Farah Pandith, US President Barack Obama’s special representative to Muslim communities, on Tuesday said, “There are misconceptions about Islam all over the world which need to be attended to.” Pandith’s statement came while interacting with women entrepreneurs in the city. 

Pandith was in the city to interact with a cross-section of people, including NGOs, educational institutions and entrepreneurs, with an aim to increase and strengthen people to people contact.

In an event organised by the Tata TiE Stree Shaktee and the Marathwada Institute of Technology (MIT), women entrepreneurs shared their experiences with Pandith. They narrated how they braved hardships while trying to achieve their goals.

The former secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ashish Garde; Director General of MIT, Munish Sharma; and Christine Dal Bello of the American information centre shared the dais. Pandith, who has visited 25 countries in the last 10 months, said she was visiting the historic place of Aurangabad to interact with people and understand them and their needs.

She was amazed by the achievements of Aurangabad’s women entrepreneurs in diverse fields like power generation, based on waste management; watershed development; rooftop rainwater harvesting in rural areas; marketing rural goods; education; manufacturing of corrugated boxes; manufacturing of herbal medicine; and training impoverished women to help them earn money to support their families.

She also praised the efforts of members of the Federation of senior citizens of India, who were actively engaged in services like working for uplift of older women across several states.

“Yours is an inspiring success story, and other women, too, need to take inspiration. You are the role models for the future generation,” she said.

The women who interacted with Pandith, included Vinata Garde of Federation of senior citizens of India, Ragini Bhogale (Nirlep group), Nirmala Kandalgaonkar (an expert in home and farm waste management) and Suvarna Deshpande (manufacturer of corrugated boxes). Earlier on Monday, Pandith visited several educational institutions and interacted with students and office-bearers of an education society and journalists.