Woman of Choice: Indian Israeli entrepreneur Eddna Samuel

Despite facing several challenges on the professional and even personal front,  she struggled hard to carve out and assert her own identity. She started her own set-up and gathered like-minded supporters who joined her caravan! And she networked with the who’s who of Mumbai’s existing and emerging ‘work creators’, decision makers and influentials to carve out of slices of work for herself. And in a performance-linked world, it was a tough call where successful implementation meant money and more work; while unsuccessful ones meant days of joblessness and debt. She persevered with self-esteem, self-belief, self-confidence and self-respect. And she reached places. Eddna has been at the forefront of the Advertising, Public Relations (PR), communications, social and digital media industry for two decades and has an impeccable portfolio to back it up. She has worked with over 100 labels/ logos across sector and for businesses of all sizes. In fact, many corporates invited her to adorn seats as a Director on their Board to leverage her experience and expertise.  

On this Women’s Day we feature Eddna Samuel as our Woman of Choice. We are privileged to hear her story in her own voice:

In 2018, I decided  that it is time for new challenges and personal change. In October 2018, I came on Aliyah to Tel Aviv, with my son volunteering for Army Service.

I continue to run my business in Mumbai with a dedicated team that have been with me for many years. I would travel to Mumbai, once, twice a year to catch up with friends, family and business – but everything changed in early 2020, with the outbreak of COVID-19.

One of my goals when arriving in Israel, was to start a similar events and PR company. Using my experience and professional abilities, I started working hard on establishing my brand. Even after a six-month ulpan, Hebrew remains a major challenge but with the large English speaking community in Tel Aviv and the many Israelis who speak good English, large numbers of them with fond memories and an amazing obsession with India, things started to take shape.

Then COVID-19 arrived and changed our lives completely. Without the possibility of celebrating and organizing events, the whole concept of my branding campaign and activities, ground to a halt. Without the ability to visit India and the almost total collapse of economic activity, with PR and advertising the first to be scrapped by companies, in India and Israel, I found myself having to reinvent myself, once again, in order to survive in my Jewish homeland.

The State of Israel has been helping, with support from the Ministry of Housing for my rent costs and Social Security (Bituach Leumi) and the Employment Bureau (LishkatHataasuka) assisting with minimal monthly payments but these are far from sufficient to live in this country.

I also face a unique challenge due to the difficulty of dealing with the limitations and structural deficiencies of the financial relations between the banking systems in the two countries and the ridiculous costs and barriers of money transfers from India.

However, as someone who always grows and develops from crises, the past year of COVID-19, forced me to find new avenues and directions in my professional life. 

I know I will come out of this challenge, with renewed strength and positive achievements, together with new friendships I have made in this beautiful, unique and very challenging place.”