Anu Bidani is the CEO of STEM MINDS (a BCorp certified Social Enterprise) and Inno-Hive, an Innovative Learning Community – Not-For-Profit), two companies that focus on shaping the future of education by transforming learning experiences for both children and adults. STEM Minds is on a mission to empower youth to become fearless leaders by developing agility and a love of learning through STEM (science, technology, engineering, math). She believes in creating our future leaders, game changers, and problem-solvers to build a better, more agile society for future generations. With a dedicated teaching staff, a state-of-the-art learning environment, research, and development center, and a network of strategic partnerships, she has built both these businesses that are successfully expanding the reach and impact of education to all children!

Inno-Hive, an Innovative Learning Community, is a not-for-profit focused on supporting communities to innovate for skill-building regardless of age or geographic boundaries.

She is a passionate innovator, leader, revenue generator and entrepreneur with solid experience as a corporate executive where she witnessed the evolution and impact of accelerated technology changes on business processes from a Corporate lens. Her passion for innovation served as the catalyst for repeated successes in optimizing emerging business models to deliver agile profitability and value. With vetted expertise in the areas of strategy, product development, solutions development, project delivery, information security, and audit, Anu has built a solid foundation for her two entrepreneurial ventures – STEM MINDS and Inno-Hive, an Innovative Learning Community. She is also an SHEEO activator and supports other women entrepreneurs in their journey of following their passion.

Anu welcome to my series on entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Tell my audience a little about you.

I am a mom of 2 boys who inspired me to embrace my entrepreneurial venture Stem Minds after a 20+ Corporate career. I enjoy traveling, cooking, and challenging myself to new intellectual possibilities. I consider myself a fearless learner where the glass is always full. I believe in the power of positive thinking so miracles can happen. For me, integrity and authenticity are two ingredients that make me who I am and what I do.

You had a successful career as an executive in one of the banks. Why start a business?

After a successful career as a senior executive, I wanted more out of life. Everyone talks about their purpose and calling and I needed to find mine. When I left my job in 2015, I didn’t want to do the same. So, in search of my purpose and challenging myself I decided to solve a personal problem of inspiring my children to love STEM. In this journey, I have found the joy in inspiring children to love STEM. My business STEM Minds caters to this passion through a holistic STEM learning experience with hands-on activities. I have a state-of-the-art facility with 3D printers, laser cutters, robots, drones, virtual reality, and much more which makes learning fun, impactful, and sustainable.

Talk to me a little about STEM?

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math – STEM is a very important field to build skills in for the jobs of tomorrow. These fields enforce critical thinking, problem-solving, and many other 21st century skills that are innate to digital competencies that are required for success. These cannot be optional in a child’s learning portfolio but mandatory so they are prepared for what will be expected of them as they grow.

What are the future goals and expansion plans?

I am very excited about launching our Online platform – SMOA with gamification, virtual reality, and AI so children can enjoy formal learning at school and home through various toolsets. We are launching SMOA both nationally in Canada and in the USA. We are also working on some strategic partnerships to bring our programming into more school boards. We are working on academic research on our approach to blended learning through online tools in the classroom as well as accessibility in STEM for visually impaired youth. So, lots of exciting things happening at Stem Minds – stay tuned for the evolution!

Help me understand the good, bad, and ugly side of being an entrepreneur?

The good side is – I love the freedom and picking what I want to do when I want to do with no submissions of business cases! I enjoy the freedom to try things out without fear of failure.

The ugly side is that there is no segregation of work life and home life. Sometimes it interferes with the quality time I want to spend with my family but I also have to balance the responsibilities of running a business and supporting a team. So, time is always premium.

What are the skill sets required to be an entrepreneur?

In my mind three most important characteristics of being a successful entrepreneur are:

• fearless learner – you need to keep pushing yourself to learn new things whether it be about your product, customers or markets
• resilience – you need to know that you can get up and move forward every time you fall
• grit – courage to take risks without fear of consequences

My daughter is 14 and sometimes scared of math, science, and engineering. What advice would you give her?

I would tell her to be a fearless learner as we can learn anything if we put our minds to it. Even though math, science, engineering may seem scary, just remember that fear is only in your mind. Give yourself the opportunity to try building skills in these fields in your own way. If you enjoy fashion then wearable tech may be something to explore which combines fashion with coding. If you enjoy art then digital art, graphic designing are options to consider. There are lots of choices you just need to be open to learning.

