Shloka Mehta opened up about her social welfare initiative ConnectFor in a rare interview released earlier this week. Mehta, 34, appeared on The Krish Kothari Show with ConnectFor co-founder Maniti Shah to discuss the aim, effectiveness and success of their NGO.
The interview also took viewers inside Antilia for an equally rare glimpse of the Ambani family’s palatial Mumbai home. Shloka Mehta is married to Akash Ambani, the elder son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita Ambani. The family resides in Antilia, one of the world’s most expensive andM expansive private residences.
The ConnectFor story
Shloka Mehta and Maniti Shah’s ConnectFor is a corporate social responsibility project by Rosy Blue Foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of Mehta’s family business. The two launched the initiative in 2015 as a platform that matches volunteers with NGOs.
During her appearance on The Krish Kothari Show, Mehta spoke about how the idea for a platform that connects volunteers with NGOs came about during a game of cards. She said that one of her friends, returning to India after college in the United States, was looking for meaningful ways to spend time before starting a corporate job.
The friend asked Shloka Mehta for advice on how to reach out to nonprofits after realizing how tough it is to get in touch with them.
{{/usCountry}}The friend asked Shloka Mehta for advice on how to reach out to nonprofits after realizing how tough it is to get in touch with them.
{{/usCountry}}Mehta, at that time working with the Rosy Blue Foundation, realised that a lot of grants were going to the same NGOs over and over again. This, in part, was due to a CSR law which required audited reports and annual reports to show the impact of the money being given to an NGO.
“I felt there are so many talented people. If they can get connected to these nonprofits who don’t have the resources to hire someone to write reports or audit them, it would work out so well,” said Mehta.
A conversation with Maniti Shah soon solidified the idea and led to the launch of ConnectFor.
“So inspiring to me”
Asked about the impact of ConnectFor, Shloka Mehta related the story of a phone call that inspired her. “Every time we start getting jaded or like a little bit restless about what we're doing, we hear of another story of transformation,” she revealed.
For Mehta, one of the most inspiring stories came from a random phone call. In the early days of ConnectFor, Mehta and Shah would answer the phone themselves.
“I remember speaking to a lady, maybe five or six years ago. I told her ‘Hi, you’ve signed up. I’m going to go ahead and connect you to this children’s shelter home’,” recalled Mehta.
The woman at the other end of the call said she had a lot of free time on her hands and would be happy to volunteer at the children’s home three times a week.
Mehta said that she did not think much of it at the time and went ahead and connected the woman with the children’s shelter. A year later, she got an email from the woman.
“She wrote to us saying ‘I signed up to ConnectFor at a really low point in my life. My husband had just passed away. He had suffered from cancer for a really long time. I was really clueless about what to do to fill my time and fill my life. And now I get so much joy by being around these children’,” revealed Shloka Mehta.
Meanwhile, the nonprofit also wrote to Mehta with fulsome praise of the woman. “I was feeling so good because that's the intention with which we had started ConnectFor,” said Mehta.
“The nonprofit wasn't like one of the major ones that you read about or anything. It was small - they had maybe 50 kids, nothing major. But the the change it had brought for both parties was so inspiring to me,” she added.