Storming the shop floor: The Lila Poonawalla story

In 2001, Poonawalla stepped away from the corporate machinery to re-engineer her life. In the rich tradition of Parsi philanthropy, she and Firoz turned their personal wealth into the Lila Poonawalla Foundation. On her 50th birthday, her company wanted to gift her a car or a Swiss gold watch studded with diamonds. Her husband told them a lump sum of money would be more useful for her plan to set up a foundation to empower girls, her way of returning a favour since her own education had been funded by the kindness of people. The company agreed, and with the money, she set up a foundation which has since supported over 17,000 Lila Fellows, underprivileged young women pursuing engineering, medicine and nursing.