Anuradha Nijhawan, Director – Anand Trans Logistics
“My strength lies in accepting things as they are, and moving on.”
Meet Anuradha Nijhawan, an open-minded lady who is highly passionate about her work and is ever grateful to the omnipresent Spirit above for always guiding her, unconditionally. She is also the Director at the home-grown company, Anand Trans Logistics.
Born in Delhi in 1967, Ms. Anuradha spent her foundation years in Jharkhand as the younger sister to two brothers. Married young while still at college in 1987, she finished her Bacherlor’s degree in commerce from a prestigious college in Delhi with full encouragement from her husband and in-laws. In 1992, the family and the company shifted the base to Chennai, and by then Ms. Anuradha was the mother of two small sons. She also had started taking care of finances at her husband’s company.
“Though my father-in-law was fine with the decision, my mother-in-law did wonder if I could handle business and simultaneously take care of my kids. Once they started attending school, I began working full time. But I made sure to spend more time with them when they had exams,” she shares.
In 2009, the 24-year-old Anand Trans Logistics Company was registered as a private limited one, and Ms. Anuradha became one of its directors. As the company grew, she “learnt dealing with financers, getting interest rates down, getting good deals when purchasing trucks and the like”.
She adds: “From the beginning, we never wanted our children to enter this business because my husband always thought that transportation is stressful and highly challenging with unpredictable issues cropping up constantly.” But things took an unpredictable turn.
In 2014, this gentle lady took a heart-breaking tragedy straight on her chin when one fine morning her husband was suddenly no more. Even without her asking, both her sons, of whom the younger one was already pursuing the CA course, came back to the family fold and stood by Ms. Anuradha and the family business.
By then Anand Trans Logistics owned about 80-odd fleet with 10 regional branches and supporting many families.
She says: “My boys took six months to understand the business. My father-in-law guided the boys. Soon my younger son became a CA and now he handles finance and the elder one marketing, I take care of the overall business.”
Earlier in life, she learnt to keep her cool in ‘panicky’ situations with regards to the fleet from her husband and father-in-law. Later, when a truck of theirs met with an accident and her sons were left wondering, she realised she had grown to offer them the same support as she had received.
Yet, there were times when Ms. Anuradha questioned her role and responsibility. She discloses: “I have felt overwhelmed in handling issues pertaining to the police, insurance company and retrieving our cargo over the years. I have wondered if I am at the right place, but I have also realised that if you are hardworking and truthful, then God helps too in the form of good people. In 2017, a truck of ours was hijacked in Patna, and I sought help from a police officer who was a stranger to me. But he was an honest officer who helped me within two hours of contacting him. He not only tracked my hijacked truck but sent me photos of my vehicle and helped recover the cargo. However, in another accident in Vijayawada, the police officer refused to record our FIR without a bribe. I searched on the internet for the SP’s number and told him my problem and the junior officer’s demand for bribe. Within an hour, the SP sorted out the issue.”
Ms. Anuradha’s dedication to her work fructified in her winning the title of Lady Transport Personality at Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards 2018. “In October 2017, my boys urged me to fill the nomination in the women’s category, and luckily I was one of the nine finalists. During the interview, a jury member asked me what if I didn’t win. I said ‘I would like to win’ but even if I didn’t, I had enjoyed and learnt from the program. But I still wanted to win it at the end of it all,” she says and laughs out loud.
Her transparency and people-connect shone through to the judges and ultimately she won the Award.
Ms. Anuradha feels if a lady executive educates herself about the field and is courageous, then no one can stop her from succeeding, even if it’s a male-dominated industry.