No matter how much a person achieves in life, it is their generosity that makes one a truly successful individual in the society, and this is what has transformed several ordinary people into legends. Suman N, the founder of Bonsai Solutions, is one such business leader whose philosophy in life has been to bring about tangible change in the lives of people connected to her. Be it her employees, mentees or the brands that she works with, Suman has always strived to be a catalyst of positive change.

Suman has been the force behind uplifting the lives of students and women professionally. Dubai was a place where women and student were not given work permit. Suman has been the strong reason behind getting the work permit for women and the students. It was she who worked tirelessly for two and a half years towards obtaining a work permit for students and women from Dubai's labour ministry. With that, she has made a significant contribution to the future generations. Many women in Dubai are the breadwinners of the family due to her persistence, dedication, and hard work.

Despite the fact that Bonsai is a marketing firm, it has been tied closely to recruitment and humanity aspect. By providing career opportunities, the organization has transformed the lives of several people who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to groom themselves or advance to the level of a seasoned professional due to a lack of education. Individuals who are once Bonsai employees become a better version of themselves and get further opportunities to work in MNCs.

While Suman's journey has seen massive successes, but it has also been a story of immense challenges. Her journey in Dubai began with severe health challenges and she even suffered a tragic personal loss.  Owing to the health complications she developed Endometriosis and had to undergo multiple surgeries and painful treatments.

But none of this deterred her; in fact, like a phoenix bird rising from the ashes, she rose even stronger. Her mentors, gurus, and the Inner Engineering program that she did from Isha Foundation, as well as the entire cosmos helped her in discovering the true meaning of her life.

She is not only a marketer, but she is also transforming and improving the lives of many people.

The Women Entrepreneur Team got an opportunity to speak to the trailblazer. The conversation that followed was heart breaking and inspiring in equal measure. Suman also gave us a glimpse into her expertise as a marketer and the various successful campaigns that she conducted for her esteemed clients. Here are choice excerpts from the conversation.

Introduce Us To Bonsai Solutions And The Underlying Philosophy Behind The Company.

Bonsai was formed to serve humanity. We are not just into the business, we are into growing the person who comes into our company into being a very self-aware individual. "B" in Bonsai, stands for `be yourself'. I believe whatever has happened in one's life or whatever has changed their outlook towards life is an amalgamation of the circumstances that one has been through. This is what shapes our belief patterns. So whoever has been a part of Bonsai has actually being initiated into understanding the true purpose of their own life.

Bonsai has provided a platform for young students, housewives, and women to actually understand their true worth, and contribute to the society. While doing that, they have transformed themselves into stellar individuals who exude confidence. We've people who have joined us at the age of 14 and are now well settled in life. They now have the confidence that they can contribute to anything that is put up in front of them, and make it into a beautiful project.

I truly believe that despite hierarchy, culture, race, the way one has been brought up, we're all actually just one. This is these sence of our Indian culture and we have imbibed the same within Bonsai too.

Take Us Through Your Early Educational Journey And Prior Industry Experience That You Bring To The Table. What Was It That Drew You Towards The Field Of Branding & Marketing?

I was born and brought up in Mumbai. I had a fantastic childhood. My father is an astute businessmen and my mother was a homemaker. All through his life, my father never took shortcuts in work, even when things were not in his favour. 

My father's business was in chemical line. His business was a training ground for me in terms of branding, consultancy and promotions. Back in 80s my father had invented the formula for a cleaning powder for vessels. The product picked up in the Mumbai markets. As people started liking it, we actually wiped other competitors such as Odopec from the market and started competing with the segment leader Vim. However, we faced funding challenges and the business did not sustain as well as we would have wanted.

But the marketing principles that my father taught me were brilliant. He always said that "you should go for the top, and you should strive to be the best. Know your competition well and make sure your product speaks for itself. There should be nothing better than what you offer to the consumers. And once you have that, don't go for marketing gimmicks."

Since business dint go well, I went back to work. I got an opportunity at Arcadia, which was marketing products of Citi Bank. I was selling Citibank's products for mortgages and loans. I was keen to learn and the manager helped me understand the nitty-gritties of working in the field of finance. After three months I was put into field work where I was the only girl amongst 40 boys. I constantly topped the charts.

I then went on to work with Lloyd Brooder Hiller Parker where I was the only one who did not possess an MBA degree. So after work hours, I did my part time diploma in marketing and finance. That's how I studied and worked and also took care of the family needs.

Circa 1998 I got married and moved to Dubai. I'm a very intuitive leader, that's my style. You listen to that inner voice and that inner voice can never be wrong. It will take you to the right path.

Tell Us About The Initial Hurdles You Faced In Dubai. How Did You Successfully Overcome Them To Turn Your Life Around?

When I came to Dubai, I unfortunately fell sick, and that was again a turning point in my life. When I was hospitalized, I realized that I can never have a baby again, unless there are certain procedures to be done. I even suffered from endometriosis due to which I had to undergo surgery every six months. That was quite a challenging period of my life. But there was a little voice inside me that said, "Why do you need one child when there are so many in the world whom you can take care of. You can be a mother to all." This thought changed my life forever.

Then came the opportunity where I met guru or a master in Dubai. He changed the entire outlook.

He suggested that I start doing Pranay am and detox my body in order to effectively manage the disease. There are several women in Dubai who undergo this situation and by God's grace, I've been able to give them knowledge on how to deal with endometriosis. Otherwise people would keep on undergoing surgeries. There was another guardian angel who came into my life.

