NRI Institute, a non-profit NGO, celebrated the 30th year of connecting Indian Diaspora, and organized an award ceremony on October 26, 2018, at the House of Lords in London, United Kingdom. The NRI World Summit – Bharat Samman Global Leader Award 2018 was conferred upon Shelina in presence of other decorated leaders at the House of Lords London, the second chamber of UK Parliament.
BHARAT SAMMAAN AWARDS are being conferred on a group of select Persons of Indian Origin living in India and abroad for their outstanding achievements in the chosen field of activities for the contribution to the socio-economic development of India along with the country of their adoption.
The award was given to NRIs from 14 countries, including Shelina, who was the only Canadian Woman honored as a global leader for promoting heritage and entrepreneurship. This was indeed a special moment as the award was presented to Shelina for surpassing exceptional standards in her business and community engagements. Shelina was recognized for her of selfless service to the community.
Behind every successful man, there is a woman, but this saying stands not only for the success of men but for the functioning of the whole world. Shelina Mawani was born and raised on the shores of Lake Victoria, Mwanza in East Africa. After managing a series of motels back home for her father, Shelina Mawani moved to Canada in 1983. Being a lifelong businesswoman, in the year 2000, Shelina and her sister Nasim established Nana’s Kitchen. Growing up in a South Asian community without the divisions between different South Asian races that she saw here, led Shelina to want to bridge that divide through her food. Shelina wants the whole South Asian community to be united, interacting and celebration as a single community.
She has watched her company grow from a small family restaurant business to a manufacturing business through North America and chains across Canada. Nana’s kitchen products meet the product quality and food safety standards as required by CFIA, USDA, HACCP and BRC Programs. Nana’s food with a global taste is being sold all the mainstream grocery stores (Superstore, Save On Foods, etc.) and in hospitality, Pubs and restaurants across North America. Their food is being sold to 5000 grocery retail and food service.
Nana’s Kitchen’s mission is to become a household name and they are on their way to that becoming a reality because of the high quality of their Samosas. Their quality is premium and gourmet, especially compared to what is available in the market today and people pay for the quality. They stick to a higher quality of samosa, not the quantity. Their high-quality samosas are more than three times bigger than a typical samosa, with more filling and less pastry than their competitors. They also have smaller sized samosas as well. The quality of the samosas go through lots of checks (heat, temperature, expiry dates) to assure high quality and it makes a difference you can taste. Roughly 30,000 samosas are being made by hand every day, in seven different flavors along with mango date chutneys which are sold in bulk two-liter jars in select grocery stores. They have also just introduced chimichangas.
As a proud supporter of women’s empowerment Shelina’s employees are largely women from foreign countries with minimum English language skills. She says her employees are her backbone, and she wants her employees to grow as the company grows. She is a proud and successful employer who defines her success by sharing her employees’ growth from ground zero to managerial position.
Becoming the accomplished woman, she is today started in her youth and in 1979 she became a chairperson of lioness club. She has since opened the orphanage back home and Shelina was invited to speak for the women’s economic forum in New Delhi about empowering women to believe in themselves and not give up and spoke at Agakhan Alliance in Toronto about the failure to success. She won the woman of the decade award in 2016 in Delhi. In October 2018 she was awarded Bharat Samman Award, where 14 countries were involved. Shelina takes part in a lot of community events to promote the community.
She reveals her secret of success, as the three C’s – conversation, collaboration, and celebration. “We all have at least one million-dollar idea lurking inside of us. To execute that idea, you need somebody for you so, never be afraid to look outside for help. Don’t be afraid to come out, network and share your ideas. Once you succeed that stage then, every walk of life you would say it’s a day of celebration,” says Shelina.
She also feels proud to give credits for her success in the US market to her husband as he played a major role in building the market from zero to what they are today. Shelina says while she was struggling with her business and through the ups and downs to success, her children grew up without her. She stresses the importance of spending time with your family and kids, and to not ignore anything important on the road to success. She feels lucky that her kids are doing well and that they tell her that she has worked hard for them. A message she has for entrepreneurs is to do your research before you do anything, be humble, no stress, no ego, even in difficult times, spend time on yourself and family, love and laugh, change your attitude and always listen to your customer.
