4 first daughters who have reached the top in their family businesses
These women are in their 30s and have enviable pedigrees. But they tell ET that they have worked hard to reach the top in their family businesses.
Read on to know all about their long, hard road and the scret of their success.
Aditi Kothari is the daughter of Hemandra Kothari, a pre-eminent name in investment banking. She has been instrumental in restructuring the team, making it more participative, open, communicative, and creative. She started the first offshore fund that DSP BlackRock launched in 2005. Armed with an MBA from Harvard, Aditi feels marketing is the only way one can be creative in a financial field.
THE LONG, HARD ROAD: My first stint with Merrill Lynch was not easy, but it made me more disciplined. The advantage of being an illustrious father's daughter is that it gives you a lot of confidence. But it doesn't give you managerial and leadership responsibilities.
HOLDING HER OWN: I'm grateful I had someone like my father showing me a clear path. However, I am independent in my functioning. I had people reporting to me for the first time barely three years ago, because I needed to learn the ropes before I decided to lead.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT: Developing 'WINVESTOR - The Wise Woman Investor'. My goal is to encourage women to make their own financial decisions and spread awareness as to why they need to do it.
SECRETS OF SUCCESS: Passion is the big secret. Confidence comes if you enjoy what you do. I am always challenging myself to be a better person.
Gursimran Mann, executive director, Simbhaoli Sugars, belongs to the fourth generation of the family that founded Simbhaoli Sugars. She has added significantly to Simbhaoli profits, and to her credit is a joint venture with ED&F Man. Gursimran has a degree in economics and political science from Bryn Mawr College, US and an MBA from London Business School.
THE LONG, HARD ROAD: I have worked my way to the top. I joined the company after college and worked as a trainee in all departments of the company, from factory to farm operations.
HOLDING HER OWN: My first promotion came only after I proved myself on the profitability front. I only recently became executive director, after completing my MBA.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT: Post-training, I was moved to the trading department, which was making losses. There was a strategy that could bring a profit but no one had the skill set to execute it. I did so, which added to Simbhaoli profits.
SECRETS OF SUCCESS: Hard work, global education. Data-driven decisions help me in organisational, financial and strategic aspects of day-to-day business.
The first woman in the family to enter the business, Ashni, daughter of Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani, has brought in designled thinking within the group. Ashni graduated as a textile designer and has attended courses on scenario planning at New York's Parsons School of Design and the Summer Institute of General Management at Graduate School of Business, Stanford.
THE LONG, HARD ROAD: Aspects like designation never mattered to me. All that did was what I learnt. Design is now being used as a tool to think and conceptualise. It's not as if it wasn't a focus area within the group earlier; there's now a different sort of rigour.
HOLDING HER OWN: One of the biggest moments for me was launching Future Ideas as a separate company that would cater not only to the Future Group, but also provide consulting services to other companies. We got this mandate after a fair bit of convincing.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT: Developing a series of our largest stores known as the Big Bazaar family centres, meant as community convergence points. Each of them is expected to do business of over Rs 100 crore.
SECRETS OF SUCCESS: At the core of success is the ability to learn continuously.
The daughter of group chairman and CEO Habil Khorakiwala, has created a 'quality' vertical for the group. After three to four years of getting a broad exposure to the organisation, Zahabiya pursued an MBA at ISB. Post-this, she got fully involved with Wockhardt Hospitals.
THE LONG, HARD ROAD: I worked with marketing representatives, just as I attended business, strategy and annual budgeting discussions.
HOLDING HER OWN: My father has always played a mentoring role. Operationally, I have had the fredom to make my own decisions.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT: The seniormost Harvard team once said they are enriched by learnings from us. It made me realise our work is comparable to the best in the world.
SECRETS OF SUCCESS: There is no substitute for hard work. It's also important to create a culture that magnifies the efforts of each individual.
Source : Sreeradha D Basu & Rica Bhattacharyya, ET BUREAU
These women are in their 30s and have enviable pedigrees. But they tell ET that they have worked hard to reach the top in their family businesses.
Read on to know all about their long, hard road and the scret of their success.
Aditi Kothari - Executive VP, DSP Blackrock Investment Managers
THE LONG, HARD ROAD: My first stint with Merrill Lynch was not easy, but it made me more disciplined. The advantage of being an illustrious father's daughter is that it gives you a lot of confidence. But it doesn't give you managerial and leadership responsibilities.
HOLDING HER OWN: I'm grateful I had someone like my father showing me a clear path. However, I am independent in my functioning. I had people reporting to me for the first time barely three years ago, because I needed to learn the ropes before I decided to lead.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT: Developing 'WINVESTOR - The Wise Woman Investor'. My goal is to encourage women to make their own financial decisions and spread awareness as to why they need to do it.
SECRETS OF SUCCESS: Passion is the big secret. Confidence comes if you enjoy what you do. I am always challenging myself to be a better person.
Gursimran Mann - Executive Director, Simbhaoli Sugars
THE LONG, HARD ROAD: I have worked my way to the top. I joined the company after college and worked as a trainee in all departments of the company, from factory to farm operations.
HOLDING HER OWN: My first promotion came only after I proved myself on the profitability front. I only recently became executive director, after completing my MBA.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT: Post-training, I was moved to the trading department, which was making losses. There was a strategy that could bring a profit but no one had the skill set to execute it. I did so, which added to Simbhaoli profits.
SECRETS OF SUCCESS: Hard work, global education. Data-driven decisions help me in organisational, financial and strategic aspects of day-to-day business.
Ashni Biyani - Director, Future Ideas
THE LONG, HARD ROAD: Aspects like designation never mattered to me. All that did was what I learnt. Design is now being used as a tool to think and conceptualise. It's not as if it wasn't a focus area within the group earlier; there's now a different sort of rigour.
HOLDING HER OWN: One of the biggest moments for me was launching Future Ideas as a separate company that would cater not only to the Future Group, but also provide consulting services to other companies. We got this mandate after a fair bit of convincing.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT: Developing a series of our largest stores known as the Big Bazaar family centres, meant as community convergence points. Each of them is expected to do business of over Rs 100 crore.
SECRETS OF SUCCESS: At the core of success is the ability to learn continuously.
Zahabiya Khorakiwala - MD, Wockhardt Hospitals
THE LONG, HARD ROAD: I worked with marketing representatives, just as I attended business, strategy and annual budgeting discussions.
HOLDING HER OWN: My father has always played a mentoring role. Operationally, I have had the fredom to make my own decisions.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT: The seniormost Harvard team once said they are enriched by learnings from us. It made me realise our work is comparable to the best in the world.
SECRETS OF SUCCESS: There is no substitute for hard work. It's also important to create a culture that magnifies the efforts of each individual.
Source : Sreeradha D Basu & Rica Bhattacharyya, ET BUREAU
