Mr Shantilal Muttha has devoted himself to voluntary social work over the past four decades. He has channelized his efforts into three areas: (i) school education, with focus on education quality and values education (ii) disaster response, and (iii) social development. The two non-profit organizations founded by him, the Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS) and the Shantilal Muttha Foundation (SMF), are the vehicles through which he seeks to scale his contribution in the chosen areas of work.
His approach has been to first identify an issue of national concern, then devise a solution to address it, demonstrate proof of concept through pilot implementation and thereafter offer it as a replicable and scalable model.
Mr Muttha started his public life with pioneering the promotion of the concept of ‘mass weddings’, which are now widely practised across communities throughout India. In 1985, he founded BJS as a secular, non-profit organization with the vision ‘to collectively contribute towards nation building through the holistic development of society’.
Under his visionary leadership, BJS has done considerable work in disaster response and quality education, which has received accolades from organizations and individuals of national and international repute. BJS’s work has been also appreciated in the Lok Sabha. In 1993, he set up the Wagholi Educational Rehabilitation Centre (WERC) at Pune to cater to the child survivors of various disasters in the country. Providing a psycho-social care model through holistic education, WERC has so far shaped the futures of around 3000 children. Under his guidance, WERC currently takes complete care of malnourished children from tribal belts of Maharashtra and children of farmers who have committed suicide.
In 2014 he set up the Shantilal Muttha Foundation to steer large-scale programmes for values education and school quality improvement.
Mr Muttha is the recipient of many awards conferred at the hands of luminaries like the Dalai Lama, former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Chief Justice (retd) PN Bhagwati. His work has been honoured by the World Association of International NGOs and he has received the country’s premier education-quality citation, the Qimpro Platinum Standard in Education.
A keen strategist, he is strongly committed to working closely with stakeholders, and leveraging technology and media for maximizing the reach and impact of programmes of both his organizations.
Vallabh Bhanshali is the founder and chief mentor of Desh Apnayen Sahayog Foundation. He shapes and approves foundation strategies, advocates for the foundation’s issues, sets the organization’s overall direction and inspires the team towards positive change and action. He is the Chairman and Co-founder of ENAM group, a reputed home grown investment banking and investor group of India. Under his leadership, ENAM was involved in some of the most innovative and pioneering capital market and advisory transactions in the country. ENAM played a significant role in the development of leading business houses such as Infosys, Zee, Reliance, Sterlite, Marico, Inox, Thermax, Pantaloons and Radio Mirchi, as well as public sector companies such as NTPC, PTC, PFC and PGCIL. ENAM had one of the largest retail and institutional networks and is often credited with pioneering equity research in the country.
A man with multiple accolades to his name, Vallabh Bhanshali has a degree in law and is also a Chartered Accountant. A visionary, thinker, promoter of spiritual and cultural tradition of India and an expert on modern fields such as development economics, behavioral science and communication, he has anchored a popular TV show focused on reviving volunteerism and patriotism in the country called ‘Kaun Hai Bharat Bhagya Vidhata’. As a sequel, he founded Desh Apnayen Sahayog Foundation focused on instilling a sense of active citizenship amongst school and college students.
Amongst other positions he is a trustee and was Ex - Chairman of the Global Vipassana Foundation ( non- sectarian ). He is also the founder Director of FLAME University - India’s innovative Liberal Arts and Management Education University.
He is currently serving on some of the policy making & advisory committees of the Govt. of India.
He was a Trustee of the Bombay Stock Exchange and serves on various Committees of the Stock Exchange, SEBI and other bodies. He is also a member of SEBI’s Primary Market Advisory Committee and served on the Board of Directors of many reputed companies.