She started her career 30 years ago as an entrepreneur, selling eateries from a mobile cart on the Marina beach amidst all odds — battling a failed marriage, coping with her husband, a multiple addict, and taking care of two kids.

Today, she has overcome the hurdles and owns a chain of restaurants.

An entrepreneur by accident

I was always interested in cooking and passionate about trying out new dishes. But, the thought of becoming a business woman never came to my mind at all as I do not come from a business family. Both my parents were government servants.

But my marriage changed everything. Both the families opposed the marriage vehemently as my husband belonged to the Brahmin community; unfortunately my marriage did not work out as my husband was addicted to alcohol, drugs, etc. I could not bring him out of the addiction. As a young woman, I did not know how to cope with this and I was getting beaten up everyday.

Though my father, a very conservative Christian never forgave me, he gave me refuge when I had nowhere to go. I was thrown out with two very small children. It was a question of survival for me. I knew I should either succumb to the burden or fight; I decided to fight my lonely battle.

I did not want to be a burden on my parents. So, to be economically independent, I could only do what I knew and what I liked. I started making pickles, squashes and jams at home. I just took a couple of hundred rupees from my mother. I sold everything I made in one day and that gave me confidence.

I earned a good income. I invested whatever I earned to make more pickles, squashes and jams. It was quite lucrative in the sense, even ten rupees was a blessing for me.

The first step as an entrepreneur

My father’s friend, who was running a school for handicapped children, was handing out mobile carts or kiosks to people who would employ at least two handicapped people. They needed somebody who could run it and I was offered one such cart free. I had to train the handicapped children to make coffee and serve them to customers.

As I lived near the Marina beach, I decided to put the mobile cart at the Anna Square on the Marina beach. I had seen people thronging the beach in the evenings. But I had to make umpteen trips to the Public Works Department and wait for one year to get the permission.

Finally, I started working on June 21, 1982, a day I will never forget. The previous night itself, with the help of the local rickshaw drivers, I had rolled the mobile cart to the beach. It was a small move but thrilling as it was my own and I was going to be a business woman the next day.

While such carts sold only tea and cigarettes, I decided to sell cutlets, samosas, bajjis, fresh juice and coffee and tea. On the first day, I sold only one cup of coffee and that was for fifty paise!

I was very disappointed and came home crying. I told my mother, that I would not like to continue. But my mother consoled me saying, at least you sold one cup of coffee. That’s a good sign. You will do well tomorrow. And, she was adamant that I go the next day also.

The next day, I made sold snacks for Rs 600-700 which was big money for me then! As I started making money, I added ice creams, sandwiches, French fries and juices too. I used to keep thinking of adding more items.

I ran it from 1982 to 2003, and the maximum I made from that mobile cart was Rs 25,000 a day. That was during the bandh days! We used to be open from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. every day, and later, I started opening from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. for the walkers.

I used to personally stand there and sell all the stuff I made. I never felt scared to stand there late at night. My only thought was to prove myself and move ahead.

There was a fire in me that made me believe that I could be successful without anyone’s help. I did not want to be a failure. If you have that fire, nothing in the world can stop you from succeeding.

Offer to run a canteen
On seeing my work at the beach, within a year, the Slum Clearance Board gave me an offer to run the canteen at their office with a proper kitchen. The chairman met me during her morning walk. That is how I got the offer. The canteen was a huge success.

On Wednesdays, it was the public grievance day, so about 3000 people used to come there and I had a roaring business.

I used to get up at 5 a.m. in the morning, make idlis and go to the beach. From 9 a.m. I would be at the canteen. From 3.30 p.m. I would again be at the beach cart and would be there till 11p.m. By then, I had employed people to cook, and clean, and all the cooking was done at the canteen kitchen. My monthly income in those days was around Rs 20,000.

Later, I got an offer to run the Bank of Madurai canteen, I stopped running the canteen at the Slum Clearance Board canteen. At the Bank canteen, I served food to around 300 people daily.

One day, after a fight with my husband who used to come to trouble me often, I boarded a bus and travelled till the last stop. I got down and saw the National Port Management training school run by the Central government.

On the spur of the moment, I told the security guard that I wanted to meet the administrative officer. I met him and told him that I was a caterer and that I heard they were looking for a one.

He said, to my surprise that they were indeed looking for one as they had problems with the current contractor. I still believe it was God who took me there.

