"Women are the best managers: of their lives, professional careers and businesses," says a proud Geetha Viswanathan. After two decades in the fashion designing industry, today her venture 'Preyasi' boasts of clients in over 48 countries including a high profile clientele in Chennai city.

Geetha, an alumni of ALT Bangalore, runs 'Preyasi', a leading Chennai based fashion house.

Since her childhood, she has nursed a passion to become an entrepreneur. In 1985, she ventured into the business world by selling saris from her residence. Today, Geetha is the proud recipient of the "Best Women Entrepreneur of Tamil Nadu" award (1995). She is also the All India President of the Marketing Organisation of Women Entrepreneurs of India (MOOWES, India). She has trained over 280 women entrepreneurs in diversified fields and has been a great support and guiding force to them in setting up their own ventures.

Recently, Geetha's dream of setting up an educational institution providing quality hands-on knowledge on fashion designing has taken shape in the form of the Srijathi Institute of Fashion Technology (SIFT).

For Geetha, SIFT is way to give something of herself back to life. "I had to go through a lot of tough times before I could establish myself as a woman entrepreneur. SIFT has been set up for budding professionals who have a desire and hunger to do something for their own lives and to the industry," says Geetha.

SIFT, a subsidiary of the fifteen year old design studio - Preyasi, offers specialized training in the field of fashion to a large number of students across the globe. This two-year-old venture has created a lot of young entrepreneurs/fashion professionals who are successful designers today.

"Most of the young professionals today are very innovative. But for a business to grow, you need a lot of things: money, infrastructure, skilled labour, and a thorough knowledge of the needs of the marketplace. At the end of the day, a banker looks at your financial track record and not your ideas!!! Our students are given all the support they require to kick start their ventures. This also serves to encourage local talent and reduce the incidence of body shopping in India. There is a pool of good and quality talent here. Such talent should be encouraged and promoted within the country for any industry to flourish" says Geetha.

So, here's to a woman entrepreneur with substance!

Post Comment

Name : Email : Password : Comments :