Mothers Share Success Stories As Real Estate Honchos At WEF 2017 Meet

It isn’t easy being a homemaker — juggling between bringing up children, doing household chores, keeping your family happy, and at the same time staying upbeat about the same monotonous job every day of your life. Being an entrepreneur is difficult as well — starting something of your own and fighting all odds in the hard-hitting job space, dealing with financial constraints, building your career from scratch in a male-dominated society. But, when you master both with finesse, what would you call yourself? A powerhouse lady.

Day 4 of the ongoing Women Economic Forum 2017, being held in New Delhi, saw two such mothers, who have made their mark in the global workspace, sharing their success stories and being an inspiration to all women who aspire to stand out in our patriarchal society.

Munirah Mohammad is a mother of two daughters, and a successful real estate agent in Malaysia. When it comes to delivering impressive results in the real estate business, few can rival the accomplishments of Munirah.

As one of the pioneering Bumiputra licensed real estate agents in Malaysia, Munirah brings over 20 years of insightful experience and capabilities to the playing field and for the past 16 years, she has been actively building up a reputable portfolio with Homefield Real Estate Sdn Bhd.

“I started my business in 1996 when there were barely any women in real estate, let alone running it. Although it’s a male-dominated space, I had enough business sense to know that real estate is one field where you can earn as much as you work,” she says.

Munirah has grown her business by 30 per cent year-on-year since 1996, and survived three recessions, which is significant enough as demand for real estate nosedives during recession. She is in the midst of another recession in her country. “My team has 30 real estate agents, 26 of whom are women. And I want to make sure that more women make their way into enterprises,” Munirah says.

Her fervour and exacting standards of excellence are highly respected, so much so that a portion of her success can be attributed to clients who unflinchingly endorse her services to others seeking to sell their properties.

Munirah is well on her way to carving out a solid reputation for Homefield as a premium brand.

“It’s absolutely possible. While they (daughters) may feel I have neglected them at times, I have tried my best to give them all the love they deserve…disciplined and not spoilt. That’s an important lesson and most important part of being a mother,” Munirah states.

Indian touch

Ruchi Chaudhary, along with her husband, runs CoSphere with a vision to make workspaces more agile, connected and productive. At the same time, she is a doting mother of two children aged 4 and 7.

“I am a mother of two, and I’m an entrepreneur. It’s in the middle of all the chaos of being an entrepreneur of a start-up that I juggle the difficultly of bringing up two kids. My son was born in the US and daughter in India,” Ruchi states.

Co-founder and marketing head of CoSphere, Ruchi has travelled from the US to Singapore to India along with her husband for work.

“I have tried to do as much as possible both as a career woman and mother. And it’s possible. In the US, I have seen women balance their work life even with 5 children and are hands-on mothers. Here, in India, we have been in the habit of being pampered by our families. It made me stronger that I took care of my children and career all by myself. I don’t need an army to raise my children and do my work. I am a hard worker and I’m a role model to my children,” she says.

About her business, Ruchi says, “Things have been moving along at an organic pace since we launched about a year back. We haven’t raise funds yet, and to me that’s okay. The nice thing is that we are not desperate for funds. I’m doing something here not failing in a big way like some of the other massively-funded start-ups we keep hearing about.”