Nurture
“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
Benjamin Franklin rightly said that acquiring knowledge is a lifelong process which always pays the best interest. Continuous learning and growing has been an integral part and an enriching experience nurturing me all through this wonderful journey of life.
Yes ‘Nurture’ … Nurturing like a little seed transforming into a big tree … growing step by step with the right amount of care. Adding branches, leaves and bearing the fruits of all the knowledge and understanding. Maturing with time and experience and then extending the same nurturing to the society as a whole. It indeed is a unique circle of life which continues lifelong.
The journey from school to Bachelor of Commerce laid the solid foundation to build up the right structure for acquiring further knowledge and learning to nurture the mind and understanding. Being an active member of our family business from a young age and participating in all the diversifications, gave me a lot of inspiration to take up new challenges and add on to my learning. Our family business, which began as merchant exporters in the Food Industry was diversifying into exports of Gums, Spices and Food Ingredients, this inspired me to take up and graduate as PGD Foreign Exchange and Risk Management.
Expanding into manufacturing and processing side of Spices and Food Ingredients, was obviously the next step of our Family Business. With Quality as a way of life a key element in our organization, I got inspired to take up Quality Management and completed my Diploma in Quality Management.
We aimed to be responsible suppliers to our global clientele and the next progression was to get accredited for Food Safety Management Systems. With a strong base of FSMS and to get full control of all the global requirements of the implementation of standards, I further got the certification as an Internal Auditor for ISO 9001, SQF 2000, ISO 22000, ISO 14001.
Another step in this direction was to qualify as a Certified Lead Auditor in BRCGS Food. This amazing journey as Lead Auditor in Global Standards for Food Safety gave me a wider perspective of the standard requirements. From Issue 4 of the standard, the journey of learning as Lead Auditor continues to Issue 8 the latest update of the standard and will continue further.
Our family business unit, meeting the requirements of BRC Global Standard for Food Safety (Issue 6, July 2011) was audited by LRQA. This being an Unannounced Audit Option and received the Grade A+ Certification, the very first unit to have attained this in the Indian Food Industry.
Handling a workforce of over 200 workers at different levels of our organization with different competency levels was an exciting journey. This enhanced my skills of developing customised training requirements as per training needs identified. Curating a customised Induction Training Program, enabled a better understanding for the workers and encouraged the work culture towards first time right approach.
The global need for Ethical Policies and Audits was gaining importance and we successfully completed audits as per SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit). These audits encompass all aspects of responsible business practice, covering Sedex’s four pillars of labour, health and safety, environment and business ethics. This opened the doors to explore another important field and an extremely important aspect of life and I went ahead and became a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional.
One cannot reach heights if we get into a comfort zone, be it for an individual or an organization. We must adopt to the new requirements, work culture and standard operating procedures. Especially in the manufacturing aspects of the food industry. A new standard was introduced by the Quality Council of India (QCI). It was the right time for another update to the Lifelong Learning process and got Certified for Work Assessment for Safety and Hygiene (WASH) Standard by QCI.
Digital Marketing is growing at a rate of 25-30% in India annually. Work all over have embraced a new aspect to grow and have steered their direction. Companies are shifting towards a more digitally empowered set-up to make the most of the golden period of digital marketing that we are witnessing.
Being a technology enthusiast, I was driven passionately towards the evolving world of Digital Marketing. I completed Advanced Digital Marketing Diploma with 30 modules. Certified Digital Media Marketing Professional course covered all the popular social media platforms. The diversified need of this market made me acquire new skills by successfully completing Certified Course in Professional Content Writing, Certified Course in Professional Blog Writing, Certificate in Design and Video Creation and also Certified Course in creating Google Listings.
My passion for Travel and Tourism, the largest service industry in India is the base of developing this vertical. The main objective is to introduce a unique concept in tourism with regards to the food industry. Successfully completing IATA Diploma: Foundation in Travel and Tourism with Amadeus aids in existing tourism products. Our novel amalgamation of travel sector with the food culture, heritage and business will further broaden the horizons of this branch of tourism which is a key element of our comapny.
ACE ENTERPRISES: April 2018 – Present
Co-Founder
Consultancy | Customised Training | Certificate Coordination | Digital Marketing | Graphic Design | Travel & Tourism
ANISE ENTERPRISES PRIVATE LIMITED: December 2015 – Present
Co-Founder
Curated Customised Solutions | Brand Building Consultancy | Digital Marketing | Graphic Design | Travel & Tourism : Spices Culinary Experiences
LAXMI ENTERPRISES: Sept 1990 – Mar 2007
Jt. Managing Partner
Exports of Spices and Food Ingredients