INDIA: The latest episode of Transcontinental Times’ show, “Smart Entrepreneurship Decoded,” featured the World Woman Foundation CEO, Rupa Dash. She has a multi-faceted personality and leads a lot of effort on women’s empowerment and fundraising fronts. She was the first Indian American managing director of the world’s largest women’s entrepreneurship network as if her multi-talented personality wasn’t enough to excite a generation of entrepreneurs. Her impressive credentials are simply the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her incredible accomplishments.
Rupa’s first factor in creating her path with extreme struggle
As every entrepreneur has an aspiring story that inspires generations, her origins follow the same. Her journey dates back to what she describes as a “humble background” in Cuttack, a small city in Orissa.
Recalling her initial days, Rupa revealed her family background and the recurring stereotype that followed. “It was never a priority for girls to access education in my family. Even if they did, the only expectation was that they would get married to somebody who owns a truck or who’s a truck driver,” she added.
Rupa finds a ray of hope in her mother despite her family background. Recognizing her mother, she quotes, “But, of course, my mother played a significant role in this, not just in breaking stereotypes, but also in breaking stereotypes about myself, society stereotypes, and a variety of other things that I had to overcome myself.”
Her efforts can be measured by the fact that as an entrepreneur in India, she was tasked to advertise 3G technology and the use of cell phones and content to farmers. To bring this to life, she collaborated extensively with the ministry of telecommunications, BSNL, and other external parties. Her entire work history listed her as the youngest individual to represent the international telecom union.
Rupa expanded on her problem-solving expertise while discussing her working curriculum. She views it as a facet that necessitates a mix of creative and analytical thinking.
“You can be a marketer, a communicator, or an image consultant, but you can also be an entrepreneur who can recognize a problem and solve it by combining the power of your creativity with your business expertise, bringing in the community, and bringing in other expertise that is required, and you can truly solve a problem,” she added.
The obstacle that women encounter as they embark on their entrepreneurial careers
Rupa embarked on the societal relevance and the repeating impediments on her route as she discussed women’s challenges in the western world. She refers to it as a personal challenge that she overcame. She encountered other women whom she saw as role models, and their journey and struggle could be described as a perfect illustration of her own life.
I got married and suddenly became a housewife overnight, and that’s when I realized what kind of self-perception I had, she added.
If I’m not married, I’d be thinking about how I’d spend some time looking for a partner, which is a big challenge in the western world. So, you have to carve out time for everything, put your dream and ambition behind everything else, and make plans to keep everyone happy. So, I thought this was a global phenomenon. This is not just in India or Asia, she continued further.
MeToo trivializes the entire women’s campaign, especially in civilizations that were more backward or suppressed from a female standpoint. Rupa defines it as something that brought the media movement, domestic violence, and notably, mental health and the well-being of women into the spotlight. She believes that a pandemic presents businesses with a unique opportunity.
Discussing the impact of the pandemic on her entrepreneurial life, she explains, “As I previously stated, the pandemic brought in new opportunities that we were not focusing on, such as an employee. If I go to work tomorrow and am subjected to abuse at home, what can an employee-employer do for me? There was no such atmosphere.”
“I think the pandemic presented unique opportunities for companies and corporations to think about the well-being of their employees,” she added.
Watch full interview here:-
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