Ambuja Foundation is fortunate to have a visionary Chairman at the helm of its Board of Directors, whose success in business is widely lauded – having built one of India’s iconic companies. However, as a humble and quiet gentleman who doesn’t like to stand on his own soapbox, it is often difficult to get inside the mind of Narotam Sekhsaria to understand what makes him tick. In an intimate interview with Thrive, Mr Sekhsaria shares his bold dreams and desires for the future of Ambuja Foundation.

The inspiring stories of Ambuja Foundation’s beneficiaries have been captured in a stunning coffee table book format – highlighting their perseverance and ‘unstoppable’ drive in pursuing their livelihoods and passions.

All thanks to NABARD, Ambuja Foundation has received a sanction to train 125 youth in Assistant Electrician course in 5 batches at SEDI Bathinda. This sanction is part of NABARD’s ongoing efforts in fostering Skill Development and Rural Entrepreneurship Development initiatives in rural areas.

As India celebrated its 75th Independence yesterday, its struggle for independence against COVID-19 still continues. The second wave was a harsh blow for the health administration government and its citizens. But with immediate support from countries, various corporates, organizations and individuals, India was able to control the crisis effectively. Ambuja Cements through its CSR arm, Ambuja Foundation also played a major role at district level working closely with district collectors and local health administrations in fulfilling urgent support and medical requirement in rural areas. For such efforts various districts appreciated the organization on the occasion of Independence day.

On 29th April, 2017,Mangi Budruk village was declared a Smart Village and awarded a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh by the Govt of Maharashtra. Yet a little over a decade ago, barely 10 of its 234 households even had a toilet.

Throughout the world, people want the same things - access to clean air and water; economic opportunities; a safe and healthy place to raise their kids; shelter and a say in the decisions that affect their lives.

"Whenever we have enabled communities to chart their own progress, they have reached far greater heights," points out Pearl Tiwari - CEO of Ambuja Foundation in this riveting interview with Thrive.

By pooling the resources of different stakeholders, Ambuja Foundation has been able to swiftly scale its Skill & Entrepreneurship Development Institute programme across 11 states. Working in collaboration with Government and Corporate Partners, Ambuja Foundation has helped to grow the programme from 1 centre in 2006 to 33 centres in 2019.

By building people's institutions, Ambuja Foundation generates a multiplier effect- empowering men and women to run their own Federations or Farmer Producer Organisations and kickstarting a movement in the process.

Ambuja Foundation's rigorous programme monitoring process is helping get 'more bang for buck' per project, by harnessing qualitative and quantitative data to monitor each project and identify ways in which we can improve our work and generate multiple impacts.

Most countries have a singular objective when it comes to economic growth - to improve the lives of its citizens. But, regrettably, India's strong economic growth in the past has consistently excluded the rural poor, which constitutes approximately 71% of our population.

One of our earliest learnings at Ambuja Foundation, was that to tackle poverty in rural India, we needed to build the livelihood capabilities of rural people.