Leadership

Bindu Bala is commonly referred as the ‘People’s Grandmother’ in her native village, Basulia, as well as areas around it. Starting off as a young village girl in colonial India, she had no schooling or inheritance, was widowed as a teenager and forced to fend for herself and her young children- certainly it had not been an easy start for her. However, through her sheer will and rock-solid principles, she has not only taken care of her own family, but has also made exemplary contributions in turning around the lives of others for the better. An army of successful professionals, scientists, entrepreneurs, teachers, and modern farmers are in debt to her for empowering and supporting them to reach their true potential. Throughout her life, she has been a tough act to match. Even now, Bindu, a nonagenarian, starts her day at 4 am, and is fully hands-on with multiple projects that she personally oversees and participates in. She is the key source of inspiration, vision and direction for the foundation.

Brajendra Nath has been the corner stone of the foundation since the 1970s. In the earlier part of this millennia he retired from his official duties as a Joint Director, Government of India, Ministry of Textiles to dedicate all his efforts to the activities of the foundation. For over 5 decades he had been a teacher, a celebrated scientist, an internationally recognised plant geneticist, author of scores of scientific publications, and a senior administrator managing mega-projects involving hundreds of people and large funds, across India and abroad. From his rich experiences of having lived, worked, taught and trained in India and abroad, he brings a well-rounded approach and international standards of efficiency to the foundation’s immediate objectives. An ardent botanist and enthusiastic farmer, he has been instrumental in developing new models of permaculture, dairy farming, organic farming, water conservation, recycling, bio-fertiliser generation and sustainable farm management techniques through the various projects run by the foundation. Currently, he oversees the general strategy and public engagement of the foundation, reviews results and sets the overall direction of the organisation.

Indra joined the foundation in the 1970s and has been one of the key players in the modernisation of the foundation’s means and ways. She has been a breath of fresh air bringing new ideas and opinions to the table that enhanced the reach and impact of the foundation. Being highly educated, very eloquent, fluent in several languages and trained in music and art, she led several trainings and skill development programs of the foundation that focussed on communication, body language, modern mannerisms as well as ones in art, crafts, song and drama. As a ravishing personality, she has always been the inspiration of many in how they would want to present themselves in personal and professional capacities. She helped hundreds boost their self-confidence to become successful personalities themselves. After she retired as a senior Deputy Director, Government of India, Ministry of Textiles, she dedicated all her efforts to progressing the mission of the foundation. Currently, she manages the foundation’s resources and actively contributes to formulating the foundation’s overall strategy and implementation techniques.

Ragini joined the foundation in the beginning of the new millennia. She has added value to the foundation’s capabilities through her wide-ranging experiences. From being a lecturer at University College London specialising in Cancer targets/biology and therapeutics, to being a published author in the Cell (journal) she had an accomplished academic career. She eventually translated her skills to become an accomplished strategist and has been instrumental in managing stakeholder partnerships and innovation-focused programmes with some of the world’s largest professional and corporate networks. She has assessed and supported over 2000 businesses across the Biosciences and Healthcare sectors as a Biotech investment advisor. More importantly, her experience as a strategy consultant in advising the Global top 20 companies in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, gives her the ability of implementing a variety of top down and bottom up approaches to engage key stakeholders for initiatives of every size and scope. Hence, her role in the formulating the strategies and engaging the key stakeholders for those is indispensible for the foundation.

Sourav grew up with the foundation. The life changing impacts of the foundation’s initiatives had profound effect on his personal and professional abilities and ambitions. While he had been volunteering for the foundation since childhood, his formal contributions to the foundation started at the start of the millennia and has grown over the years. Having lived, studied, taught and worked in Asia, Europe and North America, and having had a proven track record in academia, advanced R&D in pharmaceutical and allied sciences, and in strategy consulting for the FTSE 100 companies, he brings a host of capabilities and transferable skills to the foundation. His experience of leading international business projects and managing big budgets comes handy in managing the initiatives of the foundation, its resources and liabilities. He employs state of the art operational models and management systems for planning, execution and reporting of the foundation’s initiatives to maximise their outcomes.