By Meetal Shah, Senior Leaders’ Programme, 3TP 2018
Caption: Chandrakant Koticha with his daughter Meetal Shah.
My father, Chandrakant Koticha, is my hero, my idol and my inspiration all through my life. He is never once without an answer, never ever without a word of advice, always available, always caring; always loving.
He has groomed me with values, ethics and compassion, taught me to respect and listen, to express rather than speak and to dream, drive and deliver. He has never let a dull moment cloud my existence and always stayed supportive and encouraging.
Fuelled by his compassionate nature which relates to his humble beginnings in life, my dad, a director in the thriving family business of distribution and investments, disengaged from the business in 1978 and devoted his life to serve humanity when he was 35.
He established a non-profit organisation, “Saurashtra Medical & Educational Charitable Trust – Project ‘Life’”. There, he pioneered several innovative initiatives to shape and sustain life changing reforms in the domain of voluntary blood banking, Thalassaemia prevention, women empowerment, primary education, environment protection and health and wellness.
Caption: Chandrakant Koticha and Meetal Shah at work.
In his philanthropic journey of over 46 years, he has crossed remarkable milestones, making a positive impact in society with his resolute dedication, verve and veracity. His assiduous devotion to societal welfare has created a unique charity concept that has transformed innumerable lives, creating an ever lasting legacy.
He transformed the way our family and friends looked at life and went on to onboard everyone on his mission and we all turned freelance social workers in his quest.
Through my growing years, his vision, concern and passion for social reforms continued to influence my path. I felt progressively involved and interested in his work and goals.
My advent into social work
In 2008, when I was 35 and a homemaker, he enrolled me in his mission, as Joint Director in the Trust, to support him in the expansion of humanitarian services which he planned to entrust to the next generation of management.
Instantly, this was a life changing decision for me – exciting, challenging, consuming and spiritually rewarding. I could now dedicate myself to work in the charity sector as a professional with a lifetime commitment to serve the society.
Caption: Chandrakant Koticha and Meetal Shah with different stakeholders.
Amongst several inspirations by him, I fondly recall his encouragement to me to join the Senior Leaders’ Programme of 3 – TP at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, to accept the invitation to be the keynote speaker at Transcon 2022 & 2023 and organize a symposium on Patient Blood Management in conjunction with ISBT, The Netherlands in 2022. Initially a little hesitant whether to take these opportunities but his encouragement helped me take on the challenges and grow.
My dad also has been the driving force in motivating me to get Life membership for the Trust in Indian Yoga Association and accepting to be the Senior Vice Chairperson of IYA Gujarat Chapter, which also initiated me into keen interest and regular practice of Yoga at work and at home. And thus, Yoga became an integral part of my life helping me in taking every challenge with grit and gratitude.
Becoming Executive Committee Member of Indian Society of Blood Transfusion & Immunohaematology (ISBTI), Member of International Society for Blood Transfusion (ISBT), The Netherlands and Member of Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB) was the next natural development for me under his inclusive mentoring.
Impact of his life’s work
With his invaluable guidance and inputs we succeeded in establishing the Life Institute of Health Sciences in affiliation with Saurashtra University to promote Post Grad Paramedic Education to meet the acute shortage of paramedics in the region.
Keeping up with his objective to reach horizons in humanitarian services, we closely worked together in creating international charity partnerships instituting “Life Global Charities” in the United Kingdom, USA and Australia and formed “Friends of Life Groups” in Middle East, South-East Asia and Canada to support the service to humankind in India.
The impact of my dad’s motivation and support has created incredible milestones today with restructuring of 108 rural primary schools for the government, deliverance of 700 000+ units of blood and components, outreach to 900,000+ people through Health and Wellness initiatives, distribution of 275,000+ trees for replantation, Thalassaemia screening of 700,000+ youth, Thalassaemia awareness outreach to 1.5 million people and skill training to 12,000 women in various employable trades.
His guidance has transformed me
Over the decades past, my dad has trained, groomed and mentored me to become capable and proficient to perform the responsibilities of managing and steering the organization as Joint Executive Trustee in 2017 and CEO in 2023.
I am grateful to my dad, who encouraged me to choose this field which has created a unique experience of wholesome transformation of self, enriched with humility and kindness.
The fundamental objective he has so proactively instilled in me to create a meaningful change in peoples’ lives remains the synergy that drives me towards achieving the goals to serve and strive for social reforms. Mentoring by my dad guides me to work consistently with clarity, compassion, commitment and diligence for the achievement that justifies his confidence in me and rewards him with the sense of fulfilment he so well-deserves.
‘The only constant in life is change’ is the stratagem that has been the driving force and guiding spirit mentored into my professional endeavours and aspirations which I steadfastly follow by adopting the most contemporary innovations in management practices and technology, striving to stay in a constant process of upgrading my approach and learning.
This is the story of my task master mentor; my friend, philosopher and guide, my loving dad.
This is the story of his grateful mentee, me.
Meetal Shah is the Joint Executive Trustee & CEO of Saurashtra Medical & Educational Charitable Trust and Indian Medical Scientific Research Foundation. She manages all initiatives and interventions of these non-profits under the aegis of Project ‘Life’.
