Dedication: To all the women
I am Aysha Sanober 36 years old accidental entrepreneur in the footwear manufacturing industry of Ambur.,a town famously known for its briyani & its leather in the state of Tamilnadu
Ambur is an industrial town which is other wise known as leather & footwear hub of south India.I was born & brought up in an orthodox Muslim family in Chennai,I had part of my early education done in Ambur then my father had his business in Chennai so we had to shift and I did my schooling till 10th grade (SSLC) in Chennai and I had got married at the age of 15 as per islamic law to the only son of the one of the business tycoons & philanthropists in the Leather Tanning Industry of Ambur
My husband is a kind hearted loving soul and we had three children as life is not easy always and we too had to face lots of challenges in life after the demisal of my father in law,I wanted to work with my husband as to support him in business..I had no education or experience but loads of courage and strength to work hard & learn through the process..I had made lots of wrong decisions by trusting wrong people due to lack of knowledge & experiences.,I had failed in each & every attempt but each failure taught me new lessons & I would never take failure to my heart but always stood up to try again..society labelled me a “loser”..there were taunts,blame games,false allegations,character assassination thrown towards me and it shattered me at one point damaging my mental health and my family had wanted me to quit business but there was something in my heart which wanted me to stand up again and try again..Society had imposed “a girl can never do business” and I was made to agree but I stood alone for myself trusting Allah that he will hold me tight and guide me on right as my intentions were always good & clear and Iam not ready to accept failure as my destiny
I am blessed to have my husband who is my inspiration who stood strong as rock solid support through the journey of my entrepreneurship, he believed in me..he saw me failing physically & mentally but encouraged me to stand again against all odds, when a women support another women incredible things happen like wise my mother & mother in law were super supportive by looking after & taking care of my kids when I was off to work
I traveled extensively in quest of knowledge about the product where I would meet different people learning new lessons each day,Iam a student all through my life,I love to learn & I believe in “learn & earn”where we need to learn about the product we sell.,Almighty have been kind always to guide me through successful peoples in my life who were warm & generous to guide me on this journey,they inspired me to work hard towards my goal that lead to the introduction to the officials of Dubai Business Women Council in the Ministry Of Economy UAE which inspired me to work towards women’s empowerment volunteering with the UN women and Government organisations for the Gender Equality and the economic empowerment of women by organising awareness programs for women in the areas of capacity building,mentor ship,financial assistance,skill development etc
We need to believe in ourselves despite all odds & failures,we need to keep going and trust Almighty..let us stand together in the process of uplifting..let us engage to educate and empower
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Photo credit: Image provided by the storyteller.
