CapTain radhiKa MenOn
Co -founder,
International Women Seafarers FoundationCaptain Radhika Menon is the first woman merchant
navy captain in India. She joined the merchant navy
as a radio officer in 1991, and then moved into the role
of a navigating officer. Radhika is the first woman
captain to receive the Gallantry at Sea Award. In
2016, she also became the first woman from the
world to be conferred with the International Maritime
Organization’s Exceptional Bravery at Sea Award for
having conducted a rescue operation in 2015 that
saved the lives of seven fishermen who were caught in
turbulent weather in the Bay of Bengal.
Radhika has served as Vice President of the Maritime
Union of India for two tenures. At present she serves
as their executive committee member. During this
period, she helped resolve multiple issues of seafarers
and personally backed the role of women in the
seafaring profession. She co-founded the International
Women Seafarers Foundation in November 2017, an
organisation dedicated to supporting and promoting
women seafarers and facilitating a gender-diverse
environment on board ships by bridging policy,
procedure, and awareness gaps between companies,
society, fellow seafarers, and women.and a more challenging work profile. Radhika
worked doubly hard to learn everything. “I faced
several challenges for being a woman, but my
positive approach helped overcome everything
and it helped me pursue my goal with more
determination,” she says.
Power point: It is not enough to react to a bad
situation; a true winner is one who paves the
path and demonstrates by example. Radhika
co-founded the International Women Seafarers
Foundation (IWSF), which promotes and
supports women seafarers in their sailing careers,
and also encourages and counsels them to join the
profession.
Save away to your dream
When Srividya launched Avaali, a bootstrapped
organisation, it was tough to simultaneously
juggle the multiple facets of finances, customer
acquisitions, and talent attraction — all of that
while making sure her organisation could prove to
be a trusted partner to large enterprises. Diligent
financial planning helped her build a corpus
that she has been using for her startup. “I have
been investing 60-65 per cent of my portfolio in
direct stocks and mutual funds with a long-term
Photo: akhil aPPukkutan
http://www.outlookmoney.com March 2018 Outlook Money 39
Special