Women taking on the world

The most recent of Margaret Hirsch’s popular Women In Business virtual meetings got off to a flying start with over 150 women from around the country attending the event to network virtually and listen to speaker, Shilpa Mehta.

Shilpa, the first female president of the Entrepreneurs Organisation Durban talked about her journey from rising to the top of the ladder in the corporate world to owning her own business.

She is the co-owner (with her brother) of Production Logix, KZN’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, and a company that she purchased in 2015 after a career in finance in the corporate world, working for KPMG, Investec, Uniprint, and Hirt and Carter.

Shilpa explained that her passion for entrepreneurship was passed down from her grandfather who was the typesetter for the Indian Opinion, a newspaper started by Mahatma Ghandi.

When Ghandi returned to India, her grandfather continued working as a typesetter and formed a company called Bombay Print, which later became Uniprint and is still in the family.

“Know your worth, keep yourself relevant and know where you are placed in the market; never tolerate bad behaviour, even if it comes from the top; and build a team that you would like to take with you to war if necessary,” said Shipla.

With regards to the present situation and how her business has coped, Shilpa said that as a rule, they don’t grow when things are easy, but grow when they face challenges.

“Being flexible and fluid is important. Remember to invest in yourself – men do this all the time and women seldom do – it makes such a difference when you do,” said Shipla.

The community is encouraged to join Margaret and the Hirsch’s team on Friday, 26 February for the Entrepreneurs Workshop with Business Coach, Marlene Powell and guest speaker Janez Vermeiren.

The topic under discussion will be Navigating the New Communications World and interested entrepreneurs are advised to use follow the link: https://bit.ly/2MbtT28 to log on.