HOW I GOT HERE – Khushroo Poacha
Today
with a boom in technology and numerous collaborations setting up a
portal is relative easy and common. It is difficult to imagine how
Khushroo Poacha managed to set up a portal for blood donations for
donors and recipients in the days when technology was basic in the
days of the dial up modem (which got disconnected ever so often).
He has also recently founded Seva Kitchen a service for anyone to take part in and offer fresh hot meals to caregivers of hospital patients.
with a boom in technology and numerous collaborations setting up a
portal is relative easy and common. It is difficult to imagine how
Khushroo Poacha managed to set up a portal for blood donations for
donors and recipients in the days when technology was basic in the
days of the dial up modem (which got disconnected ever so often).
He has also recently founded Seva Kitchen a service for anyone to take part in and offer fresh hot meals to caregivers of hospital patients.
While most NGOs believe mega funding and scale is the way to
sustainability, he differs. I have admired him for the way he
persevered and does not get up with following the trend…instead
sets his own. Meher Billimoria from CAP in conversation with Khushroo
Poacha
I
founded Indianblooddonors.com because…
I
saw a patient dying for want of blood in a government hospital and
the relatives of the patients hammering the resident doctor not
realising that she died for shortage of blood in the blood bank and
lack of donors.
Early
days of the project were…Tiring as
first i was running about for sponsorships for Rs 2000/- per month to
sustain the helpline, writing to people to help create awareness
about it. Then a CEO told me to do unethical practices. When I said
NO he said i could not do good work without money. PARSI ko challenge
kiya Galti Kiya. I told him i would do good without MONEY. That was
in 2002 it 2016 now. No bank A/C, No NGO, Nothing.
How
we have evolved over the years…Indianblooddonors.com
is a 35 Dollar Helpline which is paid by someone to the Domain
Registrar. www.Awaaz.de
has sponsored us an IVRS helpline for Free. Web Hosting by
Net4india.com. Apps are made, maintained by Volunteers and so is the
Website. Has served over 1,50,000 requests for blood and lives have
been saved.
 |
| Khushroo Poacha with his wife and daughter |
Recently
I founded www.SevaKitchen.org The philosophy behind this is…Cook
and Serve food to needy Relatives of patients in Hospitals, Don’t
Judge. Seva Kitchen does not accept Money. Started with 24 meals in
2014 serves 1500 meals every week now in 6 cities.
My
one learning with both organisations has been…You
don’t need money to do good work Just PASSION
Challenges
along the way…Negative People….
Our
work has come a long way because…I
stood by what i believed in. I walked in a different direction.
Social
Impact according to me is…If you have
made a difference to one life also. I see organisation going after
number and scaling up. I don’t. I am happy if people replicate my
idea.
My
thoughts on scaling up…I am happy in sharing the idea
and people copying. I don’t want people to follow me but walk with
me and be leaders themselves.
Organisation
sustainability to me means…Work
should go on….
Funding
sustainability for any organisation is…A
typical Government reply in a Government File to this question would
be “This does not pertain to my department” and so is
mine.
If
I could change one thing about the social sector, it would be… I
want people to be Soul Entrepreneurs not Social entrepreneurs. We
have Social Entrepreneurs doing business and telling the world “Hum
Logo ka Bhala Kar Rahe Hai”.
Leadership
in any organisation…Very Important. He has to be
motivated and will go to any extent to reach his or her goals.
The
two persons who have inspired me.. my
Late Mother Katie Adi Poacha who taught me to reach out when I was a
kid , Prof
Anil Gupta of IIM Ahmedabad because he motivated me to do the
things I wanted to do, my way and not listen to people. He taught me
to live my life.
In
my free time…I play with Tunisha my
daughter who is a blessing after 19 years.
Indianblooddonors.com
is an IVRS and Mobile App helpline which connects needy patients with
blood donors in India. So if you need blood, its a good place to turn
to. It’s simple. It’s effective. It’s Free. You can also Sign up as a
blood Donor and help build a Community that cares.
is an IVRS and Mobile App helpline which connects needy patients with
blood donors in India. So if you need blood, its a good place to turn
to. It’s simple. It’s effective. It’s Free. You can also Sign up as a
blood Donor and help build a Community that cares.
The
idea of Seva Kitchen was sown towards the end of 2014. Set in the
backdrop of personal experience of spending time in hospital with a
patient – Khushroo’s mother, this first-hand experience of seeing
people struggle to provide for the treatment of loved ones and
compromising on their own health, often with rationed resources , was
moving.
idea of Seva Kitchen was sown towards the end of 2014. Set in the
backdrop of personal experience of spending time in hospital with a
patient – Khushroo’s mother, this first-hand experience of seeing
people struggle to provide for the treatment of loved ones and
compromising on their own health, often with rationed resources , was
moving.