Sarahla Ragavan has bagged Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Sarahla Ragavan has bagged Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award

• December 09, 2022

Nature of business :

We are the sole and exclusive representative of safety devices. 

Our responsibilities are to ensure that the products that we supply in the processing plants—oil and gas, chemicals, petrochemicals, metals and mining, plastics, food, and beverages—are installed in the process instrumentation that complies with the safety parameters to run the processing equipment such as reactors, pipelines, tanks, transformers, etc.

Our duty is to ensure that we do the selection data for the appropriate model to be installed with the supply, commissioning of the plant, and maintenance on the long run.

Our staff are all qualified engineers, and they are also the pre-selected license operators of some of the Explosion Proof products in the market region.

We are a Petronas Licensing Company (Malaysian National Oil), truly run by an Indian bumiputra, and we are proud to say that it is very rare to see an Indian woman heading such a company in this country.

Journey :

My background, which started as a receptionist in the company where I started working, Transwater, inspired me to be an engineer, and along with my work, I picked up my part-time studies to pursue the engineering and business background that helped to establish the company with the working experience of more than 30 years in similar industries.

Being a mother of three kids was not an easy task to manage both home and business; hence, I took it as a challenge to do my best in both aspects.

As I was traveling often for sales and business development, I decided at some point that the only time I would be together with my kids when they were young was when I enrolled all three of them in cultural classes such as violin, barathanatyam, and tabla, which are related to Indian cultural activities.

At the age of 38 years old, I decided to join the Barathanatyam dance class with my daughter (who was 10 years old). After 7 years (I am 45 years old, and my 17-year-old daughter has completed her dance arangetram, which is a graduation dance ceremony), we both completed our dance arangetram. This is one of the unique and very rare situations where mother and daughter live together as a combo in our country, Malaysia.

Apart from these, one of the unforgettable programs that is always close to my heart is the dual performance (Barathanatyam and Sangeetham) held in Thillai Nadaraja Temple in Chitambaram, South India.

– one of the pachabotha stalams, the Akasha (Ether), and received the surprised honor title of Nrithya Kala Rupini from my honorable Guru Srimathi Natya Shestra Nadana Sironmani Kumudhini Sivanathan, being the first Arangetram-completed student of JNKDA to receive such an honor. The award was graciously blessed at the Raja Sabha, or 1000-pillar hall, after completing a full margham performance together with the Sangeetham katcheri.

Apart from these stages, we had traveled to countries like Myanmar and New Delhi.

Ramayana Festival, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and many other places in South India

Then, in January 2020, after the Skanda Arpana show in Kalamandapam, I discovered a health issue and had open heart surgery on January 18, 2020; however, with God’s grace and many good souls' prayers and blessings, I survived. Along these lines, I have evolved myself in spirituality, yoga, and meditation as part of my recovery journey, which has helped me to be strong in mind, body, and soul and to be much more positive in everything that I undertake in life.

After recovery and after the pandemic season cooled down, the Malaysia Barathanatyam Dance Association (MBDA) held a program on Natya Arpana, a show that gave the opportunity for an Arangetram student to show her talent in a 20- to 25-minute performance, and these were under the patronage of the past President of MBDA, Guru Kumudhini Sivanathan. I participated in this show, giving my best performance to the best of my ability, and was proud to say that I managed to complete it gracefully.

In these art fields, as a dancer, and I hope to inspire many more people out there, I encourage you not to give up when your health is down; in fact, always turn it into your strength and pillar to move forward – slowly and steadily – eventually you will reach the goal in life of being happy and healthy.

Though I had many health complications from the start, with my strong willpower and great determination in life, this beautiful dance has turned my path completely healthy and rejuvenated me totally.

Today, I'm running the company well, with lots of projects flowing in as my focus is on the business progress, and I am also very active in my dancing, now that I've realized the importance of body, mind, and soul.

