Working her way through the ranks of her family owned retail store, Magazine Luiza, Luiza Helena Trajano transformed the company from a retail store in Franca Sao Paulo, into one of Brazil’s leading retailers, now operating over 731 stores across 16 states in the country. Trajano has in the last decade, retained her place as one of Brazil’s leading women entrepreneurs, building and operating a multi-billion – dollar cooperation.

In an interview with Amazons Watch Magazine, Trajano leads us into the world of successful women entrepreneurs and shares with us her watchword in business – ETHICS. 

Discussing consistency in business, Trajano says: “People First”.

When I reached leadership positions in the network my uncles founded in the late 1980s, the situation was completely different from today, but what always remains is ethics and the need to put people first.

On Innovation and Evolving with the times, she says: do not separate the physical from the digital.

I believe it was the understanding that one should not separate the physical from the digital, but integrate the two. Digital is a culture, and we invested a lot in people so that the whole team understood the meaning of it and how it should act in this new reality. 

Precisely, with this integration, and transformation of the store as a place of experience, integrated with the digital as support for e-commerce. We must always be alert to new changes.

Improving Women’s Access to business financing:

AWM: According to the 2014 International Finance Corporation (IFC) report, Women often bear the brunt of poverty and limited access to economic opportunities, due to unfavorable access to financing. As an experienced business leader and successful entrepreneur, what can be done to improve women’s access to finance?

 Tajano: I believe this scenario has changed a bit in the last six years. Although access to finance is much more difficult for women, some measures have been taken, but impacted by the economic crisis of this period in the country. We need to promote inventive public policies for female entrepreneurship and facilitate and privilege women’s access to funding from public institutions.

AWM: Challenges of Women Entrepreneurship: What are those sentiments that derail the efforts of women in the investment circle? 

Tajano: It is the result of a predominant sexist culture and paradigms that established that women should not occupy leadership positions. Breaking this cycle requires quotas in publicly traded companies for women’s participation on boards. Quota is a transitory process to reduce inequalities. This is one of the steps, but many policies to encourage female entrepreneurship should be taken, as women are increasingly the decision-making center of the family in any purchase or investment.

Her Action on Violence Against Women:

AWM:In 2018, your reaction to the murder of Denise Neves dos Anjos a staff of Magazine Luiza, and her husband led to a well-attended protest. What is the drive that keeps you going?

Tajano: It was not a protest, but a concrete action to prevent further cases of femicide within Magazine Luiza, with internal reporting channels in cases of violence against women and full assistance to victims. The program was so successful that we set out to encourage other companies to do the same, going over the formula we adopted. This sharing is being a success, and dozens of companies are making this system of welcoming victims possible.

On Women Development:

AWM: The Brazilian Group Mulheres do Brasil (Women of Brazil Group) which you lead, today has over 40,000 women. What are the outstanding projects for this group and the successes registered so far?

Tajano: We have dozens of centers in cities all over Brazil and 17 Brazilian women residing abroad. These are not just monthly meetings, but we work intensively through various nuclei, with concrete actions for transformation in areas such as education, health, public policy, refugees, inclusion, racial equality, entrepreneurship, culture, combating violence against women and many others. others.

About Inspirational Leadership:

AWM: Winning many awards as a South American businesswoman comes with its challenges. How do you cope with these are what are the future projects and milestones?

Tajano: I believe winning a prize increases my responsibility to my country and the causes I advocate. My project for 2020 is to continue mobilizing civil society as much as we can so that together we can find a solution to the various causes we advocate.

Her Philanthropy and Access; Trajano says;

I continue to work actively for the company, but in parallel I have been increasingly involved in philanthropy.

I can be reached on Instagram @Luizahelenatrajano

It was an uneventful day in India, but a day to be much remembered in the life of Kalpana Saroj, India’s “Slumdog millionaire”, when her father came to her rescue.

Saroj is a victim of child bride, married off at the tender age of twelve and eventually became a victim of abuse.

She was born in a little village called Roperkheda in Maharashtra, 1958, to a lower middle-class Buddhist family. Saroj’s father was a police constable in another village called Repatkhed in Akola. She lived with her parents and four siblings, which consist of two brothers and two sisters.

