Introducing Ms.Uma Reddy of Hitech Magnetics. Not many women enjoy technical tasks such as the design of printed circuit boards - but Uma is different and her story is truly inspiring. 

Uma Reddy - An electrical engineer and chief executive of Hitech Magnetics - a small-scale unit manufacturing customized electronic transformers and coils - she started her career in 1984 while in her final year of engineering.

Uma enjoyed PCB design jobs, as she says, "It was a useful way to make a little pocket money during holidays." There were no CAD tools in those days, so Uma resorted to traditional drafting tables. Evidently, her business acumen quickly came to the fore as she realized that if she continued designing for a middle-man, she would earn less than half of what her drawings were actually worth.

So young Uma approached Bharat Electronics Limited to register herself as a PCB designer but she lacked the necessary registration and license. Getting the license was an uphill task, but she stuck to her guns. The journey opened her eyes to corruption and taught her hands-on, the process of obtaining a rupees twenty five thousand loan from a bank. In her words, "I wrote out my project report while sitting in the bank!" When it came to giving her father's property as collateral security for the loan, her mother questioned her commitment, but Uma says she was sure of her decision.

From strength to strength: Thus, this first generation entrepreneur started Rupseecons in Bangalore, specializing in PCB art work and electrical equipment assembly and testing in 1985 and moved on to establish Hitech Magnetics specializing in the manufacture of custom built transformers, coils, inductors and electronic sub assemblies for electronic applications in 1993. Hitech Magnetics counts leading MNCs such as GE Medical Systems, ABB, BARC, BHEL and Tata among its clients. In fact, it won a performance award as best supplier from GE Medical Systems, South Asia in 2001 and a Kirloskar best supplier award in 2005.

Uma prefers working with large companies. Working as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) implies generating smaller production turnovers, but she points out that working for large companies means not having to worry about or even chase payments and since these corporates work in an organized fashion, it eases the planning of Hitech Magnetics' production schedules. In future, she plans to diversify still further beyond customized production and steer her company to be more competitive.

Hitech Magnetics is an ISO 9001 2000 accredited company. This entails having systems in place for its smooth working, something that is very important for Uma, since in her words, she is basically a multi-tasker. Her eighteen strong staff - comprising 14 female employees - is well aware of their individual responsibilities and that they are wholly accountable for their actions. This makes it easier for Uma to travel out of Bangalore to fulfill her social work commitments.

Give back while you're still working: Uma has a strong sense of social responsibility, of giving back to the community. As a result, she spends about 40% of her time working as a volunteer. In 1990, she received an appreciation award as Technocrat Entrepreneur from AWAKE, the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Karnataka. The award marked the beginning of a long association with AWAKE, during the course of which she has actively worked to promote entrepreneurship development among women, right up to being its president. In fact, when AWAKE celebrated 20 years of promoting entrepreneurship development, none other than His Excellency the President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was the special guest to share his vision for women entrepreneurs.

As a member of the technical assistance team for a DFID-assisted project, the Western India Rain fed Farming Project, from 1999 October onwards, Uma has been a co-trainer, training NGOs in LFA for DFID.

Uma is currently the Chairperson of the Women Entrepreneurs Committee of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry. She is also Vice President & Chairperson Seminars at CLIK, the Consortium of Electronic Industries of Karnataka. She is a member of the CII and the Prime Minister's advisory committee - The National Manufacturing Competitive Council, wherein she represents small SMEs.

The right attitude: The accolades and positions are too long to be listed, but what is note-worthy is Uma's take on her successes. She traces her business success to her open attitude and short response time, whether to organize production or to reply mail! She makes it a point to confront problems, which she says are a part and parcel of running business, head-on. Her frank nature draws her to take her clients in confidence when a delay is likely, both to avoid last minute hiccups as well as search for solutions within a wider framework - an approach that is evidently, considerably different from those who keep their clients dangling with no clue of what is going on till the last minute!

Perhaps this is why Uma is equally comfortable, with both talking about and dealing with competition. Her candid response to my query on dealing with competitors was - "Irrespective of whether the competitor is a man or woman, competition keeps us moving ahead." Her positive attitude of perceiving the market as a huge ocean and believing that every supplier has humungous opportunities has evidently helped her reach her current position.

Get your priorities right: At the end of the day, she says you have to be happy with what you're doing. For Uma Reddy, committing to numerous activities is to enjoy life to its full, even if it has practically meant that her business grows slow and steady, not fast and furious! But she is happy with that, as it means she has time to juggle her business, voluntary commitments, family life and hobbies.

Her creative mind constantly churns over new avenues to explore. Her newest effort is establishing EMERG - Engineering Manufacturing Entrepreneurs Resource Group. As the name suggests, the group brings women involved in engineering manufacturing, but having non-competing businesses, on a common platform. Uma's aim is now to bring women into mainstream business, beyond the typically informal and often unaccounted for endeavors they usually take up. Business growth, in her words, requires the ability to communicate business-to-business, not woman-to-woman.

Truly, Uma Reddy leaves us with no doubts regarding the success of this and other ventures that she may lend her support to in future. 

Charu Bahri is a freelance writer and author of two books. She also writes funding grants and software for a charity working in the health sector. 

Issue BG69 Dec06

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