At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring to our community some of the finest stories from India and around the World. As part of this endeavour, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur – Smita Mahajan for an exclusive interview with us. Smita is an accomplished Leader, Entrepreneur, Change Enabler, Mentor, Speaker, Trainer and Business Consultant. She is the Chief Mentor of ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™. Let’s learn more about her truly inspiring journey, her background and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with her:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as a women entrepreneur, please;
I am Smita Mahajan, by background an engineer with 14 yrs of IT experience. Now a startup company owner for the last 3.5 years. I am the Founder, Managing Director and Chief Mentor for ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™. I strongly believe in the power of education and promoting practical knowledge based on real-life experiences. This inspired me to create a robust Edu-tech platform of *ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™* for new generation Professionals.
As a Trainer, Motivational speaker, Business Consultant and Mentor to individuals, corporates and businesses, I have mentored more than 5000 women from urban and suburban PAN India and nearby villages to make them #atmanirbhar in collaboration with MSME and AIC Pinnacle.
My real inspiration to work in every situation is my dedication to create a robust platform to provide the much needed mentoring and customised guidance to every woman who wants to start her own enterprise.”
Being the Chief Mentor of WEdyalaya, leading a team of experienced mentors, a career catalyst for youngsters, Life Coach gave me the opportunity to guide more than 5000+ women from urban and suburban India. I am also a registered trainer in MSME and NSDC to work closely on the governmental project with the ministry of women and child education and development.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
Though my corporate career gave me financial stability but never gave me the satisfaction of creating sustainable and impactful change in society.
Being a woman, I too faced many challenges to establish my career. These experiences inspired me to initiate this desired change in the mindset and promote Entrepreneurship in women.”
I started my first startup under the name of AstitWa Enterprises which has now evolved to take the shape of VAMITA Ventures Pvt Ltd with a robust Edu-tech platform of ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™ for holistic development of students and professionals.
With Tarupreet Kaur Hanspal, Director – Information Technology (Right)
‘ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya ™’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving?
The name ‘ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™’ has a deep-rooted emotional meaning. ExtraordiNAARI shows our dedication to our vision to make every woman enrolled in our ecosystem to be extraordinary and #atmanirbhar in entrepreneurship so that she doesn’t need any support or no one can fool her in the entrepreneurial journey due to her lack of knowledge.
The branding of WEdyalaya™ is very cautiously and optimistically designed by me. The WE in WEdyalaya™ stands for the power of eco-system and as an abbreviation for ‘Women Entrepreneurs’. It represents the power and strength of all the like-minded Women Entrepreneurs coming together to bring the most-awaited and desired change in society.”
What does your company specialise in?
The vision of ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™ comes from the stories of every woman entrepreneur enrolled on our platform. The traditional solutions available in the market are not fit for the real-life challenges faced by a woman during her entrepreneurial journey. It needs to be addressed on a very grassroots level so that we can have a customised solution as per the individual need. This is exactly what we are doing at WEdyalaya™.
These solutions are coming from a personal level as being a woman entrepreneur myself I have personally faced and overcome these challenges and know which solution works for us and which will be an obstruction in the way. My vision of ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™ is supported by detailed groundwork and a strong team of Women to execute the vision which makes it more special.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
For my team, COVID-19 and lockdown have been a great learning experience and a blessing in disguise. This situation taught us to be more efficient in the toughest situation and be kind and compassionate towards each other.
With the start of the first lockdown, we took the opportunity to move our business to an online platform. We are now executing a completely automated platform. All the work is happening online and this gives us the scope to expand our vision at a global level. The two lessons which we are taking from the current global Pandemic are:
a) Getting back to basics, Giving time to your Family and loved ones and having a healthy active lifestyle
b) The digital transformation in everyone’s life in both personal and professional ways. It was able to break the glass ceiling of geographical boundaries and connected the whole world through the internet. We learned to stay connected with anyone in just one click and work from anywhere while being safe at home with our loved ones
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
All of us need some motivation to keep on moving forward when we face tough times.
As Jim Rohn once said ‘If you want to achieve something in your life, You must define a WHY. The stronger your WHY is, the more motivated you will be to achieve your goals’.
My strongest WHYs are:-
1) My loved ones around me – I am blessed with a very supportive and loving family. People in my inner circle are the ones who encourage me to push my limits, work on myself and achieve my goals.
2) My Vision – My motivation to face every challenge in my life and keep on moving forward is the vision to create a robust platform for every woman. The power of this Vision makes me forget all the pain and be victorious over every challenge I face.
3) Books – Books are the treasure store for knowledge, I love reading and learning from books of great inspirational authors.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My parents are the biggest source of motivation in my life. I very strongly believe that our parents are our first teachers in our life and whatever we are today, we owe it to them. Their selfless love and discipline shape our personality for what we have achieved today. Two most precious learnings of my parents which I will treasure always are:-
>Teachings from my mother that Education is the most precious treasure which no one can steal from me. This teaching reflects in my life, both on a personal as well as professional front. The credits of giving birth to the vision of ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya goes to her teachings only.
> Humanity is the only religion that exists. My parents always believed in one thing ‘No matter whatever you want to be, the first step to reach your goals is to be a better Human.’ I too follow the same learnings in my life.
