On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Hafsa Sumair, Founder of Jugnu Candles, reflected on the quiet yet persistent challenges many women face when starting their own businesses. She noted that the barriers are not always loud or visible, but often appear as small assumptions that a woman’s venture is only a side project, that it may be temporary, or that someone else must be guiding her behind the scenes. According to Sumair, continuing forward requires patience, resilience, and a stubborn belief in oneself. “And when she finally succeeds,” she says, “the questions change again: why so ambitious, why so serious about it?” These subtle doubts, she adds, are the quiet barriers many women founders confront long before their work is truly recognized.
Despite these challenges, Hafsa Sumair says one of the most powerful experiences in her journey has been the support women offer each other. From fellow founders sharing advice to team members standing together during difficult moments, that solidarity has shaped her entrepreneurial path. “When women stop competing and start supporting each other, something really powerful happens,” she says. For Hafsa Sumair, the mission of Jugnu Candles goes beyond building a successful brand it is about inspiring the next generation. “We are not just building businesses,” she emphasizes, “we are building a world where young girls can look at us and say, if she can do it, I can too.”
