You know they are absolutely right when they say women are excellent multi-taskers. Meet someone like Nisha Sharma Mullatti and you’ll wonder at the amazing things we women are capable of – from running your own business to selling it to a global agency, from being a mom to being a mentor, from working as a global account director to building communities, she does it all. Despite her achievements, Nisha is humble, believes in empowerment for all, and is happy when her customers and her organization is happy.
Nisha celebrates the spirit of entrepreneurship and of course, we had to have her on board for our community of entrepreneurs. Here’s a quick recap of the interview we had with her and are delighted to share some valuable insights from Nisha for our community members.
Please tell us about your business and your life as an entrepreneur.
Nisha began her entrepreneurial journey in 1995 when she started her own creative agency in India. The agency was a huge success and a decade later, it became a global company with four offices over two countries. The company was eventually acquired by MCI group, the world’s leading events and association company.
Although Nisha is no longer an entrepreneur, she still leads her organization using the drive, the passion and the eagerness for excellence that she had while she was an entrepreneur. According to Nisha, ‘When you sell a company, you let go of your entrepreneurship drive and you get complacent.’ This is the reason, she never let go of her entrepreneurial drive and uses the same mindset to help her organization achieve new goals. Nisha believes, ‘Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur,’and we couldn’t agree more.
What is your perspective about female entrepreneurship across Asia?
‘Going digital has allowed anyone to become an entrepreneur,’ says Nisha. Back then, she didn’t have the support that women today have via social media and the internet. Almost anyone can start their own business if they can create a Facebook page, a website and an online community. In fact, according to Nisha, ‘social media has allowed anybody to become an entrepreneur and is a great way for women to express themselves and build business.’ That being said, Nisha also strongly emphasized on the fact that entrepreneurship should be for all and should not be categorized according to men or women as that would defy the whole purpose for entrepreneurship. Of course, it is not easy for men to be successful entrepreneurs or acquire funding; but at the same time, women should also have a voice and with the Internet, they are actually being heard. ‘Let’s celebrate instead of categorising that there are more and more women setting up their own business,’ says Nisha, and honestly, that’s exactly the philosophy of our Woomentum community too.
If you had access to a community of peers, what would you want to learn from them most?
Pre-social media and pre-digital access, entrepreneurs like Nisha had to make do with no structure, no guidance and no community. Nevertheless, Nisha has been one of the lucky ones who received a lot of support from friends and peers. That being said, Nisha believes that a network of peers should consist of both men and women where entrepreneurs can receive support in managing their family lives, their professional lives as well as their entrepreneurial lives. The most important thing which perhaps all of us, man or woman, would want on our entrepreneurial journey is for, ‘someone to be there for us.’
What is your idea about crowdfunding as a whole?
Crowdfunding has enabled thousands of people across the globe to kick start their project without having to rely on seed investors. It is a booming industry and as more and more people are discovering the merits of crowdfunding, they are eager to join it. Nisha very rightly points out the benefits of crowdfunding as, ‘pathbreaking and losing dependency on typical angel investors and seed funding.’ She also emphasizes on the fact that crowdfunding works best for certain kind of businesses, so for example if a woman is selling embroidered sarees, she could do great with a crowdfunding model, where she could receive a minor amount of funding from everyone who supports her product in return for being the receivers of her beautiful sarees.
Nisha gives plenty other examples where crowdfunding can be a great help – healthcare solutions, healthcare apps, social entrepreneurship, cultural products and many more.
What’s been your greatest reward in the work that you do?
This was a difficult question for Nisha to answer, especially since she believes her entire journey of entrepreneurship has been rewarding in itself. She feels immense gratitude for the opportunity she received and the lifelong friendship that she built with people who were involved with her. In fact, Nisha feels the very struggle was the greatest reward for her, as she says, ‘I struggle every day. If I were to start my business all over again, I would struggle again. It’s how you deal with the struggle. You get the wisdom and the courage as you go along. You build that.’
Finally, how would you define success for your business and your endeavors.
‘I don’t believe in quantifying success, because you can’t really do that. I am happy where I am today. I am still creative and have that urge to contribute and desire to build. That for me is success. I have a better understanding of many more things. And most importantly, I have to be successful as a human being which is a constant learning experience.’
Thank you Nisha Sharma Mullatti for sharing your story!
About the Author: A passionate storyteller, Farah Kim believes that words have the power to shape cultures and drive societies towards progressive change. Motivated by her curiosity, she discovers and shares stories that contributes to a better world.
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