Million-Dollar Angel

Her husband the famous Ronnie Screwvala and she, Zarina started the TV revolution in India with their company UTV investment of Rs 37,500 grew to a much bigger company by 2011 Walt Disney bought a huge stake in UTV Software. Zarina, the wind beneath my wings, tells how easy it was to give up everything, what empowerment , and how money is a means and not an end.

How easy or tough was it to give up the company you and Ronnie created and took to such great heights leave it all to do social work?

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UTV was our baby which we built over 27 years of hard, but fun work. We built a fabulous team of people, we created India’s first independent production, first daily soap Shanti, first game show Saap Seedi, first local kids channel Hungama, first home grown Youth Channel Bindass. It was exhilarating and lots of fun! I felt I had reached a point where my team was seriously better than me. I am proud to say that after leaving they have been working, creating and leading UTV as beautifully as they did while I was there.

I had joined a wonderful philosophy class called New Acropolis. I read a quote by Lao Tzu which had an impact on me:

“When you let go of who you are,

You become what you might be”

I knew it was meant for me, and pretty much then and there I decided I needed to do something new, to challenge myself afresh, to get out of my comfort zone. I don’t feel I have left anything, I feel I have gained everything!

How has your earlier experience helped you?

I find that in our social sector and the media world are amazingly similar. The key lies in knowing your audience, your customer. At Swades we believe our community is our partner and we work with them for them to help them help themselves. The point is unless you truly know your customer or consumer, you will never succeed. I will go a step further and say know, respect and love your customer… gain the most important thing your customer can give you… their trust!

We want Swades to be a world-class organisation, run like the best of corporates, with creativity, joy, accountability, quality and transparency, just like we did at UTV.

Like UTV, we believe the work we do at Swades is very innovative and the 360-model is the key to that. Impossibly hard though it is!

Tell us about Swades foundation, where you are reaching out to 2,000 villages make them self-sufficient.

At the Swades Foundation we have a dream today 240 full-time staff members and 1,500 village-level community volunteers. We had been working in a small way rural India for more than ten years. But Ronnie and I wanted to devote not just our money but also our time to a cause we believed the 360-degree approach was the only way to truly succeed in removing poverty. We work not only on infrastructure but training at the community level to create a model of development for transformational change. We believe in creating village level leadership, inculcating pride and a “Can Do” attitude amongst our communities.

As Share we had provided 39,000 people with drinking water over a year period in the last two years Swades touched the lives of 471,000 people with over 60 programmes being rolled out across five verticals: community mobilisation, water and sanitation, agriculture and livelihood, education and health and nutrition.

What does empowerment mean to you?

The first thing we did when we decided to ramp up Swades and create a company that stood for something, was to ask certain fundamental questions. The first was, what is poverty? We asked lots and lots of people and were not very satisfied. Today we have this for you us poverty is the lack of power to choose your own life and fulfill the dreams you have for those you love. It is a loss of control over your life; it is both mental as well as material.

Empowerment is to create joyful, positive thinking people with a Can-Do attitude. We have so many examples

Vidya Vinayak Kulee, health crusader on Swades SwaRakshaMitra (SRM)

completing the Swades Foundation’s SRM program, she learned of the number of TB deaths in her village and became an Anti-TB crusader. identified Gulab Ghag, who had recently lost her husband to TB and re-initiated a referral. Gulab was found to be seriously ill but today, thanks to Vidya she is well on the way to recovery. Vidya indeed is a lifesaver.

Which have stayed with you?

Reading is one of my great passions in life I have an enormous library and carry my kindle everywhere. My favourites are The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien where good triumphs over evil and where a small ordinary person saves the world, when the great and mighty have failed. The Wooden Book Series on mathematics is another favourite Sacred Numbers, Sacred Geometry etc. I love numbers, they hold more meaning and magic than most of us can dream of! Besides I love Asterix comics. I read them whenever I’m stressed they always are a joyful experience!

Who , growing up and why?

My idols are those closest to me parents who taught me never to lie by never lying themselves… I cannot remember a single time my parents lied. It’s truly amazing when you reflect on it. My parents are still energetic at 95 and 83 respectively and my mum still takes orders for her amazing strawberry macaron torte Bless them both

My husband Ronnie taught me how to dream and to never let fear hold down. My brother positiveno matter what, he is always smiling, kind and happy. My best friend who is unwell mak each day count. My dog Sprite has taught me unconditional love with no demands at all (other than play ball with him).

Vipassana and my philosophy class New Acropolis have knowledge and ways to live a better life, and I am deeply grateful to them all.