Walk me through the steps of opening a business, like bootstrapping, business plans, market, competitive advantage, core competence, increasing footprint, and finding a niche?

For me opening a business requires planning and thought if you want it to be sustainable. Plan your finances – you may need a 3-year runway before you get a paycheque. Planning conservatively creates less chaos and panic.

New businesses generally have to be self-funded as there is not much financing available. So, plan to be lean and optimize your resources. Investing in automation to simplify processes is impactful.

You need to know the drivers behind your business, what pain points are you addressing and who is your real client. Understand the competitive landscape and find your unique value proposition.

I am a planned entrepreneur so I spend time building my business plan, financial models, key metrics for monitoring, documenting process flows, and procedures. I invested in these processes so I can grow without dependency on a few people, including myself. My staff can run my business without my presence. If you plan your business that way you have time to be a real CEO with vision, strategy, and forward-thinking.

It is important to find mentors, coaching, and other help to keep you on track. How did you achieve this?

I think mentoring and coaching are important. Having someone to talk to you about your ideas, being held accountable allow you to be better at execution and performance.

I did this by having a leadership coach when I really needed to push my performance. I joined network groups like SheEO and GroYourBiz to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs. All of this gave me a safe place to grow and be my best.

Talk to me about your hiring process and what you look for and how you motivate your staff?

I hire based on potential. I have an awesome team, who is passionate about what they do. I motivate them through empowerment and trust. I know they will always do their best and if mistakes happen it is okay as this is part of growing and learning.

Give my viewers advice on balancing the family? 

Balance is all about deliberate choices. I don’t think there is anything like balance. It is setting your priorities and making choices.

The family should always come first so always make time. Time flies by fast so you want to make the best of it and cherish the moments.

The post Anu Bidani: An Authentic STEM Entrepreneur appeared first on Four Columns of a Balanced Life.

Quotes on work

We’re not in this life just to work, we’re in it to live ― Cecelia Ahern

Overworking is the Black Plague of the 21st Century ― Richie Norton

For years, I had used these fractured men to justify my cynicism and workaholism, and the grief, insomnia, and casual anorexia were no longer of any interest to me – Antonella Gambotto-Burke

Workaholism in modern life

A workaholic is someone who has a compulsive approach to work at the cost of their health, social life, and sleep. Productivity becomes less about purpose and more about anxiety disguised as ambition.

The idea of working 100 hours a week is sometimes presented as the price of success in entrepreneurship. What is rarely discussed is the shadow side of that lifestyle. Behind the headline stories are often strained marriages, limited family time, loneliness, and long-term health consequences.

Success should not be measured only by output but also by the quality of life created along the way.

Research consistently shows that excessive working hours increase the risk of burnout, chronic fatigue, cardiovascular strain, metabolic disorders, and mental health decline. The human body and mind were not designed to run in perpetual high-performance mode.

Yes, success in the 21st century requires dedication, discipline, and hard work. But the world we live in after the COVID-19 era has also reminded us that life is fragile, interconnected, and deeply relational.

Productivity without humanity eventually becomes a hollow victory.

Living with purpose, not just working with urgency

Consider setting aside at least one hour each week to make a small but meaningful difference in someone else’s life.

You might choose to:
• Share a meal with someone
• Offer water or food to someone in need
• Pay for the person behind you in a drive-through or restaurant
• Donate to a charity that reflects your values
• Support businesses committed to ethical and social responsibility
• Volunteer in an area where your natural strengths shine
• Be a dependable and kind neighbor
• Practice safe and respectful driving
• Speak truthfully and live authentically in your relationships
• Spend quiet time in reflection, prayer, or meditation
• Cultivate gratitude, compassion, gentleness, and unconditional kindness

The return on these small acts is rarely financial but profoundly human.

You may find better emotional balance, deeper relationships, improved mental clarity, and a quieter sense of purpose. Success begins to feel less like a race and more like a rhythm.

I am genuinely curious about your experience. What rewards have you noticed when you make space for kindness, rest, or generosity in your week? I would love to hear your thoughts.

