“Many women homemakers have great flair and hidden talents. I am trying to reach these women so that they garner their strengths and give flight to their dreams.”
“My forte is in-depth and integrated interpretation – to give a holistic guidance,” explained Hema Mahajan, in a conversation with Shree Lahiri. She had got introduced to DMIT in 2014, and was amazed to see the first-hand experience of the reports for her entire family. It was in 2015 that she took the franchise from Brainwonders for Nagpur, and then shifted to the city of dreams – Mumbai.
The concept is based on embryology, neuroscience and dermatoglyphics, and her counselling covers tips and techniques for a range of issues and gives direction to put students on the right career-path. She mentions that parenting tips and interpersonal skills are also covered in the counselling, which is an icing on the cake! Read on to know about her journey, the professional, personal challenges she faced and more…
- Tell us a little about your enterprise. How long ago did you start up?
I am a counsellor and a franchisee of Brainwonders, a renowned and leading company in career counselling. I specialise as a DMIT counsellor, a statistically proven tool to assess genetic intelligence based on a biometric(fingerprints) scan. Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Test (DMIT) from Brainwonders is a US patented concept that helps in understanding the innate nature, strengths, weaknesses and learning styles of an individual. This information is correlated along with interest and exposure, to identify the natural career, target setting and interpersonal skills for an individual. This assessment can be done right from a 2 year old to a 70 year old. This concept is based on embryology, neuroscience and dermatoglyphics. My forte is in-depth and integrated interpretation of the report to give a holistic guidance.
I got introduced to DMIT in 2014, and got first-hand experience of the reports for my entire family.I was greatly surprised how well the reading fitted our habits, learning style, abilities, strengths, likes and dislikes. I took the franchise in 2015 and since then the journey has been a fascinating and fulfilling one.
- What did you aim to achieve? What is the impact you are making now?
I aim to enable children, parents and professionals to have a better understanding of their innate strengths so as to leverage them for better performance in studies, sports and career, to understand and improve relations and to attain the goals with ease.
In my counselling I cover tips and techniques for addressing difficult subjects, help in selecting the stream for which the child has a natural aptitude, which together puts them on the right career-path. Parenting tips and interpersonal skills are also covered in the counselling which is an icing on the cake. The directions provided in my counselling have made life easier and more focused for most of nearly 1150 people, whom I have counselled so far. I have helped professionals to understand their core strengths which empowered them to make a positive impact in their professions as well as relationships. The fact that almost all the people whom I’ve counselled have stronglyreferred me to their families and friends speaks volumes for the kind of benefit and satisfaction they got, and the positive impact it has made on their lives.
- Where did the inspiration to setup this business come from?
Like many other parents I too was facing the challenges of trying to select the right activities, subjects and careers for my daughters. I wanted to explore their natural potentials to the fullest so that they have a career that they would love. That’s when I discovered this wonderful assessment tool based on biometrics called Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Test (DMIT). This tool gave me detailed insight into the multiple abilities, nature and learning styles of my children. I felt the need to make other parents aware of this tool and to help them with benefits of its near accurate results. So in 2015 I took the franchise from Brainwonders for Nagpur.
Currently I’m continuing the franchise in Mumbai. I took the franchise with full determination to train myself to be a good counsellor. Incidentally, my own DMI report highly recommended Counsellor as a profession for me.
- Could you tell us about the challenges faced by you?
There were personal as well professional challenges. Personal challenge was that I hadn’t worked for almost a decade. Balancing kids, home and practicing DMIT counselling though stimulating, was very challenging. My belief in the benefits of the report and passion for DMIT made the transition of me as a homemaker to counsellor easier.
Professional challenges were quite a few. There were others in the field who used pirated software to generate reports but the accuracy and details of their reports were highly compromised. I had to fight against the bad name generated by them for this profession. Slowly and gradually the word-of-mouth recommendations by the people who benefitted from my counselling penetrated the market.
The other challenge I face is that every individual and every report is unique, so every counselling is very dynamic and personalised. Hence, neither the counselling process can be automated nor am I comfortable hiring someone for the counselling. This hinders up-scaling of services. Nonetheless, I am unwilling to compromise the quality for quantity.
- What is the support you got from family and friends?
My parents, husband, children and my in-laws have whole-heartedly contributed either directly or in indirectly. My husband motivated me to follow my passion and start the enterprise. My kids were cooperative when sometimes I was away during their study time. My kids were small when I started and so I constantly had to fall back on my parents and in-laws to look after the kids when I stepped out for a late evening counselling session. They understand and appreciate the difference I can make to the people’s lives and eventually to our society. My friends, having known me for years and having experienced my work, were my biggest promoters.
- Do you think the current business scenario encourages women entrepreneurship?
Yes, the current times are very favourable for women entrepreneurship for majorly two reasons. First, the women have come of age where they have the desire and freedom to put their careers on top priority. Families are more supportive than a few years back. Secondly, with Women-Empowerment being the new political mantra, there are many government schemes that support and promote women for their business.
- What are your future plans?
I would like to reach out to more and more families so that they can strengthen their interpersonal bonds with their family and friends as that is the need of the hour to stay strong. I’d like to empower students for better academic performance, professionals to know their abilities and strengths to progress faster and encourage entrepreneurship to capable people as that is important for the personal growth and economic independence of the country. For this I have now started reaching out to schools, college and tuition classes for introductory sessions.
Many women homemakers have great flair and hidden talents. I am trying to reach these women so that they garner their strengths and give flight to their dreams.
For ease of connect I have made my website https://brainywiz.in which gives a glimpse of my work. I plan to digitally spread awareness of this biometric assessment tool and my services. I have taken baby steps to become visible on Instagram as @mahajan.hema. I’m using other social media too to spread the word. I plan to integrate Handwriting Analysis and NLP in my counselling services.
- Any tips for someone starting out today?
Human beings haveimmense potential, and to reach it one has to be aware. Feel passionately about the path you choose, you can always positively impact families. Follow the path with heart-felt sincerity and dedication, and do mid-course corrections.
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