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Anjana Chandramouly

They got some of the country's top businesswomen talking... this compilation of the life and work of 21 entrepreneurs by two college students is a worthy effort.

Two college students managing detailed interviews with India Inc's most powerful women leaders should make veteran journalists green with envy. This is undoubtedly the greatest appeal of The Voyage to Excellence by Nischinta Amarnath and Debashish Ghosh (Publishers: Pustak Mahal, New Delhi; Price: Rs 395).

Among the 21 businesswomen featured in the book are Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Biocon), Naina Lal Kidwai (HSBC), Ranjana Kumar (NABARD), Sulajja Firodia Motwani (Kinetic Engineering) Ekta Kapoor (Balaji Telefilms), and Simone Tata (Trent Ltd).

As N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys, notes in his foreword, "Each of the women in this book has overcome significant odds, social or economic, to achieve success in her business ... What is interesting is that these businesswomen — from rich families or poor, from college backgrounds or otherwise — were all women who drove change within, and outside the business... "

But what motivated the two Chennai college students — Nischinta Amarnath (19), an Economics under-graduate at Chennai's Stella Maris College, and Debashish Ghosh (25), then an MBA student from IIT, Madras — to journey through these enterprising women's lives?

"We were jointly running a newspaper column called `Entrepreneurial Encounters'. So we were interviewing Chennai-based corporate heads and business tycoons. And this project was only a natural extension, because we wanted to bring to light the achievements of working women — businesswomen in particular — how they have overcome challenges, both business and personal," says Nischinta.

But why only businesswomen? Simply because books on businessmen already exist, Ghosh says with a smile.

However, this journey was not without difficulties. "Since the interviews happened during vacations, we didn't have much problem devoting time for the book. But once college reopened, we had some difficulty balancing our work with the attendance requirement at college," says Nischinta. Ghosh adds that being in different colleges helped, since their college schedules were different.

Nischinta explains the planning that went into their work. "We had complementary skills, which we wanted to leverage. I focused on the more sensitive aspects of their personal life, while he looked at the business aspects."

The businesswomen featured head a diverse range of sectors... from the conventional sugar, engineering and banking sectors to relatively modern ones such as fashion, art, media and entertainment.

The criteria for selection were simple. Foremost was the requirement that the book should represent all sectors. Second, at least one person from each sector should be represented. Other factors include popular figures, CSR initiatives in the company, awards won and, most important, availability for interviews.

So, how difficult was it to fix an appointment with these busy people?

Nischinta says though their "student status" was a deterrent initially, it soon became an advantage, especially the IIT brand name. Ghosh credits their success to the professional set-up at most of the offices. Even when they weren't able to reach the interviewees personally, they could do so through e-mail or their personal secretaries.

"The questionnaires were mailed first. Some responses were e-mailed, after which we met them and, in a few cases, followed up with phone calls. In some cases, we even spoke to some company officials." Biocon CEO Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw's chauffer Edward, for example, told them: "When I asked Kiran ma'am to give me one month to decide whether I would join as her driver, I was touched to hear her say that she would wait one year to hire me."

The authors travelled across India to interact with 18 of the 21 women. Ghosh says that before they left for Mumbai they had only three interviews lined up; "but after landing there, we managed to pack in 10 interviews in 7 days." They would transcribe the tape-recorded interviews during their train journeys!

The 21 stories in the book offer readers a glimpse into the traits that made each of these women the best in their chosen fields. Besides insights into the women's personal and professional lives and achievements, each story is accompanied by a Q&A providing information about the company and sector represented.

Some little-known details about these personalities have also been included. For instance, Ranjana Kumar, Chairperson, NABARD, "disclosed a lot of information about her personal life." We learn that Ranjana revels in the small pleasures of life, her fondness for reading anecdotes, the Thirukkural, and books authored by Deepak Chopra. She loves watching films starring Sanjeev Kumar or Madhuri Dixit.

Nischinta and Ghosh believe that their effort "would inspire women to ward off social barriers and shatter the glass ceiling," and hope it would highlight the challenges overcome by these women and motivate students on the threshold of a new career. To take the book to more young readers, the authors plan to conduct workshops and reading sessions at women's colleges and management institutions.

Anu Aga, former Chairperson, Thermax Ltd, says in her foreword that for every successful woman there are many others who face serious hurdles in their voyage of becoming "complete" and realising their dreams. She quotes Charlotte Whitten: "Whatever women must do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult... "

That sums up the incredible and successful voyage of the women leaders of corporate India.

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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