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CORE TEAM

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CORE TEAM

The Setco Foundation team is dedicated, conscientious and ever ready to learn. The field teams comprises of community health workers, pre-school teachers, child development aides, specialists, and social workers who have ensured that the programs create a dramatic shift in the health and nutrition status of expectant and nursing mothers, infants and pre-schoolers as well as better educational levels, and financial and social empowerment of the women and the adolescent girls and boys in the communities.

Ms. URJA SHAH
President of Setco Foundation,
Project Director for Play Pal

Ms. NEETHU SHETH
Executive Director

Ms. SALMA SAFREE
Project Director

Mr. RAJESH PATEL
Assistant Manager

Ms. GAYATRI BHATT
Senior CSR Executive

Ms. ELSA CARVALHO
CSR Executive

Under Urja’s leadership the Setco Foundation was recognized as one of the key innovators in the field of early childhood development. The project was featured in a book released by the Ministry of Industries “Small but Beautiful” on meaningful social change. Additionally she was also the recipient of the “CSR Thought Leaders” award by the Cause–‐Because organization, New Delhi. Urja Shah holds both the managerial and strategic leadership for the Setco Foundation.

Urja holds an M.A. in Environmental Economics and Policy from Duke University, Nicholas School of Environment, along with a Certificate in International Development Policy from Duke University, The Sanford Institute of Public Policy (Year 2000). She was a recipient of a teaching scholarship at Duke University for the same. She also holds B.S. in Environmental Science, Toxicology and Chemistry, summa cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Year 1998).

She has also had the privilege of being amongst 12 CSR delegates for the UN Women’s Conference in Delhi, October 2012 with then UN Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women, and then President elect of Chile, Ms. Michelle Bachelet. Urja currently lives in Mumbai with her husband Harshal Shah, member of MIT-Sloan School of Managment’s executive board, and son Hrehan.

Neethu Sheth believes that one should give back some of their success back to the society they live in. She believes in making a difference for the society and drive positive change from the grass root level. Neethu has obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Accounting, with a concentration in Economics and Psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University, USA.

Furthermore, Neethu is the owner of The Wine Rack that takes care of import and distribution of Wine in Maharashtra and Delhi. Before her stint as an entrepreneur, she worked with Morgan Stanley in New York as a part in the Business Strategy and Planning group. Neethu currently lives in Mumbai with her husband Udit Sheth, MD and CEO at TransStadia, and Executive Director at Setco Pvt. Ltd and their lovely daughter Haavya Sheth.

Salma has always had a keen interest in child welfare and education. She oversees the development, implementation and monitoring of the various programmes run by the Setco Foundation. Salma has an MBA in human resources and a Master’s Degree in Social Work.

Salma enjoys interacting with people from different spheres of life and her strength lies in networking with government agencies and stakeholders. She has a keen interest in fashion designing and she loves to read and write. She thoroughly enjoys travelling and this reflects who she is as a person, fun loving, adventurous and ever ready to be of help!

Rajeshbhai’s key role at the Setco Foundation is to bring administrative support to the foundation’s projects at all levels.

Rajeshbhai, as he is fondly called, is also in charge of the sanitation projects. He has been extremely successful in mobilizing the community and working with local institutions for various projects.

Rajeshbhai is passionate about agriculture and holistic village development. He also is extremely a tuned to the different community cultures in the state of Gujarat and one would be wiser after a conversation with him. Rajeshbhai is jovial and a fun person to be with – combine that with his electrifying laugh and the room is one happy place !

Having completed her Master’s Degree in Social Work, Gayatri joined Setco Foundation in the year 2013. Gayatri is responsible for the implementation of all the integrated health programs for mother and child and works closely with the community health workers.

Gayatri is also a master trainer and she conducts workshops and trainings for the community health workers to build capacity and also for women and adolescent girls alike in health topics such as nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, pregnancy and anaemia. She also manages the empowerment programmes for women. As part of the empowerment programme, Gayatri is responsible for creating small Self Help Groups and she supports them in acquiring loans from the government to start their own businesses.

In addition to this, she also holds entrepreneurship workshops to train women on how to run successful businesses. Gayatri loves conducting exposure visits and events for adolescent girls and she shares a special bond with them. In her spare time, Gayatri enjoys reading and singing.

Even though Elsa has received most of her higher education qualifications outside the State of Gujarat, Elsa is originally from Jamnagar. Therefore, being fluent in gujarati, it was easy for her to take workshops for the adolescent girls as soon as she began working with the Foundation. Elsa works closely on implementation and strategy with the field and core team.

As a part of her Master’s Degree in Social Work, Elsa has worked for child rights, victims of HIV and AIDS, destitute women and the elderly and also for children with special needs in both urban and rural set ups. Quite shy and soft spoken, Elsa’s determination to make a change is fierce.