I got the offer. I had to serve three meals to about 700 students. They gave us quarters to stay. It was a new life for me. I got into the groove in a day. It was successful from day one, and I took care of the canteen till 1998.

My first weekly payment was Rs 80,000. I felt so elated having seen only hundreds and thousands till then. During those times, I was earning almost a lakh a week.

In those days, I wanted to do everything personally as I felt only then, things would run smoothly. Now I know if I train people well, they will do the work the way you want.

Starting restaurants
My connection with restaurants started in 1998 when I met people from the Sangeetha Restaurant group. They offered me a partnership in one of the units. But my son, Praveen Rajkumar wanted me to start my own restaurant and build a brand of ours.

But destiny played truant with me again. I lost my daughter, Pratibha Sandra and son-in-law road accident, a month after their marriage in 2004. It shattered me, and I withdrew from all that I was doing.

Then my son took over and started the first restaurant ‘Sandeepha’ in my daughter’s memory. It took some time for me to come out of the shock and start helping my son in the business. Now, I am fully involved in the business. The fire to succeed has come back to me now.

Ambulance to help the accident victims

I still cannot get over my daughter’s death as I did all this for my children; to bring them up and give them a good life.

What shocked me was the way the accident victims were treated by the ambulance operators. When they found that all the four in the car were dead, they said they would not carry dead bodies. Finally, somebody carried all the dead bodies in the boot of a car. When I saw the bodies being taken out of the boot, I broke down.

No mother can bear such a scene. That is when I decided to keep an ambulance on that very spot to help people whether the victims are alive or dead. It is in memory of my daughter.

Ficci entrepreneur of the year award
I started my business with just two people. Now, there are 200 people working for me in my restaurants. My lifestyle has changed too. From travelling in a cycle rickshaw, I moved to auto rickshaws and now I have my own car. From 50 paise a day, my revenue has gone up to Rs 2 lakh a day.

The ‘Ficci entrepreneur of the year’ award is the culmination of all the hard work I have put in over the last 30 years. It came as a surprise as this is the first time I have received an award.

Till now, I had no time to think of what I was doing. But the award made me look back and relive the days that passed by. Now, my ambition is to build my Sandeepha brand.

Advice to young entrepreneurs

Do not ever compromise on quality. Never lose your self-confidence. Believe in yourself and the product you are making. Third, always stick to what you know. When you employ people, you should know what you ask them to do.

Earlier, the Obama administration had named Shah’s wife, Shivam Mallick Shah as Director of Special Initiatives, Office of Innovation and Improvement at the Department of Education, thus making the Shahs the Indian American community’s first ‘power couple’ in the Obama administration.
Shah will — once he is confirmed — head the country’s top non-military foreign assistance programme.

‘The mission of USAID is to advance America’s interests by strengthening our relationships abroad,’ Obama said while making the nomination.

‘Rajiv brings fresh ideas and the dedication and impressive background necessary to help guide USAID as it works to achieve this important goal.’

The nomination assuages a deeply felt lack; Congress has in recent times been agitated over the fact that the top post at USAID has been left unfilled.

‘I am grateful for all that USAID has accomplished under the leadership of Acting Administrator Alonzo Fulgham, and the thousands of career men and women who fulfil USAID’s mission day in and day out — particularly their hard work in jumpstarting a landmark initiative to bring more than $20 billion for agriculture development to the world’s most-insecure countries,’ Obama said, adding that he was looking forward to working with Shah to take those efforts even further.

Hailing the nomination, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — under whose jurisdiction USAID falls — said: ‘Dr Raj Shah is a leader in the development community, an innovative and results-oriented manager, and someone who understands the importance of providing people around the world with the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty and chart their own destinies.’

With this nomination, Clinton said, the Obama administration was affirming that ‘development must be a core pillar of American foreign policy.’

Clinton said Shah, a trained medical doctor and health economist who earned his MD from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and his Master of Science in health economics at the Wharton School of Business, has the required skill sets and ‘a record of delivering results in both the private and public sectors, forging partnerships around the world, especially in Africa and Asia, and developing innovative solutions in global health, agriculture, and financial services for the poor.’

