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Defying all Odds
It’s the 21st century and women have long since shed their image as the weaker sex. They now fiercely compete with men in almost all walks of life and many have successfully managed to triumph over seemingly insurmountable obstacles and come out on top. Let’s have a tete-a-tete with one such woman, Rupali Chowdhury, the head of one of the biggest corporate organizations in Bangladesh, Berger Paints Ltd. By Nubaha Mahbub
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Currently working as a Director of Berger, Rupali Chowdhury will assume overall responsibility of this organization from January 2008, when she takes up the position for Managing Director. Rupali completed her Honours in Chemistry and then went on to do her MBA from Dhaka University. Her professional career began with CIBA, a Swiss multinational, where she worked for six years, first as its planning information control officer and then as its professional brand manager for the company. She later joined Berger in 1990 and has been with this company ever since then.
As I entered her office at about ten on a Sunday morning, she was knee-deep in work. However, she was charming and conversation with her was absolutely delightful. She exuded tremendous confidence and it was apparent that her warmth and enthusiasm led people to gravitate her naturally.
One of the biggest challenges for Rupali, she tells us, was striking a balance between her family life and career. Deciding what to prioritize became agonizing for her at one point. But then she says with a smile, ‘I was lucky that I had the support of my extended family to help me rear my kids.’
Is attaining the top position in a very renowned and large corporation the pinnacle of success for her? When posed this question she nods her head vigorously and answers, ‘Nobody thinks that they have reached the end. This is just one of my achievements.’
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Rupali is a goal-centered person. But she does not want to remain obsessed with the goal itself. Rather, she wants to enjoy the journey towards achieving the goal. According to her, ‘If you have the right attitude you will achieve the goal without being paranoid about reaching the “goal.”
When asked ‘What is your greatest strenght?’ she anserrs, ‘My ability to work with people. I get along with people well. I also happen to have an insatiable hunger to ermain updated on management principles and innovation.’
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Rupali then talks about her deep respect and admiration for General Electronics CEO Jack Welch. ‘Welch is a management guru. He handled everything from marketing to production at GE and was a complete leader. I follow him in terms of his leadership and try to be as effective a leader as he was. ‘She has high regard for his capacity to enrich human resources and the way he employed huge resources to train people, and motivate and retain them.
If you could live your life all over again what would you change about it? On hearing this question Rupali laughs and say, ‘I am not going to be one of those people who says that they would leave their life completely unchanged. In hindsight there are things that I would have definitely liked to do differently. For instance, seeing the objectiveness of today’s youth, I sometimes wish I could have been more like them.’
She also takes great pride in Berger, her entire team and what they have managed to accomplish together. ‘Berger has been enjoying double-digit growth consistently in the last sixteen years. In fact our growth rate has been considerably higher than the market growth. ‘Berger brought in the latest paint technology in the manufacturing process and has also involved consumers in the paint buying process. It intends to revolutionize the Paint selling way in Bangladesh. Indeed with Rupali at the helm of this organization, there is no doubt that it will!
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