Behind every successful man there is a woman, but behind Shelina’s success, she gives credit to her sister and husband, along with her family and staff.
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A TFSA is a savings account where you can put your money and let it grow in eligible investments. Any money you “make” off these savings (interest, dividends, capital gains) is tax-free for life. You can withdraw your money at any time, for any reason, and the withdrawals are tax-free. TFSAs do not affect your annual tax filing whatsoever. They are a good place to put your money if you want it to grow, and if you want to be able to access it whenever, hassle-free.
RRSPs on the other hand, are highly valuable during tax time. Putting your money into RRSPs is a good way to receive a better refund (or lower owing balance) during tax time. However, there are important deadlines. For instance, for the 2017 year (which you will file taxes for in 2018), you need to put money into RRSPs between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017; or the extended deadline between January 1, 2018 and February 28, 2018. Any money you put aside during these periods will be claimed for your 2017 tax year as non-taxable income.
It is important to note that RRSPs are less accessible than TFSAs. If you withdraw money from your RRSPs, you will be charged a withholding tax at the time of the withdrawal, which ranges between 10% to 30%, depending on how much money is withdrawn. You will also be dinged at tax time, as the money withdrawn is considered “taxable income.” These tax-time costs depend on your income and overall tax situation. Furthermore, sometimes there are limits as to the “reasons” for which you can withdraw the money. For example, if your RRSPs are managed by your employer, you may only be able to withdraw them for the purchase of a home, or for tuition fees. In addition to this, money must usually sit in an RRSP account for 90 days, before it can be accessed for a purchase.
When deciding between a TFSA or RRSP, assess your overall household situation, and see what works best for you. You can also talk to a financial advisor or tax planner for advice.
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Hopefully when you first created your personal or business brand you started with a foundation of values. But if you did not, this is a great place to start. What do you believe in? What is important to you? Think of 3-5 personal qualities or values that really resonate with you and define you are deep in your core. Values like Integrity, Courage and Diversity to name just a few.
New headshots are a great way to refresh your brand and well worth the investment of time and money. Do not use a selfie or picture of you taken at a party (yes I’ve seen that). Go to a professional photographer. Take a couple of different outfit with you, one for a casual look and one for a formal business look. Being a professional speaker I often have photographers send me or tag in photos of me speaking, so a photo from an event you attended or media photo is a great source of potential headshots too.
Six months ago I started “renovating” my website and then I realized I needed to change it completely. So for all that time we’ve been working on a completely new website behind the scenes that should launch by Spring 2018. Your website is absolutely one of the most important aspects of your personal or business brand. You need it to be up to date and engaging. You could change your cover image and title or use a different template. Another good area of improvement is to remember to add any recent awards and accomplishments. People often forget that and it is a pity because it is great for branding and business development.
Rebuilding your website also gives you an opportunity to pivot your business slightly in terms of the products and services you offer or refocus your area of expertise if it’s your personal website.
So I added this one in the list because it is such a key part of anyone’s brand, particularly your business brand. You could do a complete redesign through an online service like 99designs.ca or fiverr.com. Both are excellent resources so check them out. Or just change one element like the colour or the font. Either way it is a good way to take your brand to the next level or reflect a change in direction.
Hands down the most important social media platform for any professional or business is LinkedIn. Every individual and business should have a presence on LinkedIn. I hope to focus on it more in a future article, but for now you need to have a profile. It’s completely free and the only investment is your time. If you already have a personal profile or a company page then take this opportunity to update it. Make sure it contains the most current information and of course a good headshot or company logo.
Having a clear and persuasive personal or business brand is what helps you stand out and gives you the edge in a very competitive marketplace.
A strong brand will also help you attract more opportunities if you’re looking for a job or leads for your small business, so it’s a good place to focus your time and energy. I want to leave with this final thought; you define who you are and how people see you. So think big; help people see how amazing you and your business really is. Remember what Walt Disney said “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Make 2018 that year for you.
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