There is a man behind every successful woman…

Mrs Shenaz Afzal: As a kid, I never even thought of being an entrepreneur. It was only after my marriage that I decided to do something of my own. The beginning was no doubt hard as my in-laws dissuaded me. It was only because of my husband, who made arrangements for me and supported my inclination toward vocational training.

It was 2000, my second kid was 7 months old, and I pursued a small training centre for women at home, as I was skilled in a lot of handcrafts like painting, cuisine cooking, flower making, make-up skills, parlour courses, embroidery and a lot more. But gradually managing two kids, in the due course of 15 years of working from home, I managed to open an institute of creative arts for women, with the help of my husband.

Then it was a critical period for my husband, as due to some family problems, my husband was left without any business. It was this time when I stood by him and together with his knowledge and experience, we launched our next venture together. Although I had to close down my institute to support our family business, I’m happy as my institute was my passion and connecting with my passion I got a chance to prove myself and support my family too.

Life has always been a challenge for me as I have always tried to achieve things that went against me. My parents always motivated me to keep moving ahead in life. As I got married into an orthodox Muslim family with members having a mindset of keeping women in their "place ", it has never been able to prevent me from doing business as a ladypreneuer. But I owe a lot to my husband, who supported me in every possible way even going against his family for me.

Some of my humble achievements include being a certified teacher for all types of paintings/crafts, specializing in designer candle making, PGDC In cosmetology, and specialist in cuisine cooking.

I would like to appeal basically to women coming from whatever strata of life that never give up. Life as a whole is a struggle for everyone which includes honesty, hard work, focus and challenges.

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