Pavan Alhuwalia is one of the leading henna artists in the UK, she is a young entrepreneur, an author and a business woman. She told the audience, “Once you find your passion, you can do anything you want”. She loved henna and the new advances in the industry mesmerised her and she was hooked. She was complimented at a friend’s wedding for the designs on her arm. She knew she had found her passion and had to follow it. She started small and her education degree complemented her journey, giving her the academic foundation to marry with her passion for henna. She found her “USP”, her speed, and went for a Guinness World Record and she broke the record. She firmly believes “if you don’t ask, you don’t get” and her perseverance and determination has always paid off. She knew where she wanted to be and what she wanted for her future and then worked her way to it, sometimes winging it along the way! The hardest thing is finding your passion, when do find it, follow it and it will feed into itself, just don’t give up and if you love it enough, you won’t give up anyway.

Sach Kukadia spoke of how as a fashion mad family they loved Boxing day sales and sometimes the experience of finding that bargain wasn’t always a positive one and that sparked an idea for a business to bring the bargain experience to consumers daily and with comfort. This idea led to him, at the young age of 23, co-founding secretsales.com with his brother. Persistence and tenacity was vital to establishing a new way of selling and buying for brands and consumers. He spoke of the company’s journey, affiliations with other companies and how different entities brought in different practices and how they had to navigate the market place along with challenges faced and the company’s evolution. He advised those who were venturing out to build a business to “find people to work with who complemented your skills, that you do not need to know everything to be a good leader but share your vision and surround yourself with good people.”

Reena Ranger ended with, “Women Empowered has always been in the business of promoting that you can be anyone you want to be and achieve anything you want to achieve. We have always been advocates of each one of us being the best possible versions of ourselves as we see and wish it to be and I am sure that today’s wisdom and advice would have helped many of us be one step further to this goal. Please join in with our many initiatives, our online blog, discussion group or charitable arm that asks for your time”.