Rina Patel, 19 Founder of Aahana. Twitter: @aahanaindia
www.aahanaindia.org
1. Tell us about your company
Aahana is a non-profit organisation which aims to help women and children in India who are in need and provide resources for them to have a successful education. Aahana is currently running a school, Mamta School, for deaf and disabled children in Gujarat, India. These children come from some of the most impoverished villages in the region lacking medical assistance and educational opportunities.
2. How did your entrepreneurial journey begin?
I coordinated fundraisers and hygiene drives throughout high school and tried to start numerous service organisations. I have also been visiting India every year since I was 13 and each visit impacted me in a different way. I saw the social issues that existed in India and I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t continue witnessing these issues each year without making a significant difference.
3. What has been your biggest achievement so far?
Contributing to each child that attends the school and helping them to be happier and healthier. Seeing their smiles lets me know that what I’m doing is making a significant difference in their lives in India. We also plan to rebuild a new school for the children currently housed in Mamta School.
4. What is the best advice you’ve been given? My Dad has always told me; ‘Whatever you do, do what you love. Money will follow.’
Xavier de Lecaros-Aquise, 29 Co-Founder of
GirlMeetsDress.com Twitter: @girlmeetsdress
Facebook.com/girlmeetsdress
1. Give us an elevator pitch for your company
Girl Meets Dress is an award winning designer dress rental destination, offering women access to a dream wardrobe for all of life’s special occasions. We have over 4,000 designer dresses that customers can rent, with next day delivery available anywhere in the UK. The Sunday Times call us “Rental’s answer to Net-a-Porter.”
2. How did your entrepreneurial journey begin? I set up my first start-up straight out of university, selling it two years later. I then joined a Venture Capital boutique, buying and selling European tech
start-ups in the mobile, hardware, online retail and digital media space. I then left that job to complete my second entrepreneurial venture,
GirlMeetsDress.com.
3. What has been your biggest achievement so far? Getting back up EVERY time
4. Where do you see your company in 5 years? We will continue to grow the stock, the team, and innovate within the wider fashion space in a way our business model uniquely allows us to. We are addressing a need that few other businesses actually cover, and that is that women dress up for an experience, even if it is to simply feel confident and beautiful for all of the special occasions in their life.
53 entrepreneurcountry
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