Multi-tasking educator

BUSINESSWOMEN OF GUJARAT/ Manjula Pooja Shroff

Manjula Pooja Shroff attributes her success as an educator to her gender "" she believes multi-tasking is a woman's specialty, as is sensitivity towards the environment.

Counted among the most successful women entrepreneurs in the state, the forty-year-old Manjula runs two special schools for children in Ahmedabad.

She founded the first, called Prerna, in 2001 in a one-room tenement with only one teacher. Today there are 10 classrooms, 10 teachers and 80 students.

Prerna, she said, is for children afflicted with dyslexia "" the selective impairment of reading skills despite normal intelligence, sensory acuity, and instruction.

Over the years, Prerna has created systems, tools, methodologies and processes for identifying, aiding and schooling such children.

That accomplished, she is now trying to put dyslexic children on the nation's education agenda.

So how did it all start?

Education and children have been close to Manjula's heart since college days in Delhi when she worked with leprosy patients (at the Nehru & Gandhi Villages), with Child Relief & You and World Vision India.

These stints inspired her to open such schools.

Manjula started by setting up the Calorx Foundation in 1996, which aims to create and manage a pool of resources for education for underprivileged and disabled children with special learning needs.

"Education can't be stereotyped and must take into account the students' needs, abilities and limitations. If a child cannot learn the way we teach, we must teach the way he can," she says.

Manjula's first endeavour in the field of education was to set up Gujarat's first Delhi Public School (DPS) at Bopal on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

She then set up the Visamo Shelter home for Gujarat earthquake victims in 2001 and Prerna. She also runs a grooming school for underprivileged children.

As an entrepreneur, she provides consultancy for setting up new companies including on statutory clearances.

Most of the funding at Calorx Foundation comes from abroad, and there's ample support from non-government organisations. It's success can be measured by the fact that its net worth today is around Rs 16 crore.

With a bachelor's degree in political science and management education from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, she could have joined her husband's chips manufacturing business, but she always wanted to carve out her own identity.

So did being a woman restrict her way in the field of business?

Manjula says that it is important for women to create their own identity and they must be prepared to fight all odds.

"I belong to a very conservative family. Initially people lacked confidence in me as an entrepreneur, but now things have changed."

Talking about her schedule, Manjula says, "I start my day at 6 a.m and almost work throughout the day. Sometimes I have my lunch in the car between two meetings. I have no complaints as I enjoy my work."

Manjula is also the perfect homemaker. She enjoys being a mother and wife. "I love to spend time with my family and after office hours, it is just them on my list."

I should thank God for giving women multi-tasking ability. I can handle so many different things at one time, she says.

What about multi-tasking ability in men? She laughs and says, "Compared with men, women can handle more things simultaneously."