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COVER STORY
This International Women’s Day, Anjali Shetty
brings to you four energetic and willful women,
who have carved a niche in respective fields.
They chose to think differently and take up
professions that were different and challenging
PHOTOGRAPHER: SHIVA SHARMA
PARUL MEHTA,
Trustee, Ishanya Foundation
T
ELL US ABOUT JOURNEY AS AN
ENTREPRENEUR. WHAT GOT YOU TO JOIN
YOUR FAMILY BUSINESS?
Born and brought up in an economically sound family, life
has been kind enough to provide me with an opportunity
whereby I could focus towards betterment of society;
something that I was always inclined to and found solace
in. In the early years of my life, there was always a subtle
thought of pursing my interest and dedicate my full
attention towards it. But it was this one incident that hit the
nail hard. It was this one event where I was part of the
organising committee in our college that we organised an
eye camp. One feeble old lady walked up to me post her
cataract operation and mentioned that I was an angel sent
by God. It had been over a couple of years that she was
suffering from cataract but did not have the resources for
her treatment. It was a small incident and just one more
initiative among many others that I was already a part of.
The joy I experienced seeing the happiness of the old lady
truly touched my heart and made me think, there could be
thousands more such people who are suffering but do not
have appropriate support and resources. It is only after this
incident, I decided to work towards building a better society
and making a difference. As I met and interacted with more,
I started to realise that there is a huge need to unfold buried
talents and capabilities, empower people and provide them
with a platform that will help them become self-reliant. On
one side there were businesses that sought talented
resources but could not find and on the other hand there
were resources available but who were not technically
sound. Thus, there was an immediate gap that needed to be
bridged. It was my moment of truth and I found my path.
It started off with the charitable work close to the factories
in Chindran village around Taloja. Backed with an able
team, we conceptualised and initiated several income
generation programmes. One of the early initiative was for
the youth, where we started tailoring classes. This enabled
them to design and supply items to boutiques thereby
making them self-reliant. Driven by the success of this
project, and the underlying thought of helping people
identify and develop their true potential, Ishanya
Foundation (IsFon) started its journey in 2006 towards
building a self-reliant and self-sustainable society.
THIS WOMAN’S DAY, WHOM WOULD YOU
LIKE TO THANK FOR INSPIRING YOU?
My mother has been my biggest inspiration. She instilled
moral values in me and taught me to strive for my
aspirations. What have been the challenges of leading a
72 MARCH 2017 www.crememagazine.in