Meet Sanya Mathura

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sanya Mathura and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sanya, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
With my background in Engineering, I was always very analytical and quality remains very important to me. When I was writing my thesis for my Masters in Engineering Asset Management from the University of the West Indies, I realized that the quality of the work that I was producing was below my standard. So, I left my corporate job with Shell Lubricants to focus on my thesis and during that time, I met so many amazing people within my field. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a hub with trained experts who could provide Reliability Solutions? But, it had to be Strategic”. That’s how Strategic Reliability Solutions Ltd was formed. As a female owned engineering consultancy, one of the areas we focus on is breaking down the stereotypes within the industry and barriers that exist for other women in the industry. We are pioneering the way forward in the reliability sector, particularly in the Machinery lubrication area, so more women can enter these fields and we can have more diversity.
The vision for the business has not changed and we continue to provide our customers with quality solutions in the reliability field globally as our affiliates span across the world. If we can help someone with a challenge that they are facing, or empower one female, then we would have succeeded.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Being female in a male populated industry is never easy. I remember when I first started introducing my company to others and I would often get asked, “Who’s the guy behind this entire concept? I would love to meet him!”. However, while this was quickly addressed, I usually faced a lot of “validation” questions before being given the opportunity to share my expertise. One of the ways that I’ve dealt with this was to use a bit of a coaching approach for these questions. Although I already knew the answers, I would try to get the audience to come up with the answer as this way, they would have learnt something or understood the process that I was trying to teach. Sometimes, it’s not always about knowing the answer, it’s more about helping others to find the answer.
SRSL has grown so much over the past 7 years that we’ve got over 130 countries which visit our website! We’ve been able to participate in technical trainings and webinars in many different countries over the years helping us to achieve our goal of sharing more knowledge to the world through readily available resources.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My best friend would enjoy their time in the twin isle Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. A morning run for doubles with slight pepper is at the top of the list. This local streetside breakfast food is a priority because once its sold out that’s it. The islands offer the best of two worlds. Naturally I would take my BFF to the emerald green waters of Maracas Bay situated at the base of the scenic valley of the Northern Mountain range. We stop at the look out to catch major views of the breathtaking valley. Once we arrive, we would savour tradition with a sumptuous bite of bake and shark and a dip in the water to cool off after. On our way back, we would stop off at The Dreamy Creamy Ice Cream Company to turn down the tropical heat. The locally owned ice cream company offers premium quality and huge servings of their in-house signature creations inspired by the island’s flavours.
It’s no secret that Trinidad has the best chocolate, even the Swiss attest to this fact. The hybrid trinitario cocoa pod is a blessing birthed from the cross pollination of the forastero and criollo cocoa pods giving the trinitario a pest resistant, durable cocoa pod with an intense flavour profile. Some of the survived cocoa estates are hundreds of years old alluding to distinctive flavours that tease the senses from floral to fruity and spicy notes. I would take my best friend to one of the many award winning chocolatiers on the island, Cocobel and The Chocolate Box to shop and sample Trinidad’s gift to the world.
En route to The Chocolate Box we drive around Queen’s Park Savannah in the city’s capital, Port of Spain where I get to show my best friend a piece of our history with The Magnificent Seven. Trinidad changed many hands of ownership and this impacted our architecture. These seven magnificent buildings reflect the design and architecture. A stop for a cold refreshing drink of coconut at the largest roundabout in the Caribbean is the way we say welcome home to our best friend. We head up the Lady Young Road for more breathtaking views of the capital city of Port of Spain.
To close off the evening we would head to The Avenue (Ariapita Avenue) a popular food strip for liming (hanging out with friends). I would introduce my best friend to liming and island food. Mountain, beaches, rivers, hills and valleys, there is no geographic area that is identical to the other. I would take my best friend to the oldest monastery on the island perched sky high on Mount St. Benedict. There is peace and serenity in the quiet of this place. The incredible views ground you and the homemade yogurt and delicacies at the tuck shop restore you.
We would head over to Tobago for adventure with clear kayaking, healing with horses and their nature swim and trail with the horses in the ocean and discover coral reefs at Buccoo Reef glass bottom boat tour and squeeze in some time to enjoy crab and dumplings at Pigeon Point. We would hire the island’s celebrity private chef for dinner at Healing Gardens, a sustainable coastal chic backyard dining experience. Then, we would nature hike to the waterfalls the next day. We satiate our hungry senses at Jemma’s Tree House and on Sunday evening, we sneak a peek at Tobago’s Sunday School and enjoy the sweet strains of the island’s national musical instrument, the steelpan.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am forever grateful for my community who have rallied around me since inception of my company! So grateful to my twin sister who taught me the ropes of entrepreneurship and to those who allowed me to bounce ideas off them throughout the developmental stages of SRSL and as we continue to grow.

Website: http://strategicreliabilitysolutions.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strategicreliability/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanya-mathura-mle-362438129/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/strategicreliabilitysolutions/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8xwauLqWt9eSdVQ9z8QKnA