Entrepreneurs speak on their favorite teachers | Happy Teachers Day
“Believe in yourself and work hard”; “define your goal and achieve it”; “set your ambitions high”; “look into yourself and unlock the potential” – Do you remember these words of motivation and inspiration spoken by our teachers to help us get the best of ourselves? When we go down the memory lane, we hear echoes of the scolding voice, miss the pat on our back, and feel the affection that teachers would shower on us. The same holds true for today’s entrepreneurs who were students yesterday. Here is entrepreneurs’ speak on their favorite teachers who boosted their confidence, quenched their thirst for knowledge, enriched them with skills, and set them on a drive to reach their career goals. Slice of Real Life gets in touch with Entrepreneurs from different walks of life and is sharing their views with you….
Abhimanyu Maheshwari
Owner of Range De Basanti Dhaba
“I always thought that a teacher’s only responsibility was to guide a student, but all through my student life, I realized it was more than that. Through both school and college I was fortunate to get close to quite a few teachers and professors who had an enduring impact on my way of looking at things. There was always a common thread that tied all these individuals, who became my inspiration to push myself and be the best I could be. All of them had the qualities of not only a Teacher but an Educator as well. Their sense of instructiveness in the classroom, expertise in their respective fields and their accessibility showed their dedication they had towards their students. I try to adapt these qualities as an entrepreneur and they have never let me down.”
Anubhav Swami
Director of I Dreamz Of Web
“Although, I have had some great teachers through my entire academic life, but I very fondly remember Ms. Veenita Dayal in my 9th standard. She was the one who first saw my potential in Creative Design. As a student I used to doodle in my notebooks and would also get often punished for it. I very clearly remember an instance when I was given less marks by one of my Hindi Teachers for not being fully attentive in class. It was Ms. Dayal who stood up for me, knowing my love for Design. Her trust in me strengthened my will to make my art, my profession. I’ll ever be grateful to her for having faith in me when even I did not.”
Mehak Chowdhury
Director of Blue Apple Image Consultants
“Girls are supposed to be gentle, mild and obedient. They’re supposed to look and behave docile, be epitomes of femininity and deck up the lives of the home they marry into. As a society that increasingly treats, and mistreats, the second sex, I grew up being a rebel to this series of thoughts. I became a hard-news journalist when others chose more stable professions, and then became an entrepreneur when I should have ideally planned to marry and settle down. Sometime during my schooling, an inspirational English teacher Mrs Guha wrote a short but relevant note at the back of my book saying ‘the world loves a rebel who does more than mere rebellion’ and her words have been a source of inspiration each time the pressures on a working girl become hard. In fact, Mrs Guha and the team of teachers at Convent of Jesus and Mary school supported my free spirit. It’s their teaching that has provided both the conscience and the confidence in all decision-making that I carry out today.”
Pankaj Chaturvedi
Executive Director & CEO, Rich Graviss Products Pvt Ltd
“My favorite teacher was my freshman English teacher. He was one of the goofiest persons I ever knew, but incredibly nice. You could really tell he cared about the subject and all of his students. He wasn’t perfect at times, but his passion was immeasurably intense. One thing we always knew was that he wanted to instill a love of words and language in all of us, and that he strove to make us better, caring people.”
Tarun Kumar Bansal
Patent Specialist & Founder of Sagacious Research
“I was under supervision of many teachers during my academic life, more so because; I had switched from one city to another to study at the best of schools, colleges and institutes. There were a number of teachers whom I liked during the tenure and still respect. I have learnt a lot from all of them. However, my favorite teacher is Dr. S K Ray at BITS Pilani under whose supervision I did multiple projects and learnt a number of things. The best thing I learnt from him is “Unless you experiment and you have freedom to do so, you cannot learn and innovate”. He always gave us freedom to innovate, experiment and was always ready to spare more funds on our experimentation. It is because of him that I stick to experimentation and innovation and am never afraid of the unknown. This has led me to take the entrepreneurship route and do many new things.”