From Investment Banking To Nurturing Entrepreneurship In Young Minds: Story Of Monica Mehta Of The Wadhwani Foundation

Education is not just about exams and assignments. Education does not only mean knowing Mechanics in Physics or remembering the important dates in History. Rather it’s about developing skills which translate well into the real world.

The Indian Education System

The education system in India is not at all focused on developing character. Rather than actual learning, more focus is been given on marks and assignments. Handing out degrees without actually nurturing skills is the biggest problem with the Indian education system. Also, there is no system in place for career guidance.

Career guidance helps individuals make a shift from the general understanding of life and work to a more specific understanding of the realistic and practical career options that are available to them. So, career guidance is an important aspect of education.

Also the creation of new jobs and opportunities are changing the way individuals make their career choices. With such changes in place, career planning has become more complex and confusing. Moreover formal sources of career guidance are not easily accessible. Thus individuals tend to rely on their family and friends. And so leading to choices where they end up in careers they do not see a successful future in. Thus, nurturing and guiding young minds is an important part of their growth!

One such individual who wants to change this decade old system is place is Monica Mehta.

Nurturing Entrepreneurship In Young Minds: The Story Of Monica Mehta

Most entrepreneurial journeys start with a desire to create an impact and make a difference. Monica’s entrepreneurial journey has been no different. Leaving her job as an investment banker was the beginning of Monica’s entrepreneurial journey.

Monica went to pursue a graduate degree in global management in the US when the massive difference in the education systems in the US and India struck her. She describes the two years on campus as the best years of her life!

So, she wanted to bring back the best practices from the US to India and thus bring about a much-required change in the Indian education system. This lead Monica to start her education venture “The Great Circle“.

Monica sold The Great Circle to her business partner and started another journey of entrepreneurship with her new partners at Kaizen Private Equity. Here they ended up raising $70 Million fund in the span of two years. In 2015, Monica decided to move to an impact investment firm.

Today, what Monica is doing with the Wadhwani Foundation is enabling young minds to take up entrepreneurship. From Investment banker to Nurturing Entrepreneurship In Young Minds. The story of Monica Mehta Of The Wadhwani Foundation is truly remarkable!

What does this vantage point offer her? How did her own experience of starting up shaped her perspective? Listen to Monica talk about all this and more on this episode of the MoS Podcast.

Here Are Some Excerpts From The Episode:

I just feel that the only reason they’ve been able to thrive the way they are, is because they’re just so many people around who innovate and problem solve. And I just think that our education system needs to churn out more of those people.

Monica Mehta 26:08

And clearly, we want those students to, you know, work with us on this program that we run, that actually display the attributes of a potentially good entrepreneur, having said that, we do go wrong sometimes. And we know that every student that enters the program is always going to be successful, but we we limit, you know, chances of failure by just bringing in the right people.

Monica Mehta 36:39

Show Notes

Monica Mehta- The Wadhwani Foundation

Follow Monica On LinkedIn (@monicamehta)

Check out the Word Cloud for the episode below!

Follow Maharajas of Scale On Twitter (@maharajaofscale)