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Amarilla Nirmala is the co-founder and Chief Marketing Whizz of WeDO5, based in Vienna, Austria. WeDO5 believes in the power of women, especially women who want to make a difference. The focus is on female-led impact start-ups, that not only create businesses that make money but also push the status quo to be more ethical, transparent, and create equal opportunities. They support female entrepreneurs, who are driven to establish long-term business solutions.

WeDO5 contributes to the value chain in the start-up ecosystem through community building. They are the first yes for early-stage Startup-founders and offer support from idea generation to conception until growth and internationalization.

Amarilla has years of experience in executing and developing marketing strategies in the UK and Dubai. I am a big believer in start-ups. It is small businesses that are the growth engine of the economy and that create jobs. I talk to Amy about her life in Vienna and what she wants her legacy to be with female entrepreneurs.

Amy welcome, I want to know a little about you?

Hi, I am Amy; I am an Indonesian living in Austria. I have lived in 4 different countries in the past 12 years. I have 2 kids, and currently am a social entrepreneur. I have several businesses that focus on giving back to the community as a business model. I love cooking, gardening, paddling, and in my spare time, I love to play a tourist in my own city.

Talk to me about your social entrepreneurship and what WeDO5 is all about?

WeDO5 is the new name of KulturenReich (German words for Culturally Rich). We started as a social initiative focusing on immigrant women and Austrian women with migrant backgrounds. Austria is a rich country. Vienna has won the #1 city with the best living quality for several years in a row. However, for many foreigners, they find difficulties in starting their professional life again upon residing in the city. Most of them spend years to fully integrate, mostly because of language capability, and tight competition.

KulturenReich focused on empowering foreign-born women to be professionally successful and financially independent, through various activities such as workshops, focus groups,  and on the job training.

In 2020 we changed our name from KulturenReich to WeDO5, the number 5 stands for the fifth point of SDG by the UN, gender equality. We are now focusing on women impact entrepreneurs, those who aren’t only making money but also giving back to the community.

Help me understand mental health and your group Sahabat Jiwa?

Sahabat Jiwa (means soulmate in Indonesian), is a project that basically started in 2013 by my partner Anya. In 2019 I joined the organization as I believe I need also to give back to Indonesia, my home country. Mental health is a sensitive issue where people with problems receive stigma and often they also don’t realize they have issues. We provide literacy about it, and free consultation for young adult Indonesian people with mostly SES C- and below. The consultants are professionals with license, so even though free of charge but it is reliable. However, we do not accept life-threatening or emergency cases.

I want to know a little about the city you live in, the food and the culture?

I’ve been living (again) in Vienna since 2017. I came here in 2011, but moved to different countries in 2013, came back here in the middle of 2017, and found out the city has been changing quite fast!

Vienna is a classical city with beautiful landmarks and parks everywhere. The size isn’t big but very convenient as many things are easily reachable by public transportation.

What I like about the food here is that we have high standards, from eggs till meat, vegetables till desserts!

We try to buy our food from organic farms, and meat from local Austria as it provides certain standards and quality. We are quite concerned about where we get our food from. Things like how the animals slaughtered, how the chicken that produces eggs, what kind of banana we have, how sustainable the honey is, etc. And I must say that many people here are also thinking the same.

What does women empowerment mean to you and how is the modern Indonesian woman different from a few decades ago?

When people think about Indonesia, they think about the exotic paradise Bali, and it is a Muslim country. The fact is, Indonesia has the biggest Muslim population, but we aren’t a Muslim country. Since I was a child, I grew up reading some powerful and inspiring Indonesian women, such as Christina Martha Tiahahu from Moluccas province, or Cut Nyak Dien from Aceh province who bravely led an army to fight colonialism.

My mother, she was also a career woman, independent but also a loving mother. She worked in a British bank with high responsibility, oftentimes she came home late. But in the morning she was the first who wakes up, prepared stuff for my father and us, the kids. She didn’t have a me-time at all, because she spent her time caring for others.

This isn’t bad but she should have taken good care of her life too! So if we are talking about empowerment in Indonesia, it isn’t about women not getting an education or being forced to marry at a young age (although this is also still some cases in several provinces), but moreover about less judgment to women. Let them choose what they feel right. We still expect women to perfectly manage all aspects of their lives. People still expect women to do everything from cleaning the house and raising the child. Household responsibility needs to be shared. People need to be less judgmental to women who are still single.

