Mompreneurs Who Make Us Wish To Be Our #LadyBosses

MEET THE MOMPRENEURS PART II

Second in the mompreneurs series, we have got this time Neetu Kalra and Nidhi Myne’s entrepreneurial journey. Read on to know what drives them to take up the challenges of entrepreneurship and slaying it unapologetically.

Neetu Kalra, Director, IGP

Neetu Kalra, 38, mother of two lovely daughters, started the venture, IGP Institute, an institute for grooming professionals with her husband, Ashish Kalra in 2002. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant and also a Company Secretary holding 8th Rank in All India.

IGP, operating out of several locations in Delhi/NCR, strives to provide a qualitatively superior coaching in the field of Commerce. It is a grooming centre aimed at transforming the young aspirants towards rewarding professional careers. It provides an enviable ‘Face to Face’ (F2F) and satellite coaching for all levels of CA and CS.

Neetu’s eyes fill with pride as she tells us that the IGPians have achieved Nine “All India Rank One” and overall 466th rank in the last nine years.

“It is these outstanding results of our students that make IGP one of the best Institutes in India,” she says. Her mission is to bring together the best mentors in the field under IGP so that the students can get the best guidance under one roof. And, to achieve this, she has got many renowned mentors on roll.

Neetu smiles and takes the credit of nurturing the business, expanding it to 48 centres pan India. “IGP is the brainchild of my husband, CA Ashish Kalra,” she says.  

India has become the second largest market for e-learning after the US. The sector is currently pegged at US$ 2-3 billion, and is expected to touch US$ 40 billion by 2017. The distance education market in India is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 34% during 2013-14 to 2017-18.  IGP is proud to be mentoring approximately 7000 students every year.

For Neetu, time is the biggest teacher. Every day gives her an opportunity to learn new experience.  She keeps herself abreast of industry changes and reforms. She tells us that when her husband prepared his lectures, she made sure he reached to maximum students by exploring effective communication options. That is how IGP expanded from Face to Face coaching to Satellite coaching, from one location to 48.

Neetu has faced her own share of challenges of being a Mompreneur and admits that she did feel like quitting work for her daughters. However, it was her family who supported her and encouraged her to never give up.0

Her mother takes care of her children when she is at work. She tells us happily that her children are happy and secure with her mother.

Neetu is a fitness freak and strives to practice yoga, jogging, etc. with her daughters. This way she gets to spend quality time with them.

It is amazing when she tells us that she doesn’t have TV in her home. TV takes away the family time. Instead of watching TV, they spend time talking to each other.

“Do spend some time with your loved ones. It is good to work hard, but don’t let it create a space between you and your kids. Be there for your kids whenever they need you. Try to maintain a balance between being a mother and an entrepreneur,” she says.  “After being into business for 15 years, interpersonal skills are vital in addition to technical and professional skills,” she adds.

Nidhi Myne, Director, Little Miss Myne

Nidhi Myne, 31, mother of an 18-month-old daughter, owns Little Miss Myne. “We are two generations of Mompreneurs who have employed young mothers & girls from the low income households to help fulfill their dreams of being able to contribute towards the household income,” she says.   

Little Miss Myne designs beautiful handcrafted party dresses, gowns, fantasy costumes, festive wear, etc. Their unique mother-daughter dresses are fashionable and dazzling. They focus on quality and comfort of child while designing for little girls. They can be reached at https://www.facebook.com/Littlemissmyne/

Nidhi started conceptualizing the idea of her venture about two years ago. The idea finally turned into a successful reality after the birth of her beautiful daughter. She calls her daughter, her inspiration.

Nidhi’s vision for her venture is to offer beautifully designed & handcrafted party dresses & festive wear at affordable prices. The next phase is to expand her business reach via online platforms for a wider reach and to offer varied product choices to her clients.

Nidhi tells us that since childhood she has been inspired by fantasy movies. She loved how Giselle (from the movie, Enchanted) would take fabric from curtains and with the help of birds & other furry friends make beautiful dresses. “We would love to have young girls live their dreams and fantasies through our dresses,” she smiles.

The apparel market for girls consists of large & small brands to niche boutiques.  With a market growth rate of roughly 30-40%, Nidhi says it wasn’t an easy journey for her. From scouting for quality material & production and making sure that the final product was affordable for the clients was one of the many challenges she faced in her journey as an entrepreneur. Nidhi’s clients include mothers looking for beautiful dresses for their daughters, boutiques, photographers doing birthday photo shoots, etc.

She is the first in her family to become an entrepreneur. She’d put in immense work into market research, conceptualizing the designs, understanding the requirements of clients, etc. Since the launch of Little Miss Myne, every day is a new learning experience for her. It is the happy faces of little girls wearing Little Miss Myne dresses that motivate Nidhi to work hard.

She is able to successfully manage being a mother and an entrepreneur by balancing her time between family and work. Her unique business model provides her the opportunities of engaging with her daughter while working, too.