‘Businesses do not run on love and fresh air’

Having redefined career options for women, who often face Catch-22 situations in their well-established careers due to domestic compulsions, the ‘diversity champion’ has won awards and accolades galore. But then this rise has not been easy. 

Dr Saundarya says, “About 20 years ago, I entered the workplace. Then the 3M happened — Marriage, Maternity and (lack of) Mobility. So I quit my job and became a statistic.” If you wonder what statistic refers to here, one among the 1.5 million women who exited the workplace wanted to re-enter. “For 6 years, I tried to get that elusive job — a place where I would not be discriminated on account of having a break in career; reasonable predictability of working hours while raising two children, and finally, be able to rise to my potential.” 

As they say, some dreams don’t come true for a good reason. “I guess the God wanted me to be part of the solution and not part of the problem and in the year 2000, AVTAR was born. Today, more than a decade later, I have 40,000 Saundaryas on the AVTAR I-WIN network, 8,000 of whom have re-entered the workforce, contributing an estimated Rs 250 crore by way of economic participation. After coaching and counselling organisations to develop a gender inclusion plan, several organisations have successfully filled critical roles with second-career women,” she says. 

While she is hogging the limelight (this year’s recipient of the 100Women Achievers of India award that included luncheon with the President of India), Saundarya admits that the switch from the corporate job exposed her to the usual problems that any bootstrapping young entrepreneur would face — money and markets. “But I guess I was always more cut out to be an entrepreneur rather than a 9-to-5 employee. Even when I was in a corporate job, I was a closet entrepreneur — trying new things, pulling people together, making things happen. I had always seen my father (my idol) run his own business (pharma) and when I started AVTAR, I just took that model and added my own components and flavour.” 

The one thing which is absolutely imperative to have as an entrepreneur is the ability to articulate a vision and make at least part of it happen. “I now have the most audacious vision — creating workplaces with 50-50 gender balance in India. The inaugural ‘Best 100’ list of companies is a giant step in that direction,” Saundarya states. 

Ask her about work-life balance and she quips: “Please don’t call it work-life balance. It is work-life integration. When you try balance, you are pitting two concepts against each other. When you integrate, you blend both elements into one cohesive whole. Work is part of life and life is part of work.” 

For the confused individual who knows not whether to take up employment or become an entrepreneur, especially given the growing buzz around entrepreneurship? Saundarya has a simple formula: “Pursuing a corporate job teaches you several amazing things which you would not learn on your own. So get a job, work, learn and build connections. Find a true reason to turn entrepreneur. Have a really strong economic engine. Businesses do not run on love and fresh air!” 

An anecdote will provide the reasons beyond the logical mind to get onto the entrepreneurial bandwagon! “The year was 2008; the place, Kolhapur. We were running a second-career assessment for Future Group and we had a woman with about 10 years of break come in and meet us. After several rounds, she got the job. The next day, she was back with her little boy towing behind her. They both had big smiles on their face and he shyly handed me a folded piece of paper. In it was written ‘Thank you for giving Mummy job’. This remains the most precious award I have ever received.”