The secretary pointed out that Shah has led many of the initiatives that are redefining best practice in the field of development, including the Global Alliance for Vaccines and immunization, the Global Fund for AIDS, TB, and Malaria, the Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

‘His tireless efforts to immunise children around the world have helped save countless lives,’ Clinton said.

Shah currently manages the Agricultural Research Service, the Economic Research Service, the National Agricultural Statistical Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture — a large portfolio that entails managing more than 10,000 federal employees worldwide, including 2,200 federal scientists, and a budget of more than $2.56 billion.

He also leads the department’s participation in President Obama’s global food security initiative. Though he has been with USDA only since April, Shah has already launched the National Institute of Food and Agriculture — a scientific institute created to elevate and enhance the capacity of agricultural research to address sustainable food production, climate change, bio-energy and human nutrition.

In managing this extensive portfolio, Shah works in close concert with Congress, the State Department, the White House and the international development community.

When he takes over as USAID head, he will be in charge of a budget in excess of $40 billion and a staff of over 2,000 employees in Washington and worldwide.

Administration and Congressional sources predicted that Shah’s confirmation was a mere formality, given “his impeccable credentials and superb track record.” Congressional sources who have worked with Shah described him as a person “of immense integrity,” with an “innate sense and commitment to lifting people out of poverty,” and “passionate in his dedication to development issues.”

These attributes, plus the Congressional dismay at the top post in USAID lying vacant all these months, would ensure a smooth confirmation, Congressional sources told rediff.com.

The Congress is approving of the Obama-Clinton argument that USAID will be crucial to the administration’s ’smart power’ foreign policy strategy, where diplomacy acquires equal importance with the projection of military power, particularly in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan where development must soon follow in areas previously held by the Taliban, if the populations in those areas are to be convinced that militancy and extremism should not be the preferred paths.

“Rajiv is the perfect choice,” a Congressional source told rediff.com, “young, resourceful, committed, and with an unbelievable and impeccable track record, and if he is given the autonomy and independence and clear and defined portfolios and defined responsibilities, you can bet he will deliver, as he did during his nearly 10 years with the Gates Foundation.”

Administration sources said Shah’s nomination came as a distinct relief to Clinton, who has been growing exceedingly frustrated over the protracted White House vetting process for the position. The thoroughness of the process has already led to several highly qualified candidates withdrawing their names from consideration; some even described it, at various times, as ‘ridiculous’ and ‘a nightmare.’

The Congress has been equally frustrated, prompting Senators John F Kerry, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Richard Lugar, the committee’s ranking Republican, to write to Obama complaining that USAID, by virtue of not having a head, had been shut out of the inter-agency process in US foreign policy in key countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In their letter, Kerry and Lugar wrote that it was ‘the only agency in the government without a captain at a time when American leadership in development around the world is more needed than ever. We recommend that you give strong consideration to selecting a candidate that has already gone through the vetting process and that has the experience in global development. We believe that time is of the essence and that the longer we wait for a new leader for the agency, the more serious the problems become,’ the Senators said.

Shah’s nomination plays right into the Senators’ line of thinking, as he has already gone through the intense vetting process, and breezed through Senate confirmation when he was nominated Under Secretary of Agriculture.

With Kerry and Lugar seized of the need for a quick appointment, and given Shah’s impeccable credentials, confirmation hearings will happen quickly, and be “a formality”, Congressional sources said.

Before his eight years with the Gates Foundation, the Detroit-born Shah had worked on health care policy for the Al Gore 2000 presidential campaign, and served as a member of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s transition committee on health.
He is co-founder of Health Systems Analytics and Project IMPACT for South Asian Americans — a national, non-profit organization dedicated to increasing civic awareness and community leadership of South Asian Americans. He has also been policy aide to the British parliament, and consultant to the World Health Organisation.

Source: Rediff

Suri, 41, is to take over from Simon Beresford-Wylie on Oct 1. Suri has been with Nokia for 20 years and is currently head of the services business of Nokia Siemens Networks.

Beresford-Wylie was to leave the company Nov 1 and step down from the board in September, the statement said.

Article Source/Credits: siliconindia.com
Posted on:  September 02,  2009

Here is some additional information -

- Rajeev Suri holds Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics and Telecommunications) from Mangalore University, India.
- Joined Nokia in 1995
- Prior to joining Nokia, Suri worked with ICL in India and RPG
- Worked for a large conglomerate in West Africa where he was heading their corporate commercial and international imports division