Life was meaningful to the beautiful young girl, until she was given to marriage after completing class seven. Having being married off, she moved to Mumbai to live in Thane’s Ulhasnagar slum, with her husband’s family who occupied a 10×5 ft room with 12 to 15 people living under the same roof.

Not only was she subjected to living in a slum, after six months of being married into the family she began to suffer constant physical abuse from her husband and his family. Saroj was beaten by her husband on so many occasions and for very trivial reasons like not putting enough salt in his food. She was shut out from associating with people and was also restricted from maintaining any contact with her family.

One day, Saroj’s father decided to pay his daughter and in-laws a surprise visit. However, instead of surprising them, he turned out to be the surprised one when he came face-to-face with his little daughter and failed to recognise her. She had become very pale and unrecognisable. Without wasting much time, he took his daughter and headed home.

That was a day that marked the beginning of a new dawn for Saroj but not the end to her struggles.

After moving back home, she was ostracized by the village people, who began to taunt her and her family about her return. She faced worse mockery and bully in school from friends and other students living in the same community. Tired of being mocked and ostracized, she decided to take her life by consuming 3 bottles of rat poison. She was rushed to the government hospital, and her life was saved.

Saroj recovered and swore to make a meaning out of her life. She begged her family to allow her move to Mumbai in 1972, convincing them that Mumbai was filled with opportunities of earning. She moved to Mumbai and settled there with her uncle. She started out, working in a garment factory and after some months, she began stitching on the side which brought an added income of Rs 100. Within two years she had saved up a reasonable amount of money that could afford a small house in Kalyan East and she moved her family to Mumbai.

However, a sad situation befell the family. That year, they lost her seventeen years old sister due to lack of medical care. The pain and agony of the dead prompted Saroj to engage further in her pursuit.

In 1975, under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Scheme – a government scheme for scheduled caste people, Saroj received a loan of Rs 50,000 and started a tailoring business in Kalyan alongside a re-sales furniture venture. The business grew successfully and she handed the furniture business to her father while her younger sister took over the tailoring business.

In 1978, Saroj started an association called Sushikshit Berozgar Yuvak Sanghatana, to help the unemployed. Around 3,000 people who joined her association were helped with placements.

In 1980, Saroj remarried Samir Saroj and they had two children a boy and a girl, but Samir died in 1989 and she inherited her husband’s steel cupboard manufacturing business.

She continued to thrive successfully in business and a higher opportunity came to her in what looked like a blessing in disguise. In 1995, a man brought Saroj an offer to buy his land at a very cheap price claiming to be in urgent need of Rs 2.5 lakh, but she offered him only Rs 1 lakh and he took it. After purchasing the land, she realised that it was under litigation and that was why he had sold it so cheap. With no knowledge about land deals she was fortunate to meet the district collector who helped her to sort out the court issues and in two years she got the permission to sell the land.

She gave the land to a builder who built on it at his own cost and she took 35 per cent of the sale of the finished building and gave the builder 65 per cent. This opened her eye to the benefits in real estate and she delved into it.

Saroj continued to prosper in real estate business and she turned out to be a land litigation expert. This new line of business of course came withn its own challenges, including death threats from competitors. But Saroj never bulged.

After a period of time, the property business had a turnover of Rs 4 crore and she moved into sugar production after investing in a sugarcane factory.

Her fame soon spread across and into the ears of the owner of Kamani Tubes, a manufacturing company that supplies copper tubes, rods, LED lights and more, located in Kurla. Over the years, Kamani Tubes had suffered many losses and litigations. The company had been shut for many years when, in 1987, the courts ordered the workers to run the company, but they had failed to do so successfully.

In 1999, the workers of the company approached Saroj asking her to take over the company and fix the mess. Faced with a company with 3,500 bosses, huge loan and 140 cases of litigation and two unions, Saroj took up Kamani Tubes and began work immediately. It was not an easy task all through the process of rebranding the company. Saroj formed a 10-member team, which included marketing people, finance people, bank directors, lawyers, and government consultants. She met with the then state finance minister and all those who had given loans to Kamani. Along the line, the banks agreed to remove the penalties, interest, and also 24 per cent from the principal amount to help her revive the company. After some time, the loans were cleared which also involved Saroj selling one of her properties in Kalyan.

