Women in Leadership
Rumana Chowdhury won the Platinum Business Woman of the year award and there’s no one more deserving. Her courageous endeavors, strong determination
Rumana’s passion for fashion is the principal factor to the beginning of her venture. She grew motivated to start her own Boutique business through the undying support and encouragement from her friends and family. She started off by working from home but she was determined to make an undeniable presence in the market by setting up her own store, which she finally did through the help of a small bank loan. Surprisingly, Rumana was just a fresh graduate with a toddler son when she first came about the making of Warah in 2008.
It was no easy task balancing her work life and family life and she indeed faced countless setbacks. Tragedies struck when she was forced to relocate and even shut down following the Holey Artisan chaos. Meanwhile clients became doubtful but she took these challenges head-on and never let her customers down. “I couldn’t let my clients down. They were expecting me to deliver” she adds. Nevertheless, she bounced back each time, making sure her hard work never went unnoticed.
I have learned through my mistakes, I knew nothing when I started but I gradually improvised to bring Warah where it is today,
Aside from these factors, Rumana experienced much emotional turmoil as being a woman in a business industry has its cruel concerns. She states that “as a woman you naturally have an instinct to keep everyone happy.” She goes on to say that not everyone she expected to be supportive was supportive enough. It’s so important to rely on yourself and keep yourself happy first in order to achieve your dreams. She teaches us that many young girls these days do face the same problems of placing other people’s happiness ahead their own. It’s the way our society is conditioned but we strongly must rewire the youth of today to be more independent. You cannot please everyone when trying to please yourself.
Rumana talks about the huge leap of faith she took when starting Warah. “I have learnt through my mistakes, I knew nothing when I started but I gradually improvised to bring Warah where it is today,” she says. She insists that It’s okay to feel lost sometimes, especially when trying something totally new to you. But you must keep going and take each hump as a learning scope. She adds, “I actually appreciate the tough times a lot now. They made me grow as a person. They showed me that I am actually much braver than I deemed myself to be and that is a beautiful feeling.” All this helped in Rumana’s great successes, as she is now the owner of one of the most popular brands in Bangladesh and gained many other achievements since then including an award at Dhaka Fashion Week 2011. Colors’ platinum business awards is another addition to her great achievements but only a portion of the many more to come.
