NEW YORK (TIP): Shahnaz Hussain, one of India‘s leading woman entrepreneurs and best known celebrities will be speaking at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) later this month. She will be speaking on women empowerment and also share her journey from one herbal salon to a global network of franchise ventures. Shahnaz has dedicated her career to organic beauty and health care, based on the ancient herbal healing system of Ayurveda, taking the Indian herbal heritage worldwide with a crusader’s zeal. In fact, through her work, she has opened the windows of the world to nature and her healing powers. Today, the entire beauty world has recognized Indian plant power.

Pioneering the concept of “herbal care and cure,” she has established a global network of franchise salons and other ventures over the last four decades. Today, Ayurvedic beauty care has acquired a global presence and Shahnaz is the only Indian brand to be present at Lloyds Pharmacy, at Selfridges, the famous London store.

The sales have transcended all expectations and broken records. She has been invited to speak at the Harvard Business School, USA on how she established an international brand without commercial advertising and recently, she spoke at Oxford University on woman entrepreneurship in India and the London School of Economics on India’s rising global economic influence. Later this month, she will be speaking at MIT. Shahnaz told The Indian Panorama, “Woman empowerment is my mission. Early in my career, I started a unique system of networking, by encouraging ordinary housewives to start salons in their own homes.

I trained them and gave them the Shahnaz franchise, so that they could be financially independent and self-reliant. I believe that education, vocational training and financial independence are important aspects of woman empowerment. I have also been committed to social causes for over three decades through my free beauty training courses for physically challenged girls, thus opening career avenues for them and helping them achieve financial independence.”