London, May 31 (PTI): Indian cosmetics doyenne Shahnaz Husain has been presented with a Shield of Honour by the Oxford University for her outstanding and innovative contribution in the field of Ayurvedic treatments and making them globally popular.

Professor Colin Mayer, Dean of the Said Business School at Oxford presented the Shield of Honour and a medallion to Husain, CEO of Shahnaz Herbals Inc after she addressed the students on 'Women Entrepreneurs of India, Challenges and Opportunities'.

In her address, she highlighted the strategies she adopted to establish her global network of franchise ventures. She also traced her journey from one herbal salon to a worldwide chain of ventures to her entry into the Guinness Book of records as the largest herbal chain of its kind in the world.

Husain, who has been awarded Padma Shri by Government of India in 2006, spoke on how the world was reeling under the side effects of synthetics and going back to nature and how she was selling India's 5000-year-old civilization in a jar to the west, unlike the routine marketing style of product sale.

She also spoke about her unique business and marketing strategies, on how she established an international brand without any commercial advertising.

She said she has already lectured at Harvard and has now been invited to MIT-Kellogs. She will be speaking at the London School of Economics here on June 9.

"My aim is, as far as possible, to prevail upon people to use the natural cosmetics, instead of chemical-based ones.

"We have been selling India's brand image in the global market with our range of products for over three decades. This is a tribute to women entrepreneurship as well as acceptance of our product range globally," Husain told PTI.