It was a day to celebrate womanhood. Close to 200 women from all walks of life and age groups came together at a one-day seminar ‘Power Women’ organised by The Hindu Business Line here on Saturday.

In unison, they said: ‘Behind every successful woman, there is a success story waiting to be heard.’

The ‘power’ sponsor for the event was ONGC, while the event was organised in association with Assocham, Regional Office, Ahmedabad. The associate sponsors for the event were Bank of India and Euro Kids, Shivranjani/Manekbaug Center. The supporting partners were Simulations PR and Orange Media, while the gift sponsors were VLCC and Laxmi Toor Dal.

Some of Ahmedabad’s top women who have carved a niche for themselves in various fields shared their success mantras, real stories of struggle and gave some inspirational words of wisdom at the power-packed seminar.

“We don’t need (to celebrate) any Women’s Day at SEWA. Empowerment is within us. We just need an enabling environment to realise it,” said Reema Nanavati of Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a Padmashri awardee.

Nanavati’s sentiments were echoed by Manjula Pooja Shroff, educationist and CEO of Calorx Foundation. “You educate a man and you educate an individual. You educate a woman and you educate a whole family,” she said.

Bhagyesh Soneji, chairperson, Assocham Gujarat Council, reminisced how she came to Ahmedabad with just Rs 20 in her purse but went on to become an entrepreneur in international trade. “We need to empower women not just financially but socially also,” she said.

Janki Vasant, founder of Samvedna, a non-government organisation working for empowering children and women, said “This is probably the best decade for women with a lot of wonderful opportunities for success. But opportunities and responsibilities are two sides of the same coin.”

Hemant Bala Sharma, Deputy General Manager, Chemistry at ONGC, revealed, “When I joined ONGC, there were just 2-3% women in the company. This number has now doubled to 6%.”

Similarly, Dr Falguni Bavishi, Founder and Director of Bavishi Fertility Institute, shared how she wrote her practical exams just 48 hours after delivering her first child. “My father who was a doctor inspired me to be a doctor and now I want to give back to society,” she said.

Sushma Oza, CEO of Adani Foundation, said, “Women should value themselves and not depend on others for little joys of life.”

Prof Anjana Vyas of Cept University rightly pointed out the women in today’s world need to learn to live with dignity, equality and human rights. She added that women in India are habituated to respect the men in lives, but forget to so the same for other women.

The panel discussion followed by a Q&A session.

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