Tell me a little about your role as a mentor in micro-entrepreneurs?

Currently, I am also active in Micro Mentor; I am giving free mentorship for micro-entrepreneurs in Indonesia.

My current mentee is an Elementary school teacher who produces brown sugar with low glycemic as an alternative for diabetes people.
I am giving guidance on how he should market his product, from marketing strategy to basic branding knowledge. We have 12 sessions, 1.5 hours per week.

You have a Masters in Design & Brand Management. Are you using it presently?

Yes! It has helped me helping female entrepreneurs market themselves.

How has social media changed your country and life in general?

My private Instagram is basically about things I find amusing. It can be a beautiful pic of Vienna, my plants, everything.

But currently, I am using Quora Indonesia to also share my knowledge about branding and marketing, giving advice and some simple steps about career and education. I believe social media is a powerful tool we can utilize for anything. Selling your products? Creating your professional persona? Building your company’s image? Or getting your 15-minute fame as Andy Warhol said last time.

It all depends on us; we just need to be careful about what kind of image we’d like to be remembered.

For me, my focus in life is about legacy. Surely I won’t win a Nobel prize, but I still can help some women who start their small business, I still can inspire young Indonesian people to decide their career path better, and also making good memories with my kids

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Hannah is a European based New Zealand blogger, whose mission is to help you live compassionately. Hannah contacted bloggers from around the world who focus on inspiring and empowering people on how to stay productive when you’re stuck at home. I wrote a piece on stick to your schedule.

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I have a deep respect for Girish Minocha. He is humble, down to earth, spiritual, aware of his surroundings, and believes in giving back to society. Girish Minocha started his business, knocking door to door to build clients. He graduated from one of the best engineering schools. Girish follows his passion and has converted it into one of the most successful businesses.  Girsh believes in corporate social responsibility, sustainable farming, respect for nature and he hires convicts. Yes, at any given time a couple of convicts serving a life sentence are working at his enterprise. His products are vegan, amazing, delicious, and are good for you. I give you Girish Minocha of Minchy’s.

Girish Minocha, welcome to my series on entrepreneurs. Please tell me a little about you?

I have always been one to follow my passion. But I hadn’t realized, that I could find my passion for something that had been around me my whole life until I went to college. I went on to graduate from The Delhi College of Engineering in the year 1988, with a degree in Electrical Engineering.

I had never been one to take orders; even as a child. This character trait later transformed into the fire, the spirit, the drive of leadership, and the ‘never say die’ attitude that I channeled and tried to make a positive impact on the society around me.

Walk me down the path you took from being an engineer to starting your own business?

After graduation, I worked with a private switchgear manufacturing company for a few months till the time, on one cold wintry morning, I reached office 5 minutes late, shivering from the cold, only to be confronted by my boss. “what time is it Mr. Minocha?” was the sarcastic question… “time to Quit my Job” was my equally arrogant and stern reply!!!!

My knack for doing something different and out of the box, led me back home, to the serene Hills of Shimla. The situation unfolded in a manner where I saw limitless opportunities beckoning me. I got married to my college sweetheart and along with her and my family’s support, we managed to set up our first production facility as a cottage-scale industry. We immediately received support from the state government via various policies aimed in favor of small and medium-scale food processing industries, and this made us survive through the initial years of struggle.

This was a small but definite step towards a bright future for the small Minchy’s Family. We always had the aim of wanting to give back to society, more than what we took from it and thus our dream of forming a company that makes exceptional quality products from resources within the mountains materialized. Our company’s diverse product-lines use agricultural and horticultural produce as raw material as well as wild fruits and berries collected by tribal villagers from across the state; in turn ensuring a sustainable link between entrepreneurship, society & nature.

Did you bootstrap or raise funds?

My wife, Sonia, and I have contributed equally to taking this business forward. From a small investment of about Rs. 100,000 in 1992 to what it is today.

Did you do any research, realized there was a gap in the market, and were you scared?

Initially, the only research was that there was a lot of market scope in this industry and we were the pioneers in this field from Himachal. The market potential seemed huge. To take the first leap was a risk, but to be able to be successful it is very important to take certain decisions and use them to your advantage by considering them a challenge.