In the year 2020, during the recovery period after my open heart bypass surgery, I have jointly initiated with my yoga teacher, Ms Vickeneswary Mani, a online class called God Moment, which is a "bramahmuhurtha" (4 am) zoom class. Despite me being very vulnerable and weak after the intense surgery, I healed myself through this class, and I decided to bring in more people in need, particularly during the peak of the pandemic era. The class eventually was very motivating to many other women who joined; each of them gained strength, clarity, and positivity, facing the truths of life with greater awareness in their day-to-day routines.

Such a powerful class it turned out to be, and in fact, we have saved many of them who have gone into depression stage during the pandemic season—those who lost hope and jobs, those who were in depression, those who had health problems—by just doing the paradigm shift of thoughts, understanding the power of the mind, and realizing awareness and the fundamentals of how the universe works in a spiritual and scientific manner. The two-hour class managed to cultivate healthy living and greater mental strength to overcome anything in life.

Finally, on September 16, 2022, the wonderful and memorable Women Icon Award 2022 gave me such a prestigious award in three categories, namely :

• Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
• Woman Influencer Award
• Woman Personality Award

This will be an unforgettable event in my life. Being a woman is not an easy journey in life as we carry many titles with us: being a daughter, sister, mother, daughter-in-law, aunty, entrepreneur, motivator, trend setter, holding positions in associations, culturally abiding person, social activist, and many others. All of these are definitely God-given opportunities to grow oneself in this world, and I am so glad that every step and decision taken in my life has motivated me to do more.not only for myself but also to motivate all the other sisters around me to believe in the power within us. We are the makers and the doers; we are the Sakti who inspire many; let us break the conservative thoughts into liberal thoughtfulness. We can do and achieve anything in life.

Let's inspire each other to stay higher; nowhere will turn now but here. This is the moment.

Awards and recognition

• Title : Nrithya Kala Rupini- received from JNKDA, Mrs. Kumuthini (2017) in Chitambaram
• Title : Natya Mayur, received i  2022  during the  40th Anniversary Felicitation Award  : International Excellence Award 2019 by A.P.J. Abdulkalam International Lovers Foundation, India (Best Award for Social and Charity Service)

Dance Teacher: Guru Nadana Sironmani Shrimathi Kumudhini Sivanathan Dance School: Jeya Nritha Kalalayam Dance Academy

Date joined of dance class: year 2008 (14 years journey)

Date completed Arangetram: :October 5t 2014 (Mother and Daughter Combo)

Dance Journey Experiences:

Natya Mayuri 2009,

Sri Mahalakshmi Mahimai-2010

Natya Prevesam- 2011,

Malaysia Barathanatya Sabha Assoc-2011,

Natya Arpana by JNKDA + Workshop with Dr Jyolsna Menon- 2012,

Natya Varnam – 2013,

Tribute to womanhood – The living tree 2014 Arangetram- Mother & Daughter 2014

Sivanjali- 2019

and many other school programs (2015-2018)

Skanda Arpavam with 2020- with the Ramayana team

Overseas Performances :

• Myanmar – 2017
• South India Temple dances – Chitambaram 2017
• Ramayana Festival representing 2018 – N.Delhi, Lucknow and Ahmeedabad
• Sri Lanka– 2019
• Kanjipuram & Velore Golden temple– 2019

Other active involvement

Sangeetham is a student of Nadalaya Music Academy (Dahshini Gnanalingam).

Vice President of Hulu Langat Malayalee Association (2022-present)

Vice President of XLR (Yoga & Meditation Association) 2022

Secretary of ICAN (Indian Classical Artist Network) 2022

Thank you, Women Icon, for organizing such a gala event and giving every deserving woman the chance to appreciate their contribution.

Thank you, Times Woman And World Women Council, For The Initiative to support us All, And with Your Organization, we women will strive further to Be The Best in everything We do with great Hope And Faith.

Once again, and may all your great service be blessed.