Smita Mahajan, Founder and Managing Director at VAMITA Ventures Pvt Ltd

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey.

I am Smita Mahajan, by background an engineer with 14 yrs of IT experience. Now an entrepreneur, with experience of 2 successful private limited companies in the last 7 years and mentoring more than 8000+ women to make them #atmanirbhar.

I am the Founder, Managing Director of VAMITA Ventures Pvt Ltd, and Chief Mentor for ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™. I strongly believe in the power of education and promoting practical knowledge based on real-life experiences. This inspired me to create a robust eduTech platform of  *ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™*  for new generation Professionals.

As a  trainer, motivational speaker, business consultant and Mentor to individuals, corporates and businesses, I have mentored more than 5000 women from urban and suburban PAN India to make them #atmanirbhar in collaboration with MSME and AIC Pinnacle. My real inspiration to work in every situation is my dedication to create a robust platform to provide the much needed mentoring and customised guidance to every woman who wants to start her own enterprise. 

Being the Chief Mentor of WEdyalaya™, leading a team of experienced mentors, a career catalyst for youngsters, Life Coach gave me the opportunity to mentor more than 20+ Home Based / MSME businesses to reach new height of success and achieve desired revenue milestone. I am also a registered training partner in MSME and NSDC to work closely on the governmental project with the ministry of women and child education and development.

I believe that every situation is an opportunity to create something valuable for future generations to come, this belief inspired me to create Rozana MiTrra. Rozana MiTrra is a powerful eCommerce platform to help farmers and local business owners to connect directly with the end user, by removing the chain of middlemen. This ensures maximum profit to the farmers and manufacturers.

How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges?

I always believe that Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle that comes with its own set of challenges that only an entrepreneur would know. Handling these challenges comes naturally to an entrepreneur, as we work with a progressive mindset to create our envisioned future. My strength to overcome any challenging situation comes from the belief in my vision and from my 7 years of experience as an entrepreneur and business coach.

As I shared in my earlier reply, that Entrepreneurship is synonymous with the feeling of motherhood. An Entrepreneur thinks, acts and works like a mother nurturing and bringing up her child. An entrepreneur always treats her vision like her child and as a mother she would never leave her vision and would face every challenge to make sure that her vision is safe and prospering. An entrepreneur may have to work 24*7 to achieve her goals.

I always believe and share this to all my mentees that Money is a by-product of entrepreneurship. If you have clarity in your thoughts and a strong WHY to pursue your goals, nothing can stop you from achieving your dreams and abundance will flow in your life.

How did you come up with the name for your business/startup?

The name of my Company is VAMITA Ventures Pvt Ltd, this name is really special for me as it is the combination of the names of all my near and dear ones. The literal meaning of the word VAMITA comes from our vedas, as the name of Maa Parvati, consort of Lord Shiva, the Mother of our Universe. Her creative and nurturing energy was a perfect balance to the protective and transformational energy of lord. The combination of these energies gave birth to the Universe.

We are manifesting the same creative positive and transformational balanced energy of SHIVA-SHAKTI for every professional and student to nurture their idea so that it can transform into a flourishing business through our education platform ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™ and e-commerce platform Rozana MiTrra. 

As special the name and stories of my company is, similarly the story behind the name and vision of two platforms of VAMITA is:

• ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™ – Our Educational Platform dedicated to provide a holistic growth to everyone.
• Rozana MiTrra – Our Ecommerce Platform to support and promote Farmers and Local Business Owners.

The name ‘ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™‘ has a deep rooted emotional meaning. ExtraordiNAARI shows our dedication to our vision to make every woman enrolled in our ecosystem to be extraordinary and #atmanirbhar in entrepreneurship so that she doesn’t need any support or no one can fool her in the entrepreneurial journey due to her lack of knowledge.

The branding of WEdyalaya™ is very cautiously and optimistically designed by me. The WE in WEdyalaya™ stands for the power of eco-system and as an abbreviation for ‘Women Entrepreneurs’. It represents the power and strength of all the like-minded Women Entrepreneurs coming together to bring the most-awaited and desired change in society. 

Rozana MiTrra – As the name suggests is a friend for everyone’s daily needs. We are dedicated to removing the chain of Middle men and provide maximum profit to Farmers and local Business owners. We are a friend for the customer ensuring the best quality fresh product at least price grown/manufactured locally.

What’s your source of motivation?

