“Knowledge and passion are the genders neutralizing factor”, believes Womanufacturer Pushpa Mishra, a Controller in SAP at Tempsens Instruments who have found success by dedicated learning from the opportunities.
A Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication from Pacific Institute of Technology, Udaipur, Pushpa Mishra is working as Controller in SAP Implementation Department with Tempsens Instruments (I) Pvt Ltd, Udaipur. Tempsens is a manufacturer of temperature sensors, cables, connectors and associated instrumentation serving to global clients. In 2019 Pushpa joined Tempsens as a Business Development Executive, and after working for one and half years the company offered her the role of Controller of Data which included taking care of the technical processes and management for all the six verticals of Tempsens.
Pushpa says after being chosen for the present role she had to literally learn the processes; from the point, a customer enquiry comes till the invoice generation. “All the things were new for me. I needed to learn the company’s policies and of course the SAP. Gradually I started managing the users for the six verticals. There are different modules in SAP and I had to do module wise management of the users.” She was also given the responsibility to make schedules in advance. With a global presence in the US, UK and Saudi Arabia, Tempsens is headquartered at Udaipur with offices all over India.
Friendly & Collaborative Attitude: Building Engineering, SAP & Talent Management
Pushpa says that she wanted to study commerce and become a Chartered Accountant and her family wanted her to do engineering. “As for me, I managed to do well with engineering and also successfully learnt SAP. There was a lot of mental pressure to do justice to the opportunity I was offered. Yet with the help of my family and colleagues, I succeeded to fight the odds,” says Pushpa.
Her friendly and collaborative attitude has also helped a lot to establish a good relationship with the customers and colleagues. “This further helped me to learn more. The number of exposures to different types of situations boosted my confidence and fine-tuned my troubleshooting skill.” Pushpa also has interests in managing talent, gets involved in recruitment process outsourcing and has plans to set up her own business. Today her job and talent management projects keep her busy to large extent.
Stability and focus lead to an intelligent response.
Pushpa says being a woman does not make a difference as today women are excelling in every field just as good as or even better than their male compatriots. “Basically, it is not about being a woman or a man; it is about the confidence and focus that make a difference. Knowledge and passion are the gender neutralizing factors. Woman empowerment is necessary, but in the current scenario one should not use it to further highlight a difference between the genders and perpetuating the bias.”
All sustained effort requires stability and focus on the part of the person. And women have been better equipped to deal with a situation in a calmer and intelligent manner.
Utilizing odds to advantage: Guiding Women into Manufacturing
Pushpa faced challenges since the time she had to peruse engineering which was not her first choice of career. Coming from a Hindi medium schooling background and studying engineering all in English was the next. She had to develop her skill with language while handling the pressure of doing engineering. But Pushpa utilized the odds again to her advantage. “By the time I had finished my engineering I was ready to handle stress to a far larger extent.” She came out as a stronger and more self-assured human being.
When she was selected as an SAP controller, many eyebrows were raised. Pushpa says, “There were many negative responses. People would actually express their doubt about my capabilities right on my face. I had to deal with the reactions at the professional front apart from making myself ready for the role.” Interestingly the most of the naysayers were the women in this case. She feels in many cases, though unwittingly, women end up being obstacles to another woman’s growth.
With all the challenges she had to face, Pushpa Mishra is completely devoid of any bitterness. She wishes to guide more women into engineering and manufacturing – a ‘role model’ to others – the term that she, in her humility, declines to be associated with.
