Child Bride Who Turned Multi Millionaire In India

#1

An Indian Dalit (formerly untouchable) woman, who once attempted suicide to escape discrimination, poverty and physical abuse, becomes the CEO of a multi-million dollar company. The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Mumbai captures Kalpana Saroj's journey - a symbol of the Dalit struggle to mark their arrival at the top.

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She was bullied at school, forced into marriage at the age of 12, fought social pressures to leave her husband, before she tried to take her own life.

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At the age of 16, Kalpana went back to Mumbai, this time to her uncle's place from where she took a local job of tailoring, earning around one dollar.

Soon her hard work and tailoring skills got a brushed up as she learnt to manage & operate industrial sewing machines.

Meanwhile, her sister died due to lack of money for her treatment. This gave yet another blow to Kalpana, and she went on to start up something on her own to make more money.

Following which, she opened a furniture business to develop her tailoring work after taking a government loan.

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Today, she is a multi-millionaire. At the helm of a successful company, she rubs shoulders with prominent businessmen and has won awards for her professionalism.

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She says:

I went through various government schemes and applied for a loan (Mahatma Jyotibhai Phule scheme). With that small seed fund, I started a small furniture business where I sold cheap versions of high end furniture from Ulasnagar. I did not give up my tailoring gig either. Our circumstances gradually began to improve.

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For her own work, she started working 16 hours a day, a routine that she abides till date. Later on she re-married a fellow furniture businessman and welcomed two beautiful children.

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Kalpana with her workers.

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She further says:

"The first time I came to Mumbai, I did not even know where to go. I was from such a small village. Today my company has two roads named after it in the city," she says, summing up the extent to which her life has transformed.

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She said Child marriage is emerging as a big issue in India.

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Kalpana regularly visits her home village and does charity work to help those in her community.

As a Dalit and a woman, her story is all the more remarkable in a country where so few CEOs are from such a background.

#11

"If you give your heart and soul to your job and never give up, things can happen for you."