Women Social entrepreneurship is vital for our future. Collectively we can make a change by closing the gap between men and women in the workforce.
Entrepreneurs are those adventurous, daredevils who drive deep into the pressing problems of society and try to find solutions to them, not by leaving the responsibilities in the reins of the government or business, but by trying to change systems as a whole and persuading societies to take new initiatives
In our Inner Wheel Social Entrepreneur series in this episode We are introducing you a very dynamic and popular face of International Inner Wheel Dist. 310, who always believes in Women Empowerment and social entrepreneurship . Yes we are talking about Sonal Bhatia District Chairman of Inner Wheel District 310, she shared her Inner Wheel Journey and Lockdown experience with Hello Womeniya.com Correspondent Priyanka Yadav
Hello Womeniya : Please share your first reaction and feeling on being district chairman IWC.
Sonal Bhatia : By the grace of God , I got this golden opportunity to lead the Inner Wheel District 310, one of the premier district of association of Inner wheel clubs in India, with over 80 clubs. There are 27 districts all over India and being the chairman of District 310, I was very excited ,full of hopes, dreams and aimed towards new goals and new achievements.
Hello Womeniya : What will be your priority in the growth of your district?
Sonal Bhatia : This year we have a beautiful theme “PINK FIRST”, which defines the message ‘EQUALITY AND EMPOWERMENT ‘ for women and to reflect the word “SHEROS, the SUPERWOMAN” in each one of us trying to encourage more women to start up their own business and thrive, uplift and encourage the woman entrepreneurs in the nation. Along with this HEALTH- HYGIENE- HAPPINESS will be our highest priority. We will be working together with our theme to reach the needy and make best use of each moment, encouraging more and more women to join us and spread the wings of INNER WHEEL.
Hello Womeniya : What are the current challenges your district is facingdue to this post – pandemic?
Sonal Bhatia : Few of the current challenges we are facing are
- Not able to connect physically
- Events are being post-phoned
- Digitalization , a major setback ,which could be overcome by constant effort and improvisation.
- Anxiety , lack of peer contact and depression
- Loss of near and dear ones of our colleagues was one of the major challenge and was truly disturbing. However , with the constant support and strength provided by each member, the INNER WHEEL family could stand like a rock and tide through those difficult times.
Hello Womeniya : What is your future agenda to solve these problems?
Sonal Bhatia : Last few years have been quite challenging because of the pandemic but these challenges taught us how to overcome these difficulties with each other’s support. This pandemic caused a lot of suffering but we all should remember that by the Grace of God there’s always Light at the end of dark tunnel . Hence, we should all think positively, spread the wings of Inner Wheel to every nook and corner of the society as well as help the poor and the needy .
Hello Womeniya : Share your Inner Wheel Journey
Sonal Bhatia : From being member of Inner Wheel to District Chairman has been a unique journey. I thank all those who encouraged, helped and shaped me all along the way by putting their faith in me.
Inner Wheel has given me many friends all over India. We all meet like a family, all are very close to each other and are always ready to help each other. My district 310 is very vast covering western U.P. and Uttrakhand with 80 clubs. Love and affection which I received from all the members of my district is heartwarming and will be cherished forever in my memories.
Hello Womeniya : Could you share your lockdown experience and how your district performed during the difficult time.
Sonal Bhatia : Lockdown brought our family together. Moreover this pandemic has taught us how important it is to have a knowledge of digital resources. We all tried to learn how to conduct digital webinars and meetings with success. Now we can interact with anyone in any part of the world digitally. We had virtual learning via group discussions and private chats as well. Through video conferencing and live chats there is a great possibility of discussing various subjects with different people. Hence, we too had a number of webinars as well as training programs online to keep ourselves updated.
Hello Womeniya : What is your appeal and message to Inner Wheel women?
Sonal Bhatia :Let us all step forward to help the people in achieving their dreams, make best use of each moment and keep the flag of Inner Wheel flying high.
Put the “EXTRA”in EXTRAORDINARY
I believe in togetherness and teamwork, ‘Together we can and Together we Will’ achieve our goal.
Working together of all the Inner Wheel members will be my strength and I appeal everyone to always remain positive and live life to the fullest.
Hello Womeniya : Do you agree this Pandemic brought a lot of change in our personal and professional life?
Sonal Bhatia : The Corona Virus disease is profoundly affecting life all around the globe .It has affected children, adolescents as well as their families in an unexceptional way. Kindergartens, playgroups , schools and colleges have been closed , social gatherings have been strongly limited and out of home leisure activities cancelled. The economic situations has also worsened with high and rising levels of unemployment.
Hello Womeniya : Can you highlight some important service projects you did during this pandemic?
Sonal Bhatia : Despite the challenges this pandemic held for us, we were able to deliver some of the following important projects with the constant effort of whole team of Inner Wheel 310:
- Providing Oxygen concentrators, Bipap machines, Ventilators and beds to COVID +ve patients.
- Providing food and medicines to the needy.
- Adopted children orphaned by this deadly virus and encouraged them to return to school by paying their school fees.
- Distributed masks and Sanitizers and made people aware of its importance and usage.
- Distributed Laptops and Smartphones to the students so that they can continue their process of e-learning.
- Constructed toilets for girls and emphasized the importance of health and hygiene to them.
I am really thankful to my whole team for all their hard work and efforts with which we could serve the suffering humanity and I look forward for similar dedication in our future ventures too.
Brief Introduction of International Inner Wheel :
International Inner Wheel Club is an international women’s Social organisation to create friendship, service and understanding. It has clubs in over 100 countries with over 100,000 members.IWC has very strong presence in India. It has more than 3000 thousands clubs in Urban and rural India. Since the Covid 19 Pandemic breaks out Inner wheel club launched charity campaign worldwide. In our Inner wheel Social entrepreneur series in this Episode we are introducing very popular face of IWC, she doesn’t need any kind of Introduction.
About Dist. 310 :
District Chairman ( For 2021-2022)
Sonal Bhatia