JAMMU & KASHMIR:
One September afternoon in a village in Anantnag district of South Kashmir, a family was busy in making arrangements for their son’s wedding ceremony. The family members sat all relaxed inside their home, while a young girl in her mind twenties looked over the arrangements that were being done. Hailing from district Kulgam of South Kashmir, the young girl is chasing her passion. Saima Rehman Magray, is the owner of Kashmir’s first online event management company, Eventgrid. Saima holds an MBA degree and is also a sitting member of Hausla JKTPO.
Saima after completing her graduation got to spend time with her family. She said, “I got to see the social side of my life as well, I was free for some time due to covid and this lead me to witness quite a few weddings, and birthday parties but in those events, I could see a gloom over the general atmosphere of happiness. And I enquired about what is missing and what could be done to amplify the happy atmosphere of these events, this lead me to open this event management company.”
Eventgrid is an online event management company which specialises in managing events like weddings, birthday parties, religious events, feasts, family get togethers etc. It also provides other services. Saima says that the need of founding this company came from her own experience of parties and gatherings she attended.
However Saima says that “it was never easy.” For her event management came up with its own sets of challenges, ” Event management may seem easy but it is not. This field is full of challenges and it pushes one to the edge if not organized well. It demands a lot of patience and practice.” Adding further she said, “I have been lucky because my family has been very supportive but still as I said we live in a society that’s yet to provide proper place to women and her dreams. The only known challenge for me is that I am the first girl in this field and I have got to stand against some big names alone.”
When asked about how her being a woman proved for her, she said, “Being a woman is not a weakness but when you are out venturing something like this you got to have support and as a woman, I think women are very less supported when it comes to owning a business.” She further explained, “I do believe that patriarchy is still an issue and on top of that being a girl who has to work with men all the time comes with connotations and stigmas. I have never let my gender come in between me and my work.”
Working with a team of all men, Saima says her younger brother is her biggest supporter, “My family has always been very supportive and my younger brother who even helps me in managing this enterprise has been a prime support.”
For Saima the start of her business had been slow but she says, “Well the start was pretty slow because this business is new to this state and people hardly know about it. But with each passing day our audience is growing.”
As the business is running well for Saima she looks content as she says, “Alhamdulilah.”
About her future plans, she says she wants to go “national” with her enterprise, “My aspiration is to go national with this and join the list of successful women entrepreneurs.” She further explained, “Well to be honest future is pretty unsure and uncertain, so I don’t have an exact answer but I do have hope that in coming years I see this business growing more and more. My team is not very big but there are many vendors involved from Kashmir and even outside Kashmir. And many more people who are always ready and whose work has always been appreciated.”
Saima concluded by sharing a message for young generation, ” My message is that no work is easy, we must work hard and sail the storms that it brings about, do whatever it takes and achieve our goals but always stay within our limits and be sure about the results. You will succeed for sure.”
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Indian Muslim> Positive Story> Women / by Babra Wani / January 14th, 2023