–  J. P. Morgan

Shahnaz Hussain, the soft spoken lady with a radiant smile. She is one of the most proverbial names in the skincare and cosmetics industry. Despite of not choosing traditional advertising, Shahnaz Herbals today has over 400 franchise clinics in 138 countries. She has been continuously working and coming up with new remedies to defy skin problems. Little did she know that a small private clinic set up on the veranda of her house would one day make her the ruler of the cosmetic world.

Shahnaz Hussain comes from a Royal Muslim family and was engaged at the tender age of 14. Although she belonged to a traditional family, she did her schooling from an Irish Convent. She got married at the age of 15 and the very next year gave birth to a daughter. As years went by she realized she was meant to be something beyond a housewife and wished to have her own identity.

After acknowledging her priorities, she started studying beauty at the age of 17 and moved to Paris, London, Germany and New York over a period of 10 years in search of knowledge. She moved to Iran with her husband and decided to take up a job to be financially independent. Since she could not speak Persian, finding a job wasn’t a cake walk. Finally she grabbed an opening as a Beauty Editor of Iran Tribune. She was asked to give only 500 words a week but she gave them 10,000 words a week! She kept typing the whole day till her fingertips bled and the only way to stop the pain was to tie bandages. Ultimately, she earned enough for a specialization course in Cosmetology and Trichology.

While pursuing studies, she noticed that most of the skin problems were due to the harmful effects of chemical cosmetics. Therefore she decided to come back to India and produce cosmetics from Natural Herbs and started an herbal clinic at a very personal level by borrowing Rs. 35,000 from her father. In her clinic, she followed techniques like Diagnosis and Clinical analysis of the skin and scalp and operated at the prescriptive level. At the same time she ensured holding press releases, seminars and writing beauty columns.

The products that were used for clinical treatment were formulated by Shahnaz herself, after a lot of R&D. Based on the problem, clients were given advice on diet and nutrition and treatment according to their individual needs. She believes her products have become famous because of word of mouth advertising and positive client feedback.

Shahnaz started encouraging housewives to become self-independent and open salons in their own homes. She trained them and offered them Shahnaz Herbal Franchise. She also made it sure that she attended all the openings, where she talked to people personally about their skin problems. Soon she was attending more than one opening per day and was even travelling to different cities on the same day.

Entering the international market was the biggest challenge for Shahnaz. She was given a counter in the perfume section at London, after she participated in the Festival of India in London. Surprisingly she sold the consignment in just 3 days which broke the store’s sales records which helped her to garner a permanent counter. When she wished to do the same in the Festival in Paris, she was informed that in order to get a permanent counter she had to achieve a particular target. But to her dismay, Shahnaz realized they were falling short on the number of products required to meet the target. She thought of an incredible idea and asked her secretary in India to get four Kashmiri carpets to Paris which she offered as a gift to those who made purchases worth 20,000 francs and above. Her tactic worked and she was given a permanent counter at Galeries Lafayette, world’s most prestigious cosmetic store.

Shahnaz Hussain was featured in “Woman of the decade” by the Indian Government in a television series for the United Nations established consortium. She has won the Udyog Award twice for Export Excellence and also World’s Greatest Woman Entrepreneur award from Success magazine of the U.S.A. Shahnaz has proudly represented India on several International occasions. She believes it is important for one to dream and have a burning desire to fulfil that dream. An entrepreneur is one who has total faith and confidence in one’s own abilities and will go to any extent to turn his dream into reality with creativity and innovation.

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Millionaire- a title every person wishes to achieve. Don’t we all dream of having luxurious bungalows with spacious rooms, several big ticket and latest models of Mercedes Benz and private jets to explore the whole world? If you are a lady, you might be thinking of grabbing timeless and voguish diamonds complemented with trendy clothes that make you the epitome of Panache.

However, despite of being a millionaire, Patricia Narayan, receiver of Best Woman Entrepreneur Award by FICCI has a distinct opinion. She still leads her life in a simplistic yet peaceful way, probably because of the insights she encountered while enduring heart rendering hardships.

Patricia, a Catholic got married to a Hindu Brahmin when she was 17 years old. The fact that he was 13 years older than her didn’t seem to create a hurdle on her path of love. But little did she know that she was getting married to adversity. Her husband turned out to be an alcoholic and drug addict and regardless of trying very hard she couldn’t get him out of his addiction. Ultimately she was thrown out of the house with her two little naive kids. Although her father didn’t forgive her for marrying a Hindu, he allowed her to stay with him. From that moment, she decided to fight her battle of survival alone.

In order to be economically independent, she started making Jams, Pickles and Squashes at home and considered even a meager income of ten rupees a blessing. Her father’s friend ran a school for handicapped children and offered her a mobile cart if she would employ at least two handicapped people.  She agreed and sold items like Samosas, Cutlets, Fresh Juice along with Tea and Coffee on Marina Beach. This wasn’t a facile task since she had to take several rounds of the office for a year with her two year old boy in her arms to get permission. One day she managed to sell only one cup of coffee for 50 paise and now the daily total sales from her chain of restaurants are around 2 lakh rupees.

Patricia was willing to work persistently round the clock. She had a fire within her to become a somebody from nobody. She believed she could be successful without anybody’s help or favors. Her dedication offered her an opportunity to work in an office canteen. She took up the job but didn’t abandon her cart business at the beach. After that moment she kept climbing the ladder of unwavering success and even worked for a government training school.

In 1998, she partnered with Sangeetha restaurant group. She was content with the way things were working out. But in 2004, grief struck her again. She lost her daughter in a car accident. Patricia says her newly married daughter had called her just a few minutes before the accident. In her daughter’s memory, her son opened the first restaurant named Sandeepha. It was certainly a difficult time for her, but she resigned to god’s will and once again decided to rise up against all odds.

Today, Sandeepha restaurant has around 19 outlets in Chennai. Her aim is to enhance the brand Sandeepha and take it to greater heights. She advices budding entrepreneurs to never compromise on quality and lose self-confidence in any circumstances.

Patricia had every reason to quit and succumb to her difficulties. But she chose the other way around. People are even afraid to think big and the biggest obstacle to victory is Fear. If you have an urge to prove yourself and move ahead, nothing can stop you. If Patricia can, why can’t you?

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