Meet the SHEROES - Sheilu Sreenivasan

Today, we speak to Sheilu Sreenivasan, the founder of The Dignity Foundation . The Dignity Foundation is a state-of-the-art facility for ageing, retired people. As the name suggests, it offers the ageing a wholesome life, one full of dignity. Let’s hear more about the beautiful idea behind the Dignity Foundation.

What was the idea / inspiration behind starting Dignity Foundation?
Since there is no formal preparation for ageing, the retirement, for example, is a traumatic episode in many lives. Body changes and changes in mental faculties similarly call for a number of life adjustments, without which old age becomes a painful experience, instead of the liberating phase it can be made into. Taking scientific findings to people, Dignity Dialogue, the magazine for productive ageing, is published once a month. It brings cheer and motivation to a number of people who meet with loneliness and worthlessness in their old age.

Changes encountered by people in the course of their ageing process are normally perceived with much trepidation and negative imagery. As opposed to scientific literature which reveal the liberating aspects of growing old, what we found was trauma, unacceptance, denial, depression, loneliness, and a certain degree of alienation from the mainstream of family life. A number of services have been instituted catering to the needs of seniors – whether one defines the age group as starting from 40, 45, or 50 – it’s all in one’s mind how young one feels in the growing years.

What were the initial challenges you faced when setting up?
?Financial scarcity was and is problem number One. It has never ceased to be an issue the past 20 years of the existence of our NGO Dignity Foundation.?

?Getting good people to work in our org is another challenge. Having recruited good people to retain them, one has to bring in a lot of innovative ways in which you will retain them in the ORg.?

How did you garner the require funds to begin the Dignity Foundation, over the years - and to get it to its present state?
?The first 30 lakhs came from my husband and myself. Thereafter we received funds through advertisements, membership fees, project funding and such likes.?

What words of advice would you give other aspiring women entrepreneurs?
?I do believe like Sheryl Goldberg, the CEO of Facebook, that ??if you set your mind to achieve certain results through perseverence it is possible to attain them.?