Paving way for women in events

An early starter in the events industry of Hyderabad, Rakhi Kankaria from Rachnoutsav, has carved her own niche. She believes that tourism and events are inseparable, as tourism creates opportunities for a traveller to reach to a destination, an event professional can add a lot of texture to the human experience.

Nisha Verma

For Rakhi Kankaria, Founder Director, Rachnoutsav and Vice Chair, Tourism Committee, Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI), the journey in events industry started early in 1996. “It’s been close to almost three decades and at that time the subject of events was not understood. I learnt early since my father used to throw great parties at our family home. When my husband and I decided to do something different, I embarked on first doing a survey in Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta for three weeks, and then started my party planning company, which I later termed as an event management company,” she said.

Changes

Saying that the industry has changed in the last 30 years, Kankaria points out that today, there is a plethora of event managers in every nook and corner. “However, my husband Sanjay and I have been very passionate about our work and never saw anything as a challenge. In fact, we found it interesting to find solutions and receive accolades, appreciation through words and references for future business. That made us grow. Till date, we don’t have a marketing department in our company as we have only grown via word-of-mouth,” she elaborated.

Men’s industry?

While she thinks it is a man’s world even today, Kankaria believes that her skills, and an equal partner in her husband, made her shine in this industry. “If I wouldn’t have my husband with me, I wouldn’t have been as successful as I am. Event management has a wide spectrum of subjects,” she said.

Tourism in Telangana

Apart from Rachnoutsav, Kankaria also dons the cap of Vice Chair of Tourism Committee at FTCCI. A big advocate of Public Private Partnership (PPP) in tourism, she shared, “Telangana is a treasure trove of tourism locations, but only if there is PPP model, there will be a role responsibility, smartness and efficiency, which cannot be done by the government alone. The FTCCI Tourism Committee has identified Pocharam as a destination that can be developed under PPP and I have found an investor who’s ready to invest. More locations have been identified by the team. Also, the team has identified around eight tourism places in the state, including Ramoji Film City, Charminar and Golconda Fort, where we can have memorabilia and souvenirs shops.”

She also revealed that two years back, FTCCI organised the Telangana Tourism Conclave. “In October, we are planning that concave again,” claimed Kankaria.

Tourism & Events together

She believes that tourism and events are inseparable. “Tourism creates opportunities for a traveller to reach a destination, but an event professional can add a lot of texture to the human experience. From food outlets to Wi-Fi kiosks at tourism locations, everything can be done by event professionals,” she said.