“We aren't just into business; rather we want to help each person who comes to our organisation to become a more self-aware individual”

She is a doctor who is named in the Guinness Book of Records as well. She was the one who performed the laparoscopic on me and ensured that it that was perfect. She changed my system for the better. After that, I never took hormonal injections again.

What Led To The Foundation Of Bonsai?

With all these challenges Bonsai was a joy. I got this opportunity to start bonsai in a very interesting manner. At an exhibition I saw somebody standing next to me. This lady was sampling juice. It was Barakat juice. The Barakat belongs to a person called Mr. Jairam, a very well person to me. Mr. Jairam is the one who formed this company called Barakat fresh juices. Mr. Jairam, actually was a pioneer to squeeze out fresh juices in this country and sourced to hotel industry. When I approached him with what I saw in the exhibition he asked me to take over the project to the retail industry. That's how bonsai was born. So, the first product we marketed was Barakat Juices.  We were able to make this so popular that today, it is present everywhere. Even today, after 23 years of being in this country, and after 18 years of being in this profession. If I go to a store and I find that the baraka juice is not there, or there's something wrong with the expiry I still call them up and tell them to fix the problem. That is the branding that should be done by every person who works with a product.

Our second product was Maybelline and they liked branding our idea so much. With that we were offered promotion of L'Oreal at carefor beauty event where all the products related to beauty will be displayed. In that came the story of us being associated with L'Oreal for the next 15 years. Then came lot of promotions, but whatever we did we ensured that quality, numility, inclusiveness was always there.

In those 15 years, what we did for L'Oreal is to actually build a team, which took their profit share in these outlets from 26% to 52%, they became the market leaders. That was the kind of strong team that we gave them. It was having a good percentage. But then the jump came tremendously because of a very hard work of the team who were from all nationalities. Our journey with L'Oreal actually was the most beautiful journey and they had tremendous trust in our company. After that, we have worked with around 100 to 120 Different companies or multinationals. We have introduced various brands in the market. We work with Fendiquite regularly. We've worked across the board with real estate with the electronics, food industry, with the cosmetics which we are measurable name in the market.

“Bonsai was formed to serve humanity. We are not just into the business, we are into growing the person who comes into our company into being a very self-aware individual”

The feather in the cap was when we did a project called JBR-Jumeirah Beach Residence, the single largest construction in the world, 40 buildings were built together. Our company provided around 75 different nationalities.

It was a long term project, which lasted for 4 year, from 2005 to 2008. The project was by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, we had the opportunity to be associated with such a beautiful project. Another brilliant factor was out of the 73 individuals from Bonsai were working for this project in terms of customer service sales, after sales, leasing, mortgages and all those things. 38 of them were absorbed by the company directly and the fact was that they were students. They got this opportunity to represent an international company in real estate.

As we were doing these promotions, the rules of the country changed and they came up with a structure called labor work permit for the people. Without work permit, people were not allowed to work on visitor visa.

So in 2007, we approached the labor minister, and I went and had a meeting with him. At that point of time, students and housewives were not allowed to work. We put a petition to him saying that, you are not giving an opportunity to students to grow, they should be provided an opportunity to work during the time that they are studying, because that is going to give them an all round experience.

Even ladie on husband's visa, were not allowed to work? Most of them are well educated, and even if they're not educated, people can be trained to move forward in life. So from 2007 to 2009, it took me two and a half years to convince the labour ministry. But the change came, this country actually bought in a rule of temporary work permit. That is what bonsai did, it opened up an entirely new section for work for students, as well as for housewives.

And during this pandemic, when many of the industries were shut down, many people lost their jobs. But there were some industries which were thriving in pharma and with the temporary work permit individuals worked as a temporary worker with other companies. That was the change Bonsai did. But when we started this campaign, it took us two and a half years and today, it's such a satisfactory thing. With our work many women became the bread winners of their families.

How Do You Drive Growth Within Bonsai Solutions? What Is Your Leadership Philosophy?

We have very fluid organization where I never stopped people from growing. Company is like a school people learn and when they get a stamp of bonsai, they always get better opportunities. We don't actually encourage people to stay back if they are ready to fly. We have a did around 15,000 to 18,000 placements over the years in different sectors. They come to us, they learn and then they actually get absorbed by the industry in which they have done part time projects. At Bonsai, everything is centered about around the growth of an individual.

How Has Your Journey Been As A Business Leader So Far? How Do You Keep Yourself Well Aligned With The Periodic Evolutions Occurring In The Industry And The Tech World?

In 18 years of existence. For the first 13 years we didn't even have a website. In 2016, we came up with a website. And this only happened because I happen to attend a program called Insight by Sadhguruji. In that program, we also did a program called Inner Engineering. It actually brings you in touch with yourself. And those are the core philosophies that we have always been working on.

In insight, we came across different people from different industries in India. I realized that digital is the way to go and that's how we got a new division called the digital division as a means of branding. We opened our eyes to innovation, we opened our eyes to how we can be on par with what is happening in the industry outside. I constantly attend conferences, become a student.

Sadguruji he is the most futuristic thinking individual, we are blessed to have him. I attend his Human Resource Program, which talks about how human is not a resource.

What Would You Advice Women Aspiring To Follow In Your Footsteps And Become Business Leaders?

Understand your strength and weaknesses, do your SWOT analysis and work on it. Don't compare yourself with anybody. God has given each one of us a unique strength. The only limiting factor is you thinking yourself into a box, restraining yourself. You have to take care of yourself, you're responsible for yourself.

There's nothing wrong in being a homemaker. You are actually the pillar of the house. So you understand your strengths. There's no need to put yourself down. If you get an opportunity to be out in the world, do that take the leap. We are the Shakthi, the power is within you.