Zoroastrian Chamber of Commerce Heralds Women Entrepreneurs

By Homi Davier

SUGAR LAND: The World Zoroastrian Chamber of Commerce Houston showcased “Women in Business” and three entrepreneurs within the Zoroastrian community – Sonia Rash, Tenaz Sunavala and Nasreen Khosravian – to learn how they became successful at a seminar on Wednesday, November 12 at the Madras Pavilion.

Sonia Rash, an attorney, said she wanted to spend more time with her family, so she gave up her corporate job, safety in salary and benefits to being her own boss by starting the Behrana Law firm.

“Some of the challenges or frustrations made the start difficult,” she said. “What do I practice? Where do I start? How do I succeed? Will I be able to produce income for myself? No one will be feeding me, not my clients or work if I do not do well. But, the benefits of having your own business are a flexible schedule, more time with your family, select the type of case you want,” she added. “There is no one to micro-manage you, so you must be careful, disciplined and self-motivated to get the work done.”

For Tenaz Sunavala, the transition was from being a home maker and raising two college kids to founding Pegasus Visas International Consulting. What started as a home grown business is now a full service travel visa company offering visas for individuals and corporations. “I faced many setbacks and challenges but my motivation, faith and a positive attitude allowed me to keep the momentum going,” she recalled. “If you are determined to succeed, it is not that difficult for women to enter Mainstream USA’s business world and carve out a niche.” Pegasus works with clients globally and Sunavala believes that “our clients love our top quality customer service.”

“My desire for owning and running a successful business was in me for a long time. I knew I could not work for someone else all my life,” said Nasreen Khosravian, the founder and principal of Kids R Kids Schools in Sugar Land “When the time is right you just want to push forward and venture out on your own.”

Her choice was to go with a franchise was because she would get a lot of hand holding initially and always have a continuous support in marketing and other materials that are so important to take off in a business. Along with her husband she opened their first school in 1999. “I could not have done it without my husband’s support,” she said. “He had his steady job to put the roof over our heads so I took this opportunity to branch out and start off the business.”

Khosravian chose childcare because her kids were still very young and were her first priority and she needed to be there for her family over the weekend. Khosravian and her husband own two schools and are building a third.