Women Entrepreneur Making it Count in Belgaum

by Swatee Jog

Priya Khatav recently has successfully cleared the interview round for the “10,000 Women Entrepreneurs Goldman Sachs – ISB-AIMS Program’’ and is undergoing training program for 19 days at Bangalore.

Mrs. Priya Khatav runs Acme Computers which she started along with her husband in 1992. Starting out from a CAD training institute that trained 20000 engineers, Acme computers now offers courses in various softwares and has major companies in Belgaum as clients. Priya reminisced the initial days in business and said only hard work and relentless passion can help you gain success.

When asked, How did you venture into Computer training, having done Civil Engineering?
Priya said, “After my BE, I went to Pune and worked with an architect where I noticed the extensive use of CAD which was not available in Belgaum. So after I came back and got married, the first idea was to start something like this that would help students. We started small with just three computers. A chance meeting with a senior person in the corporate world brought upon an opportunity to train their staff in CAD and then there was no looking back.”

On asking about the challenges she faced as a women entrepreneur; Priya quickly said, ? “Challenges, yes, but not as a women entrepreneur. The biggest challenge was the mushrooming training institutes. But we faced it by being different and best. I think the key to successful business is having a great and unique business idea.”

She said, She was not aware of the Goldman Sachs program at all. “ So when I was invited by Bharatesh Global Business School, I was a bit skeptical. I came along and was fascinated by the initiative. I decided to give a try. At Bangalore, we were invited for a very nice interaction with members of ISB and some prominent entreprenurs. They gauged our passion and involvement in our business more than anything else. All the shortlisted women shared their business cards and got to know each other. That was one nice experience.”