P.J.
0
The story of Patricia Narayan, winner of 'Ficci Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2010' award is amazing.
She started her career 31 years ago as an entrepreneur, selling eateries from a mobile cart on the Marina beach amidst all odds -- battling a failed marriage, coping with her husband, a multiple addict, and taking care of two kids.
Today, she has overcome the hurdles and owns a chain of restaurants.
An entrepreneur by accident
I was always interested in cooking and passionate about trying out new dishes. But, the thought of becoming a business woman never came to my mind at all as I do not come from a business family. Both my parents were government servants.
But my marriage changed everything. Both the families opposed the marriage vehemently as my husband belonged to the Brahmin community; unfortunately my marriage did not work out as my husband was addicted to alcohol, drugs, etc. I could not bring him out of the addiction. As a young woman, I did not know how to cope with this and I was getting beaten up everyday.
Though my father, a very conservative Christian never forgave me, he gave me refuge when I had nowhere to go. I was thrown out with two very small children. It was a question of survival for me. I knew I should either succumb to the burden or fight; I decided to fight my lonely battle.
I did not want to be a burden on my parents. So, to be economically independent, I could only do what I knew and what I liked. I started making pickles, squashes and jams at home. I just took a couple of hundred rupees from my mother. I sold everything I made in one day and that gave me confidence.
Today, she has overcome the hurdles and owns a chain of restaurants.
" I knew I should either succumb to the burden or fight; I decided to fight my lonely battle." she said.
In 1980, when Patricia's son was two, she set up a kiosk on the Marina. “I had to do it for the future of the child. For one whole year, I walked up and down the stairs of the Secretariat, with the child in my arms, to get permission from the PWD,” she recalls. On day one, she managed to sell only a cup of coffee — for 50 paise. Today, of course, the total sales from the 14 outlets of Sandeepha across Chennai average Rs. 2 lakh, daily. “The Marina is my business school, it is my MBA,” says Patricia.
She soon branched out into running canteens for offices and in 1998 become a director of Sandeepha group's Nelson Manickam Road restaurant. By now her children had grown up; her income had grown too. What had gotten worse was her husband's behaviour: he would beat her and stub her with cigarette butts when she didn't give him money, and had also taken to disappearing for months together. In 2002, during one such disappearance, he died.
She suffered the second shock of her life in 2004 when she lost her daughter and son-in-law in a road accident. The ambulance refused to carry their dead bodies. Finally, somebody carried all the dead bodies in the boot of a car. She couldn't bear the scene and broke down. That is when she decided to keep an ambulance on that very spot to help people whether the victims are alive or dead. It is in memory of her daughter.
Today Patricia along with her son runs the chain of restaurant 'Sandeepha' in her daughter's memory and around 200 people work under her.
She was awarded 'Ficci entrepreneur of the year' in 2010.
Resource: The Hindu, Rediff
From 50 paise, she now earns Rs 200,000 a day. "Hardwork Never fails!" | Check this india
