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Mrs. Kumari Shibulal : Managing Trustee and Permanent Trustee
Kumari Shibulal is the Chairperson of the Sarojini Damodaran Foundation (SDF) and the Advaith Foundation (AF) which were both founded by her and her husband, S.D. Shibulal. The Sarojini Damodaran Foundation was set up in 1999 and the Advaith Foundation in 2004. The focus of the activities of the Foundations have been young adults’ education and healthcare. The two
organisations help young adults in healthcare, finishing education and improving their employability.
On the healthcare side, under Kumari’s leadership, the Sarojini Damodaran Foundation (SDF) has undertaken several programs. The Foundation works with several leading hospitals in Bangalore such as Narayana Hrudayalaya and Manipal Hospital in supporting cardiac surgery and intensive care and also the St. Johns Hospital in areas of urology and nephrology.
Education, particularly for the girl child is an area that is close to her heart. It is this passion that sowed the seeds of The Advaith Foundation – which was born out of the conviction that quality education is the cornerstone of all developmental progress in society. The Advaith Foundation established The Samhita Academy (TSA) in 2009, a quality school built on an inclusive model of education. This unique model brings together students from economically underprivileged backgrounds (25% of total intake through residential scholarship) and regular applicants (75% of total intake as day scholars). Today, The Samhita Academy has two campuses, one each in Bangalore and Coimbatore with a total intake of 640 students.
On the education side, Kumari leads several other programs, many of which have been running for over a decade now. This includes a scholarship scheme in Kerala which supports between 500-600 children in covering their study from class XI to higher studies. Every year, Kumari personally oversees the entire process. This year, the scholarship program received a record 967 applications of which 525 applicants qualified for the written test. Out of these, 225 applicants were shortlisted for the final round of a personal interview. Kumari, over a span of 5 days, traveled across Kerala to interview each one of these finalists herself to select the 110 students who received the scholarship. The Finishing School program, run in association with Vidya-Poshak, works towards improving employability and has supported over 1000 young adults over the last two and half years across Karnataka. In Alleppey, through another program over 1000 children get awarded books and bags.
Kumari supports an organization called the Empowerment of Children and Human rights Organization. ECHO is one of the few NGOs in India which works in the rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law. Amongst others, Kumari also supports Rehabilitative Assistance for People In Distress (RAPID), an NGO in Dharwad that rehabilitates widowed, divorced, deserted and disabled women.
Through the Foundations and all its initiatives, Kumari’s involvement is as much at the conceptualization stage as it is in the execution stage, doing the work on the ground. |
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Mr. Shibulal : Permanent Trustee
S.D. Shibulal is a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of Infosys Technologies Limited. He took over as Chief
Executive Officer on June 22, 2007.
Prior to that Mr. Shibulal served as Group Head – Worldwide Sales & Customer Delivery, where he was responsible for the performance of practice units in terms of value delivered to customers, business performance, and organizational efficiency. This was complemented by his other responsibilities in fostering innovation, leadership, teamwork and work values within the organization.
The Shibulals' love for children and the need to give back to society has found fruition in a number of charitable endeavours. Their latest venture is the Advaith Foundation which is focused on providing quality education to all sectors of society. The Foundation currently provides education and residential facilities to children from underprivileged backgrounds. The Samhita Academy is an extension of their commitment to the cause of education. |
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Ms. Aparna Goenka -Director, Ankur
Aparna brings her insights of the software industry, where she’s worked since 1993; eleven years of which she spent at Infosys Technologies Ltd. where she was in charge of the team implementing software solutions for the company's internal systems and reporting.
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Ms. Shruti Shibulal
As someone who has the student perspective on top schools, Shruti finds that one of the key aspects of continuous, everyday learning lies simply in being happy to go to school. Every day! She believes that enjoying the many hours spent within a school campus, whether they be in class, in the playground, or over lunch with friends, makes all the difference to a child's mental development, attitude, and personality.
The Samhita Academy strives to stimulate young minds in the classroom using innovative methods of teaching the "same-old" concept in a more interactive way. We provide the best sports and extra-curricular facilities in order to promote a healthy lifestyle and good physical development. We encourage students of all backgrounds to interact and share their stories. Eventually, the connections made here may be those of life-long friendships.
Shruti and the Samhita community believe that every child is special and that by giving them the right sort of attention and support in all arenas, they can achieve whatever they set their minds to and find happiness in doing so.
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