Banks, and other empowerment organizations to join us in this venture to write success stories together.
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.