She took over as Chairperson of the company and in 2009 Kamani Tubes came out of SICA (Sick Industrial Companies Act), and in 2010 the company was restarted and the factory moved to another location. There was an investment of about Rs 5 crore into the company by 2011, a profit of Rs 3 crore was achieved. Kamani Tubes is now a profitable company, with a profit of Rs 5 crore every year.

Saroj continued to venture into other businesses including film production.

With over six hundred employees Saroj currently controls six companies; Kamani Tubes Limited, Kamani Steel Re-Rolling Mills Pvt Ltd, Saikrupa Sugar Factory Pvt Ltd, Kalpana Builders & Developers, Kalpana Saroj & Associations, and the KS Creations Film Production.

Saroj has been recognised on various platforms for her hardwork and impact on the people, society and economy. One of such recognisions includes; the Padma Shri award for Trade and Industry in 2013.

She is happily married to Shubhkaran and she currently lives with her family in Mumbai.

Her story clearly explains the wise saying of Winston Churchill that: “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”

By Miracle Nwankwo

If you have heard the slogan, “Black is beautiful” then you can easily come to terms with the person and the work of Eunice Cofie. A Ghanian by birth in the United States of America. A true Amazon, in the literal sense of the word. Fearless and bold to face the challenges of life ahead of her.

Behind every forward movement, there is always a pushing force. That pushing force was Eunice’s father who encouraged her to study science. The love for science later led her to major in chemistry/molecular biology at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Describing the origin of her business in a 2015 interview, Colfie said; “One day whilst studying in my organic chemistry lab class, my eyes were opened to the world of cosmetic science” To succeed in life knowledge can never be underrated. Eunice went further to learn the rudiment of theoretical business. She took classes in accounting and utilized the FAMU Small Business Development Center to learn how to write a business plan.

Of course, Eunice worked so hard to attain the height she is today, including the fact that she recognizes the peculiarity and beauty of the darker skin, which she sets out to enhance. Eunice narrated that while she was in the college in US years back, her peers do not easily recognize those God-given qualities which they sometimes taunted her about: the dark skin, the curly thick hair, roving black eyes etc., were what stood her out when she won a beauty pageant.

Eunice discovered early in life that if you look carefully, there is always something in nothing. With this mindset, she recognized that her dark skill was not a disadvantage but rather an advantage and it should be something to cherish. She set out to make an inroad into cosmetics for colored people worldwide.  As a matter of fact, this was the just the impetus she needed to develop her company Nuekie, Inc.

The company’s purpose is to provide quality dermatological products for ethnic people (i.e. African/African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, Native American, Pacific Islander). Today, Eunice is the President and Chief Cosmetic Chemist of Nuekie – an innovative health and beauty company for people of color as earlier mentioned.

Giving back to the society is a phrase commonly used by kind-hearted people. This made Eunice to be engaged in a deep commitment to social causes worldwide which led her to make a positive impact across the globe, specifically in Ghana and the Philippines. While in college, Eunice spent her summers working in a village community in Ghana, West Africa implementing the Save a Million Lives HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention Program. 

As the former Miss Black Florida USA, she spent a year promoting her platform Preventing Childhood Obesity and Diabetes through Education and Life Transforming Habits. She was able to contribute greatly to her community by inspiring young people to live healthy lifestyles.

Every human good deed needs a commendation as an encouragement. In 2012, Eunice was honored by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader for her professional accomplishments and commitment to society, as well as her potential to contribute to shaping the world.

The Florida Commission on the Status of Women recognized Eunice with the prestigious 2011 Florida Achievement Award for her commitment to improving the lives of women and families in her community. In 2008, Eunice was named by the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper as one of the “25 Women You Need to Know in Tallahassee”.

She has been featured in noteworthy publications globally. Today, AMAZONS WATCH MAGAZINE is lending a voice to this great up-coming Amazon. A true pathfinder!

By Reuben AKOR