Recently, the Ladies Wing of World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC-WE) organized an industrial visit to Mustang Socks and Accessories Factory (Palghar), owned and run by two dynamic women entrepreneurs –Naazeen Katrak and Lubeina Shahpurwala.

Over twenty WZCC members visited the factory, alongside Global Chairperson of WZCC’s Ladies Wing and President, India Region – Behroze Daruwalla, who introduced Naazneen as a bold and adventurous dynamic woman, who was the youngest member of the first Indian women’s expedition to Hanuman Peak (9,930 feet), an integral part of Himalayas.

She shared Nazneen’s inspiring entrepreneurial journey, having established ‘Mustang Socks and Accessories’ in 1987 after borrowing Rs.5,000/- from her maternal aunt (maasi) as she had only Rs.500/- in her account. She decided to get into the business of manufacturing socks as she could not find comfortable socks for all activities and all ages in the market. She wanted to bring comfort to older generations via material and style. With sheer belief and passion, she grew her organisation to its current standing – not getting bogged down despite a sudden attack of lime disease, which impacted her immobility and posed numerous other challenges!

Lubeina Shahpurwala partnered Naazneen as Co-founder in 2004, taking over sales, marketing and business development. Her industrial knowledge and futuristic outlook coupled with her focus on new design concepts and customer needs were perfectly matched with machine enthusiast Naazneen’s  perpetual scouting for new machines and technology.

With a production of over a million socks a month and 50 dealers worldwide, Mustang’s annual revenue is more than Rs.70 crores (CAGR – 18-20%). Mustang employs locals and has 45% women employees, including the physically challenged.

After Naazneen shared a brief history of Mustang Enterprises, Lubeina gave a factory-tour with details to the WZCC members who were thoroughly impressed by the expertise of their staff, the cleanliness, smooth operation and the positive atmosphere at the factory, which exuded Zarthushti ethics from every corner!

Answering Behroze’s query as regards the challenges faced by Mustang Enterprises, Lubeina said it was keeping the offline and online product synergies intact, as also the lack of awareness about socks as an apparel, rather than a commodity.

WZCC Global President – Capt. Percy Master gave the vote of thanks and presented mementoes to Naazneen and Lubeina, praising women entrepreneurs for always managing to overcome challenges and coming out on top! “Our younger generation could do well to emulate such stars in our community and should think outside the box to turn any adversary into an opportunity,” concluded Behroze Daruwalla.