My Parents are the biggest source of motivation in my life. I strongly believe that our parents are our first teachers in our life and whatever we are today, we owe it to them. Their selfless love and discipline shape our personality for what we have achieved today. Two most precious learnings of my parents which I will treasure always are:-

• Teachings of my mother that Education is the most precious treasure which no-one can steal from me. This teaching reflects in my life, both on a personal as well as professional front. The credits of giving birth to the vision of ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™ goes to her teachings only.
• Humanity is the only religion that exists. My parents always believed in one thing ‘No matter whatever you want to be, the first step to reach your goals is to be a better Human.‘ I too follow the same learnings in my life.

What keeps you going?

I am the kind of person who finds happiness in every little thing in life. Still the two things which give me peace and pure happiness are:-

• Reading Books – I am a true fan of reading, I proudly own a small personal library in my home where I treasure the jewels of some of the best motivational authors like Sudha Murti, Michelle Obama, Brian Tracy and many more.
• Gardening – I love to be near nature. It gives me peace and a pure sense of happiness. This love for Nature inspired me to have a green thumb and to have a lush green garden at my home with many indoor as well as outdoor plants.

Tell us about some of the accomplishments you are most proud of.

With the unique vision of VAMITA, since the day of birth of its concept we have achieved many feathers in our hat. But our most special achievements are:-

• ExtraordiNAARI WEdyalaya™ in collaboration with AIC PINNACLE Entrepreneurship Forum and Ministry of MSME conducted Entrepreneurship Development Programs in the Rural and SubUrban parts of Maharashtra with overall 500+ women involved in the program.
• During the break of the current global Pandemic expanded our limits not only to PAN India(with 16 branches) but also overseas with collaborations globally.
• Taking weekly online WEdyalaya™ session on total holistic Well-being for personal and professional growth.
• Took 3 successful batches of Incubation Programs for budding Entrepreneurs, to help aspiring women entrepreneurs at ideation level or initial stage to create their evolving business model.
• We have collaborated with National and International companies to not only provide globally certified programs for our Women Entrepreneurs but also provide them multiple platforms for customer outreach.
• Promote and motivate enrolled women mentors to take various sessions to preserve and promote Indian Traditional art forms, culture and culinary art to the farthest corners of the globe.
• WEdyalaya™ is working dedicatedly to bring the digital revolution in the women entrepreneurs by teaching them how to use Technology for their business.
• Provide strategically designed courses to Students to teach them how to identify and create effective solutions for the real life problems and to create a profit making evolving enterprise from it.
• Now we are launching the most robust e-Learning platform which will have every guru on our platform of all 11 Verticals.
• We are launching a mobile application for connecting the farmers and local business owners in one click.
• Collaboration of Rozana MITrra with clusters of farmers, SHG, NGOs to help them reach end customers directly and make them #ATMANIRBHAAR.

How many hours a day do you work on average & can you describe/outline your typical day?

My typical day starts at 05:00 AM in the morning with gratitude to the almighty for blessing me with a new opportunity to achieve our vision. I am blessed to have a very supportive family and we all follow a very disciplined, healthy, active lifestyle which incorporates exercise and meditation to rejuvenate and prepare for a productive day. My work starts from the moment I open my eyes, by checking messages/emails, preparing task lists for the day and sharing follow-up messages to my team. I intend to execute my day as planned with pre-scheduled meetings and tasks defined.

What is your greatest strength?

All of us need some motivation to keep on moving forward when we face tough times. As Jim Rohn once said ‘If you want to achieve something in your life, You must define a WHY. The stronger your WHY is, the more motivated you will be to achieve your goals’. My strongest WHYs and my Strength are:-

• My loved ones around me – I am blessed with a very supportive and loving family. People in my inner circle are the ones who encourage me to push my limits, work on myself and achieve my goals.
• My Vision – My motivation to face every challenge in my life and keep on moving forward is the vision to create a robust platform for every woman. The power of this Vision makes me forget all the pain and be victorious over every challenge I face.
• Books – Books are the treasure store for knowledge, I love reading and learning from books of great inspirational authors.

What advice would you give to someone starting out?

As a founder of VAMITA and a Life and Business Coach, the advice that I would give to any budding entrepreneur are:-

• Define your WHY, your Vision to pursue whatever you are doing and then Pursue it. Your WHY will give you the strength to pursue your vision and overcome every challenge in your journey to achieve your goals
• Don’t work for SUCCESS, work for WHY you want to bring the change you are planning with your work. If you work for your vision and create an impact on people’s life, Success will come automatically.
• Always be open for new learning.
• Never do anything with a rigid mindset.
• It is never too late to start.
• There is no such thing as failure, either you succeed or you learn.
• Practice the art of LEARN, UNLEARN and RELEARN.

Connect here,

Website: www.vamitaventures.com