The Godrej girls

Tanya Dubash and  Adi Godrej talk about their lives.

My dad has an empowering personality: Tanya Dubash

Tanya Dubash — the eldest daughter of chairman of the Godrej group Adi Godrej — says her father has had a huge influence on her life and reveals that she wants to connect with youngsters in a big way through her new ventures.

Tanya Dubash is on a mission these days. The eldest daughter of Adi Godrej aims to take the 113-year-old family business to youngsters across the country. For that, she has chosen the Internet as the medium. She is inviting everybody to connect with her initiatives on the Internet and is also planning to get her dad, the 68-year-old chairman of the Godrej group, registered on a social networking site.

“Many of my good friends are on Twitter. They continuously ask me to get on to the site. But you know, I think more than me, people want to talk to him (Adi) and connect with him. There are a lot of people who want to talk to him on a daily basis, interact with him and share ideas. Before me, my dad needs to be out there. I am going to convince him,” says Tanya, who is married to entrepreneur Arvind Dubash. She adds, “Contrary to what some may believe, dad has always been a very approachable and open person.”

Tanya reveals that Adi has an ‘empowering’ personality as a father. “My father has been a huge inspiration. Our roles (the Godrej siblings) are clearly defined and we are pretty much on our own paths, taking our own decisions. My dad has an empowering personality. He is pretty much the go-and-do-it types and prefers in non-interference and independence when it comes to work. Not only me, I don’t think any of our CEOs or directors have to run to him for nitty gritties. He doesn’t want you to come back to him everytime for small decisions unless you want his advice on something,” she says.

Recently Tanya spearheaded the launch of a 3-D Internet portal — the first such initiative in India. Now, she wants to draw youngsters towards the portal. Apart from this, reality shows also figure prominently on her scheme of things.

“I launched a reality show last year (Khelo, Jeeto, Jiyo) and though I have not planned one as yet, I might decide on it soon. But whatever be the case, it will definitely be a game show where I can connect with the youth,” she ends.

Dreaming of ‘girl-friendly’ schools in India: Nisa Godrej

Nisa Godrej — the second daughter of Adi Godrej — will focus on underprivileged girls; her company will pump money to fund education of girls and also lobby with the government to do the same.

Adi Godrej’s younger daughter Nisaba Godrej (or Nisa as she is known) prefers to work behind the scenes. This undergrad from Wharton — who also has an MBA degree from Harvard — has now shifted focus to underprivileged girls.

Nisa’s company has decided to pump money towards the education of girls. They will also lobby with the government to do the same. To achieve her goal, Nisa has ‘identified’ Dasra (a world-wide service aimed at helping NGOs, patrons to effectively deliver money and services to the target group).

Nisa says, “We wanted to make a strategic philanthropic investment into girls’ education. So we asked Dasra to help us understand the macro perspective and then identify solutions that were effective. It was important that the organisations identified had strong leadership. Dasra understood this and we trusted them to find what we were looking for. Their 10 years in the field equips them to figure out what works, what doesn’t, who is doing what and what are good organisations to support.”

Nisa also dreams of every school in the country becoming ‘girl-friendly’ and hence she is also pin-pointing another organisation where she can channelise her funds.

“One of the organisations identified was Foundation to Educate Girls Globally. It focused on getting girls back into school by integrating with communities, mobilising community leaders and lobbying with the government to make schools girl-friendly,” she says, adding, “another organisation that I am very excited about is Teach For India. It puts dynamic graduates into municipal schools to teach for two years.”

Nisa has also joined the Indian Philanthropy Forum (a club comprising India’s leading philanthropists) that was launched on March 18. “The Indian Philanthropy Forum is an exciting platform to bring both experienced people and those just starting out on their journeys to learn about strategic and effective philanthropy. I found the first forum fantastic. People like Rohini Nilekani, Shaheen Mistri and Aditya Natraj are very inspiring,” Nisa ends.