Women Entrepreneurs Worldwide - Now on PERISCOPE

Women entrepreneurs globally have unheard success stories, deserving of recognition, that are inspirational and encouraging to other women, whether struggling in rural areas of various regions of the world or those who have been singled out publicly for their accomplishments, to those who are anticipating the journey of entrepreneurship.

As founder of Women Entrepreneurs Worldwide, endeavoring to continue “Building Cultural Relationships & Networking Bridges Globally,” I am one whose journey continues to be enlightened by the women I encounter.  

In honor of International Women’s Day, I am sincerely appreciative of Sayeeda Ashraf, Founder, of SHEWISE- Personal Development & Business Coaching for sharing her entrepreneurial journey.

My Journey

Pursuing a life and career of what I think of myself as a social entrepreneur and social reformer my journey has taken me further then I would have ever been able to imagine.

Coming from a Pakistani Muslim background and arriving in England at the age of seven to live with my parents in UK. As a second generation of immigrates life for me has been more than challenging to say the least.

My first real experience of gender inequality of being a Muslim female was at the age of nineteen; when I decided to pursue my education and apply to do a Law degree in Leeds University. Living away from home and gaining higher education was not the future my parents had versioned for me. In fact they had me engaged and ready to be married by age of seventeen. However as my future husband was also in full time education at the time and was not ready to settle down my parents were left with no choice but to wait for his approval for marriage.

This opportunity allowed me to explore my career a bit more. I joined a high street bank’s college leavers cashier training program. Meanwhile working full time I started to explore my hobby as a fashion designer, I started making and supplying readymade outfits to family and friends. That was my first experience of being an entrepreneur; I had accidentally stumbled upon my passion and discovered my talent.

Unfortunately, like most women from ethnic backgrounds, especially Muslim background, I grew up in an environment where I was persuaded NOT find my talent, let alone follow my dreams. I was never given any guidance as to finding, discovering or honoring my talent. However I did manage to run the business for two & half years with my sister. Unfortunately timeline eventually run out for us and we were both pressured into giving up the business to get married and settle down.

After working for many years in retail jobs with long hours, we both still had the unstoppable urge to start up a new venue and in the year 2000 we did. Our father had been is the restaurant and hospitality business for more than forty years, considering the support and the network in place we felt that was an obvious choice to start our new business.

We literally started from the back of our kitchens, catering for social events on a very small scale. Due to the response we were getting from our customers as our food was very authentic, we decided to rent out a small takeaway in Battersea, London.

Starting up a restaurant business was very difficult but interesting and like most Asian business the whole family came together and become part of the venture. But as mothers of young children, my sister and I both started to struggle to find work life & style balance, leading to huge problems in our marriages. However regardless of all the challenges and constrains our quest for success wasn’t faded. The business really started to grow, we had converted the restaurant into a food production unit and started supplying savory snacks and Indian canapés to other local contemporary caters who were adding our products to their main menu to provide an extra choice to their customers. During this period the business had grown quite substantially, in fact so much so that we were approached by one of our main customers who propose us to merge with them.

At the time they were a well-established high street brand based with six retail outlets in main City of London, supplying readymade Indian meals to city lunch timers. However one of their constraints were they were buying all their products from third party suppliers and therefore were looking to establish inhouse production. Their lack of experience in food manufacturing led them to approach us for partnership.

We agreed to take them up on their offer, as we felt at the time that it was great opportunity for us for a real business growth and success. We jointly established a BRC Central Production Unit in North London. However not realizing at the time that this would be less of a merge and more of acquisition - our lack of business acumen’s really shone through - not fully understanding the consequences of a business merge we found ourselves losing main control of the business.

However not realizing at the time that this would be less of a merge and more of acquisition - our lack of business acumen’s really shone through - not fully understanding the consequences of a business merge we found ourselves losing main control of the business.

However as months went on and we bought in new venture capitalist to invest into the project for further growth, we were finding ourselves more and more being pushed a side. We were now getting a real taste of playing with the big boys. We found ourselves more and more in an employment situation, rather than running our own business.

Amazingly however, by 2007, the business had seen a huge growth with a turnover of just over £6.5 M. Although we had still only had six high street retail outlets but our wholesales division had grown substantially. My claim to fame was that I was head of wholesale division and in a short period of three years build the business by supplying to over 250 units in business and Industry sector. Despite such a personal success and growth, one of my main challenges was working in a male dominated industry was my level of confidence. I often found myself having to justify my abilities as woman in the boardroom. One of the most common comments I remember I used to receive from time to time from my fellow male colleagues was “get back into the kitchen- who let you out!”

The journey for my sister and I had most definitely been evolutionary. Unfortunately in 2008, with the crush of the banking sector and the country going into a recession, the main investors pulled out and the business had to go into administration.

The entire episode and the losses had left my family and I quite devastated and finally resulted with an end to my marriage too. The journey had made me reflect a lot on all the different learning and constrains that I had as an entrepreneur and more so as a woman and even more so as Muslim woman. Constantly trying to prove my equality, clashing and competing in the board room with my male peers, being treated as a second class citizen and not forgetting to mention the pressures and the negative response of family for being too ambitious as a woman. But also the self-discovery and learning of new skills were all amazing contributions to my journey.

After taking some time out, I later went onto finishing my Business & Marketing degree at university and then went on to working for one of the leading global business coaching company in London.

This pursuit has led me through personal changes and self-reflection that I never dreamed. And only through this self refection and ownership of myself have I become an individual who is not only capable, but longs to help others along the same journey and into a more fulfilled and equal life, hence leading to the birth of my new project: SHEWISE- Personal Development & Business Coaching.

I hope my story will inspire few of your readers; I would just like to leave you with a few famous quotes:

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”

 “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts!” Winston Churchill.

Regards, Sayeeda Ashraf