‘I was clueless’: Shloka Mehta, in a rare interview at Antilia, recalls woman’s phone call that inspired her

In a rare interview, Shloka Mehta—the elder daughter-in-law of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani—opened up about her social welfare initiative, ConnectFor. Mehta, 34, appeared on The Krish Kothari Show with ConnectFor co-founder Maniti Shah.

Mehta, wife of Akash Ambani, not only discussed the non-governmental organisation's goals, success, and impact but also offered a sneak peek inside the lavish Antilia, one of the most expensive private homes worldwide.

ConnectFor

ConnectFor is a non-profit organisation that seeks to contribute to the developmental sector by facilitating engagement of the volunteering community, building capacity, and creating value-added services for NGOs.

Launched in 2015, under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative backed by Rosy Blue Foundation—a philanthropic arm of Mehta's family business—ConnectFor aims to provide comprehensive resource solutions for the social sector by creating symbiosis amongst NGOs, volunteers and corporates and adding value and structure to these associations.

During the Krish Kothari Show, Mehta narrated the interesting story of the origin of her NGO ConnectFor and how it emerged during a casual game of cards. Mehta told Krish Kothari that a friend, who was returning to India from the US, asked her advice for meaningful volunteer opportunities before starting her corporate career. This friend also told Mehta about her struggle to connect with nonprofits.

Mehta, who had worked with the Rosy Blue Foundation, observed that several grants were repeatedly given to the same NGOs. This, in part, was due to a CSR law that required audited reports and annual reports to show the impact of the money given to an NGO.

“I felt there are so many talented people. If they can get connected to these nonprofits who don’t have the resources to hire someone to write reports or audit them, it would work out so well,” the Economic Times quoted Mehta as saying.

Sloka Mehta also shared an inspiring story of a woman, highlighting the impact of ConnectFor.

Mehta recounted getting a call from a woman interested in volunteering in the early days of ConnectFor. Recalling the story, Mehta said during the call she told the woman that she (Shloka Mehta) was connecting her with a children's shelter home. The woman expressed her willingness to volunteer three times a week. After a year, she received an emotional email from the woman in which she told her about the most difficult phase in her life when she joined Connect. The woman told Mehta that she had lost her husband to cancer at that time. "I was really clueless about what to do to fill my time," the woman wrote in her mail. Volunteering at the children's shelter brought her joy and a sense of purpose.