Heirs to the Parle Agro fortunes, the Chauhan sisters — Schauna, Alisha and Nadia are happily minding their own business.
Sisters are doin’ it for themselves. And nobody exemplifies that spirit of woman power more (literally) than the Chauhan siblings. “The managerial abilities and leadership qualities that a woman brings are quite different,” says the eldest Schauna, citing the Fortune 50 as a benchmark of how increasingly women are ruling the seat of power worldwide. “I think women can be good leaders and manage people really well.”
While Schauna is the CEO of the family business —Parle Agro Pvt Ltd, Nadia who is the youngest, is Marketing Director. “I don’t like to differentiate between the two sexes but definitely a woman does bring certain strengths with her,” Nadia feels. “Marketing is a lot about being sensitive to people — to your consumer, and women do have that sensitivity. Men sometimes have a tendency to overlook certain feelings, reactions, likes and dislikes.”
But being sisters, how tough does it get working together in a competitive environment? “It’s great fun but we don’t interfere in each other’s work,” explains Schauna. “The three of us together make a brilliant team — if it was just one or two of us, I don’t think we would have been able to take this organisation forward the way we are now.” To that Nadia adds, “Besides, our job functions are very different. And we respect each other for our individual strengths.”
Of course when things do get out of hand (as they are bound to at times), they call in the ‘equaliser’. “Both my sisters are very strong-headed; I’m more the easy-going one,” laughs middle sis Alisha, who has diversified the family business into the health and fitness sector by opening two V3 gymnasiums in the city. “Maybe it’s all that fitness that’s helped me,” she smiles.
Young, successful and dynamically driven — ask them who have been their icons? All three unanimously settle only on one name: Their dad, Prakash Chauhan. Alisha explains why, “Very often, we have our own views on something and he has his own views and then always something will happen and he is right. It just works out that he’s always right!” she says, incredulously.
And yes, while all work and no play makes Jill a dull girl, these three are anything but that! Schauna is married to actor/model Bikram Saluja, Nadia is married to advertising professional Raj Kurup and Alisha will be soon taking the plunge with architect Riyadh Kundanmal. So, with such a hectic professional life and an equally demanding personal life in a city that never sleeps, how do these three sisters manage to keep the bonding alive? “It’s incredible sometimes how difficult it is to coordinate amongst us,” admits Schauna. “But during lunch time it’s a must that we all sit down together. We even wait for the other person if we have to. And in those quick ten minutes we discuss what’s been happening in each others’ lives, personally.”
d_farhad@dnaindia.net
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