The investment was a question that needed to be answered, but my family including my grandfather, father, and uncle were very supportive of the setting up of the business and helped me raise the funds. The first project is still a partnership concern within the family. 

Help me understand the initial challenges?

The challenges of setting up a new venture can be scary and myriad. From procurement to setting up the unit, to packaging and marketing. Initially, everything was testing. But slowly things started to fall into place, we learned how to streamline and also the experience is what taught us most of what we know. My family members shared whatever knowledge and experience they had but I had a new path to tread on and the obstacles were new. It took time but things ended up being fine-tuned slowly. We still face situations new to us, but the attitude to keep going is what helps us to face those hurdles. 

Tell me about Minchy’s, the vision, mission, goals, values, corporate social responsibility, organic products and you hiring prisoners?

Fruits are considered to be the best desserts in terms of both tastes as well as health and so we offer you a wide range of simple yet unbelievably delectable products that will leave your senses craving for more. Not only this, but we also bring products that have wondrous therapeutic properties, are vegan and can be used as a form of naturopathy like Apple Cider Vinegar, Wild Apricot Kernal Oil, Raw Turmeric Pickle, Bitter Goud Pickle among others.

Nature has always had its way of curing and healing various ailments and we at Minchy’s aim to provide them to you in a bottle so that you have access to nature’s bounty easily. We aim to approach our customers in a holistic manner so as to ensure that not only we satisfy their taste buds, but also ensure that the health of the customer is taken care of. Harnessing the wealth of nature, we develop our products in a way that we have garnered the reputation of a brand whose U.S.P is the maintenance of our unsurpassed quality and to give value for money to our consumers. The ideology behind this company is simplistic yet deep! We believe business demands excellence in the product, and to ensure that the product has been tried and tested for the complete satisfaction of the patron!!

We have always tried to maintain a sustainable approach by involving local farmers to pick their produce from them. Minchy’s has also been very eco-friendly in its approach in terms of setting ETPs etc. We have always taken responsibility for maintaining the environment around our units. Apart from this, we have also started our new range of organic products which is the way forward to be able to identify with our clientele and to encourage more organic production of fruits in the State.

As a part of our CSR initiative, we have been actively involved in hiring life term convicts as a part of their rehabilitation in all activities, depending on their vocational or educational skill set and background. We have got into a tie-up with the State prisons for the same and at any given moment, have a dozen or so murder convicts serving the life sentence term on our rolls. We believe that the best way to reform a person is to help them establish a new life outside of the prison whereby they can support their family and be constructive.

Why is it so important to give back to society and invest your success in it?

To give back to society is like a balancing out measure for me. If I am taking a human resource, material resource, etc. from the society, I strongly believe in giving something back to add to the societal structure since it is a cycle of giving and take like any other relationship which endeavors to thrive in the long run.

Talk to me about your passion for the arts, writing and the living arts?

I have actively been part of various social projects to promote rural development and am an active member of The Art of Living as well. This makes a huge impact on inculcating and instilling an overall positive environment for our company. My other interests include photography and traveling. I have been an avid reader all my life and inevitably also participate in Shimla’s Amateur Dramatics and Club and Theatre groups. I also enjoy playing golf as much as I can to maintain a healthy lifestyle to date.

All these traits, the zeal, the hard work, and most of all the vision have made me what I am today.

How important are food, family, finances, and faith in becoming a successful entrepreneur?

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, the support, faith, and belief of the family are very important in your success. Financially, the growth needs to be consistent to be able to take you through to the shore. It is necessary to project one’s worth to be able to build brand equity and to realize the worth over time.

All of these things are on one side, but what is needed the most is a deep faith in yourself and the almighty. The belief that you can do it and the devotion that the divinity and the universe will give you what you are working towards. But the faith comes in after your hard work.

What advice would you give young entrepreneurs?

My advice would be to ensure that success has no shortcuts, hard work is a necessity, faith is your strength and ingenuity is your weapon in the fierce field of competition. If you believe, don’t give up.

To cut a long story short, I have given up my entire youth, on this endeavor, to reach where I am today, and have learned a few things: that life is always good, even when you think it is not, God is always kind, even when you think he is not, someone is always ahead of you, but do not kill yourself in the rat race, …. And last of all, the journey is always good. Enjoy the journey, do not wait to get to a destination… the Journey IS the destination…

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