Setting a goal in life spanning time and idealism usually comes with a few verdict challenges. These difficulties however she adds can serve to strengthen the will of an individual and determination. In the last decades of the 20th century, remarkable strides in gender equality were made with women starting to take up leaderships in many areas. Now when it comes to the corporate world there are certainly many more women willing to go on and take up key responsibilities. Here, we are talking about a woman who went through a lot of challenges in her life but still was able to attain greatness. Her name is Kalpana Saroj, and she is among the most accomplished businesswomen in India. The journey of Kalpana is replete with a lot of struggles. She hails from a Dalit family and was married at the age of twelve. She underwent domestic violence, and abject poverty where she slept and chowed on fifty paise a day. Despite all these odds she decided her path of life and achieved astounding success.

Keen to be self-reliant, she started learning sewing as a skill. Kalpana’s story of struggle and achievements serves as an inspiration to anyone. She is often referred to as the first “Slumdog Millionaire”.

Who Is Kalpana Saroj?

As stated by The Times of India, Kalpana Saroj is an entrepreneur and a TEDx speaker, who is currently the chairperson of Kamani Tubes, which is said to have a revenue exceeding Rupees 100 crore. Although she had always been destined to own a billion-rupee empire, her path to reaching the pedestal was anything but effortless. Kalpana comes from a lower middle class family, where she got married at the tender age of 12 whereby she was forced to drop schooling.

With her father serving as a police constable in Maharashtra, Kalpana spent her teenage years in the impoverished area of Mahul with her husband’s family, during which she was physically and mentally abused by her in-laws until her father did managed to rescue her. This ordeal heavily traumatized her, resulting in her being depressed and attempting suicide as a teenager. But the silver lining was once she got over that phase, she began working at the age of 16 to assist her family financially. With starting off alongside stitching, she got employed in a government cloth factory for an income of 50 rupees per month.

Business ventures and success

Having spent years working at a hosiery store, she set up her own business in the mid1990s. She owned KS Film Production, which released Telugu, Hindi and even English films, and thereafter developed her real estate business with her contacts. Eventually, she was asked to join Kamani Tubes for work. Starting off as a board member, she transformed the ailing firm, guiding it away from colossal losses and towards profitability.

As of today, Kalpana Saroj oversees a business empire of surplus of Rs. 100 crores.

Other Achievements

Kalpana Saroj is also one of the directors of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore. Her worth is about 112 million dollars of 950 crores of rupees, so to speak. Referred to as the ‘real Slumdog millionaire’ her life has some of the most impressive motivation stories for people around the world.

She was awarded the Padma Shri for Trade and Industry in 2013.