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
Success is a very relative term and its definition changes from person to person. It can only be measured in the lessons one has learned and applied in life to reach the targeted goals.
In my opinion, the two most important things to achieve real success in life are:-
Progressive Mindset – Only when one has an open and progressive mindset she can see the opportunities to evolve as a better version of herself in any situation. I feel that these are the basic requirements of being a successful evolving entrepreneur
Consistency – Consistency is the key to define your success. The consistent effort in the right direction can only ensure your success. It is much like the story of a race between rabbit and turtle where the turtle won the race with his consistent efforts to progress on the race track towards the finishing line.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
I believe that learning is a continuous process. We can’t evolve to a better version of ourselves until we are open to new learnings. I follow these strategies.
~ Always be open for new learnings irrespective of the source of knowledge
~ Always read books
~ Always be open for reviews and criticism, these are some of the main sources of your growth
~ Follow a disciplined healthy active Lifestyle, which includes diet, exercise, meditation, yoga
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
I am the kind of person who finds happiness in every little thing in life. Still, the two things which give me peace and pure happiness are:-
– Reading Books – I am a true fan of reading, I proudly own a small personal library in my home where I treasure the jewels of some of the best motivational authors like Sudha Murti, Michelle Obama, Brian Tracy and many more.
– Gardening – I love to be near nature. It gives me peace and a pure sense of happiness. This love for Nature-inspired me to have a green thumb and to have a lush green garden at my home with many indoor as well as outdoor plants.
The 3 Wonder Women – A Strong Team
What are the three most important lessons you have learned building your startup?
I am a learner for life and believe very strongly that every struggle/challenge is an opportunity to learn or re-learn something new to evolve ourselves as a better version of ourselves.
These situations are the best teachers of life who teach us valuable lessons and I always welcome them with a positive attitude, if I have to select top 3 lessons which I have learned are:-
(a) Always keep Business and emotions separate in life to avoid sour experiences in relationships.
(b) No matter whatever good you do, people will find the worst in you. So in spite of reacting to their words, you keep on doing the good work and follow the righteous path of real selfless Karma, as their words reflect their negativity and your work will reflect your positivity
(c) Even the toughest of times can bring the brightest opportunity, always be open to receive what Almighty has planned for you
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
I always believe that consistent dedicated efforts towards the envisioned goal are the key to success. Here are few things that successful people follow
(i) Be a member of the 5:00 AM club
(ii) Daily Exercise Routine
(iii) Create a Daily Tasklist
(iv) Read good Books for Life and Business
(v) Eat Healthy
(vi) Meditate
(vii) Spend time with Family
(viii) Maintain Gratitude Journal
(ix) Choose your Company wisely
(x) Reward yourself and celebrate every success
Could you please share with us, your achievements?
With the unique vision of ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™, since the day of birth of its concept, we have achieved many feathers in our hat. But our most special achievements are:-
1) ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™ in collaboration with AIC PINNACLE Entrepreneurship Forum and Ministry of MSME conducted Entrepreneurship Development Programs in the Rural and SubUrban parts of Maharashtra with overall 500+ women involved in the program. Not only that took online certification sessions globally in collaboration with our global partners
2) During the break of the current global Pandemic we took our whole business online and expanded our vision not only to PAN India(with 16 branches) but also overseas with collaborations globally.
3) Taking weekly online WEdyalaya™ sessions for personal and professional growth
4) Took 3 successful batches of Entrepreneurship Incubation Program, a flagship Incubation program to help aspiring women entrepreneurs at the ideation level or at the initial stage to create their evolving business model and understand the tricky routes of the Entrepreneurship journey
5) We have collaborated with National and International companies to not only provide globally certified programs for our Women Entrepreneurs but also provide them with multiple platforms for customer outreach
6) We conduct an awareness session on the total holistic Well-being of a woman
7) We have conducted multiple Entrepreneurship Development Programs in collaboration with AIC PINNACLE Entrepreneurship Forum and Ministry of MSME in the rural and suburban cities of Maharashtra
8) Promote and motivate enrolled women mentors to take various sessions to preserve and promote Indian Traditional art forms, culture and culinary art to the farthest corners of the globe
9) WEdyalaya™ is working dedicatedly to bring the digital revolution to the women entrepreneurs crowd by teaching them how to use technology for the benefit of their business
10) ExttraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™ is an official training partner of the International Women Networking Organisation(IWNO). IWNO is an organisation which inspires like-minded and dedicated Women Business owners to be a part of an eco-system and work towards their personal and professional growth. The vision of IWNO is to make a sustainable ecosystem of progressive women who are ready to take the risk and be the next unicorn and leave their mark on the global map.
11) Provide strategically designed courses to Students of junior and senior colleges to teach them how to identify and create effective solutions for the real-life problems and to create a profit-making evolving enterprise from it.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
Success is a very relative term and its definition changes from person to person. It can only be measured by the lessons once learned and applied in life to reach the targeted goals.
The advice that I will share as the founder of WEdyalaya –
1 – Always be open to new learning
2 – Never do anything with a rigid mindset
3 – It is never too late to start
4- There is no such thing as failure, either you succeed or you learn
5 – Practice the art of LEARN, UNLEARN and RELEARN
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.
