Empowering entrepreneurship is done with a perfect balance of quality, services, resource optimization, people management, timely communication, and value additions. Several successful women business leaders have been known to master this balance critically.
In recent years, there has been a steady rise of these women business leaders who have not just been great but exceptional in this balancing act. Emerging top in the league of powerful women business leaders by applying creative ideas and implementing innovative solutions, Sabeena Ansari has been nurturing budding interior designing minds at her International School of Design in Navi Mumbai.
Sabeena, an architect and an interior designer, established herself through sheer hard work and implementing innovative solutions that served the client’s requirements and amplified the properties’ beauty, aesthetics and ergonomic value. Going further, she taught in various colleges as an Architecture Faculty till last year (2022) when she established her own International School of Design, interior and Graphics.
A Mighty Rise
Sabeena started her career in 2007 as an architect and Interior designer with her firm, SA Designs. The first project of her life was a 6BHK flat for an advertising company owner in the Posh Ghatkopar area of Mumbai. She received her second site order through word of mouth in Chembur. Despite being a very small project, it had great potential. It was a small room-kitchen that was destroyed in the 26 July floods of Mumbai, and it was more of a Restoration work and converting a small 1RK into a lavish and spacious 1BHK. Sabeena’s work became very popular that it was published in the Famous Society Interiors magazine in February 2010 issue.
From that time, there was no stopping for Sabeena as she kept climbing the ladder of success, where she got different assignments in multiple posh areas with big projects constantly. After that, it has been 16 years since there was no looking back. Sabeena was also called to other colleges to head the jury council as Visiting Faculty in architecture colleges. It enriched her interest in teaching, and in the year 2022, she successfully started her own Institute of Design for interior fashion and Graphics in Navi Mumbai, which has shown impressive growth from its inception.
Vital Inspirations
Crediting her success to her parents, Sabeena says that her biggest inspiration behind venturing into the business arena was her father, a Professional Real Estate Developer. Because of this, she got into architecture and interior design. Her father has always been an inspiring model for her. She adds, “My second most important inspiration and moral support has been my mother, who has always pushed me to the edge and never let me fall at my lows. She always stood behind me, pushing me ahead, telling me to accept greater challenges without fear.”
Tackling Challenges, the DIY Way
In the initial days of 2007, everything was direct and traditional as the technology was in its early stages. The era of the internet had just begun. Orkut, Facebook and other social media platforms were also not in demand. So whatever work Sabeena got was only through word of mouth, and there were no digital marketing channels.
Sabeena, as a Director, began her institute – the International School of Design, in the Sanpada area of Navi Mumbai, an emerging urban city. She started the institute in a very short span of 15 days. It was challenging to manage the whole setup & to begin with the institute and have proper professional surroundings for the studies of degree and diploma courses in design. The advantage of the Institute being in a prime area near the station made it easy for the students to embrace despite being new.
Quality Education, Practical Experiences
Being an individual of values, Sabeena identifies that the major priority for the International School of Design has always been the students and their parents. He elaborated that the institute is a hardcore technical and professional institute that aims to enrich the students with theoretical and practical knowledge, making them competent industry professionals. Unlike the money-minded approach of the other institutes, the International School of Design provides the best training and modern facilities to get equipped with value-based training at an affordable fee structure so that every type of student can afford to perceive the courses.
According to Sabeena, they do not run behind the money, nor do they burden the students for the same. Speaking about the teaching faculty, Sabeena proudly states that the best and the most important thing is that the students are given the best practical knowledge as the institute has the best teachers who are experienced in the market for at least 15 years. Other institutes usually employ teachers who do not have any market experience of doing any personal site ever in their lives.
She mentions, “The most important thing for which my students and their parents value us is that we give our students the best possible education, including site visits, market visits, exhibition visits, study tours, and history tours without any extra cost.” The only motive of the International School of Design is ‘To give the best quality education only.’
Nurturing Competency Through Quality Education
Highlighting the USPs of the institute, Sabeena states that her institute’s uniqueness lies in the fact that students get the best quality education provided by highly experienced teachers from the market. Compared to any other institute from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, INSD offers all kinds of degree diplomas and short-term courses at the bare minimum rate.
“Also, we can proudly state that all our students work in unique ways with all the pertinent details to be well prepared during their educational period. Once passed, they are fully ready to handle their own personal firms independently and in the best possible way,” Sabeena said.
Inspiring Advice
A very enthusiastic professional, Sabeena is very positive about knowledge sharing and empowering people. She mentions that as an architect and a designer, she only advises the new budding aspirants to thoroughly study the client’s requirements and budget, carefully considering the labour wages. Because most of the time, the designers only focus on the client and not the workers, which ultimately leads to the workers leaving the project halfway for the payment issues. Also, the clients should be fully aware of what they will be provided at the end of the project so that there will be no disputes or discomfort caused during the process of execution. Always keep the client in the loop and updated on the work developments in the day-to-day operation.
Leaping Higher
Speaking of technology, she says that the social media platform has helped her tremendously to expand her business and to make people aware of the same. In a very short period, Sabeena identified that people from different areas have recognized her institute for its hard work and dedication and hence were seeking admissions. Because of modern technologies and the AI platforms like Google, it has become easy to spread awareness about their institute for degree and diploma courses in interior design and fashion design.
