Srividhya

The security industry went up a notch when the male dominated industry saw the entrance of Srividhya, a woman entrepreneur with a raging passion.

Any successful business will have its roots in a dream nurtured since childhood. Srividhya’s success in running a security firm stemmed from her childhood dream of becoming a police officer.

A woman’s victory is not regarded on the same scale used to regard a man’s victory. There are many women who have made it big in fields like politics, movies and sports. But it is hard to find women role models in entrepreneurship. Srividhya is one such rare role model. She says, “Initially, no one recognised my success. The words around me were not “She succeeded because of her hard work”. Instead, all I heard was “She must have done something to come to this place.” But my intention and goal gave me a reason to toil harder and harder.”

In an era where safety is the need of the hour everywhere, Srividhya propagates the importance of security; especially about the safety of women and senior citizens.

During the initial stages of running the company, Srividhya came across an opportunity in a major two-wheeler manufacturing company. When she approached them, they replied, “We are not fools to give the responsibility of our company’s security to a woman.” Srividhya was appalled by the reply. She replied, “Does your owner manufacture each and every vehicle going out of your company? They employ people to do it. I am going to do the same as the entrepreneur of my firm”, and exited the place. Next, she was met by the same reply when she approached L&T. She did not bend or moderate her reply for the sake of securing the opportunity. She gave them the same reply. Today, big companies like L&T and Cognizant depend on her company ‘Ravindra Services’ for their company security.

Srividhya’s company does not focus solely on providing bodyguard services and security personnel services. It also provides home security solutions. The annual revenue has now grown to the level of being measured in crores.

As a woman in a male-dominated industry, the number of challenges she had to face were painfully high. The male bodyguards she fired would call her in the middle of the night and speak inappropriately. When she went outside, they made obscene comments about her. With her focus on her growth, she crossed all these hardships

Srividhya’s dream is to nurture the growth of female security personnel and create a team of female security personnels.
‘A woman is in no way inferior to a man. She is blessed with equal intelligence, valour, and self-confidence. Keep toiling and success will be yours one day’ – this is Srividhya’s advice to every woman entrepreneur who wishes to make it big in her field.

In 2012, Srividhya received the Best Woman Entrepreneur Award presented on behalf of Emerging India.