HOW I GOT HERE – Khushroo Poacha

Today with a boom in technology and numerous collaborations setting up a portal is relative easy and common. It is difficult to imagine how Khushroo Poacha managed to set up a portal for blood donations for donors and recipients in the days when technology was basic in the days of the dial up modem (which got disconnected ever so often).
He has also recently founded Seva Kitchen a service for anyone to take part in and offer fresh hot meals to caregivers of hospital patients.

While most NGOs believe mega funding and scale is the way to sustainability, he differs. I have admired him for the way he persevered and does not get up with following the trend…instead sets his own. Meher Billimoria from CAP in conversation with Khushroo Poacha

I founded Indianblooddonors.com because…
I saw a patient dying for want of blood in a government hospital and the relatives of the patients hammering the resident doctor not realising that she died for shortage of blood in the blood bank and lack of donors.

Early days of the project were…Tiring as first i was running about for sponsorships for Rs 2000/- per month to sustain the helpline, writing to people to help create awareness about it. Then a CEO told me to do unethical practices. When I said NO he said i could not do good work without money. PARSI ko challenge kiya Galti Kiya. I told him i would do good without MONEY. That was in 2002 it 2016 now. No bank A/C, No NGO, Nothing.

How we have evolved over the years…Indianblooddonors.com is a 35 Dollar Helpline which is paid by someone to the Domain Registrar. www.Awaaz.de has sponsored us an IVRS helpline for Free. Web Hosting by Net4india.com. Apps are made, maintained by Volunteers and so is the Website. Has served over 1,50,000 requests for blood and lives have been saved.

Khushroo Poacha with his wife and daughter

Recently I founded www.SevaKitchen.org The philosophy behind this is…Cook and Serve food to needy Relatives of patients in Hospitals, Don’t Judge. Seva Kitchen does not accept Money. Started with 24 meals in 2014 serves 1500 meals every week now in 6 cities.
 
My one learning with both organisations has been…You don’t need money to do good work Just PASSION

Challenges along the way...Negative People....

Our work has come a long way because…I stood by what i believed in. I walked in a different direction.

Social Impact according to me is…If you have made a difference to one life also. I see organisation going after number and scaling up. I don’t. I am happy if people replicate my idea.

My thoughts on scaling up…I am happy in sharing the idea and people copying. I don’t want people to follow me but walk with me and be leaders themselves.

Organisation sustainability to me means…Work should go on....

Funding sustainability for any organisation is…A typical Government reply in a Government File to this question would be "This does not pertain to my department" and so is mine. 

If I could change one thing about the social sector, it would be... I want people to be Soul Entrepreneurs not Social entrepreneurs. We have Social Entrepreneurs doing business and telling the world "Hum Logo ka Bhala Kar Rahe Hai".

Leadership in any organisation...Very Important. He has to be motivated and will go to any extent to reach his or her goals.

The two persons who have inspired me.. my Late Mother Katie Adi Poacha who taught me to reach out when I was a kid , Prof Anil Gupta of IIM Ahmedabad because he motivated me to do the things I wanted to do, my way and not listen to people. He taught me to live my life. 


In my free time…I play with Tunisha my daughter who is a blessing after 19 years.

Indianblooddonors.com is an IVRS and Mobile App helpline which connects needy patients with blood donors in India. So if you need blood, its a good place to turn to. It's simple. It's effective. It's Free. You can also Sign up as a blood Donor and help build a Community that cares.

The idea of Seva Kitchen was sown towards the end of 2014. Set in the backdrop of personal experience of spending time in hospital with a patient - Khushroo's mother, this first-hand experience of seeing people struggle to provide for the treatment of loved ones and compromising on their own health, often with rationed resources , was moving.