Pooja Wanted to Make Charity An Experience with ‘Ishva’

Ishva.org is an organisation, founded by Ms. Pooja Bhayana, which is a interactive platform, where willing donors can earn a chance to meet their favourite celebrities, by donating for a social cause.

The concept is simple; Fans who visit  Ishva.org will be able to view a campaign involving their favourite celebrity and a charitable cause selected by the celebrity. These fans get a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the star each time they donate to the chosen cause. Eventually, the lucky one  gets to live his/her dreams and the proceeds from the transaction go to the selected NGO, which helps to fulfil a lot more dreams of  the unfortunate lot. These fans can donate anything from INR 100 to INR 10 lakh and earn chances proportional to their donation.

Feministaa.com had an opportunity to ask Ms. Pooja Bhayana about her vision and experiences related to this unconventional social journey of hers. 

When asked about her vision, Pooja says, ” Ishva was designed to be a collaborative platform that helps power a variety of dreams of people from all walks of life, mine being one of them. I dreamt of being able to help anyone in need with a pool of resources, to empower individuals to be able to make a difference in their own little way, and this is why Ishva was formed”. Pooja aims at making  Ishva, India’s first celebrity experience based crowd-funding platform where people can contribute towards a substantial change.

Like any other startup, Pooja faced a couple of challenges. For Pooja, the biggest obstacle was to reach out to celebrities and conduct campaigns with them. “We used an “all-out” approach where we use all communication avenues to make sure the celeb hears us out” , says the 24 year old founder.

She believes that establishing a venture is an ongoing journey, and that she is still on her way to make Ishva what she has imagined. According to Pooja, “Ishva, as a social enterprise, still has a long way to go in terms of lives we touch and social causes that we help. It has been tough definitely, because a single founder means you have to take care of all aspects by yourself”.

Ishva, as a social enterprise, aims to be the factor of change. They want to contribute their bit for a variety of social causes, via fund raising and awareness campaigns. Through Ishva, any Indian can now be a part of change while donating an amount as less as INR 100. Pooja wants this platform to be the ultimate one for all different dreams to connect and provide value for each other. Ishva was born out of the need for an innovative way to raise funds for a variety of social causes on a single platform. It is also aimed at turning celebrities’ fan base to an action base that can affect lives.

Pooja believed that Ishva is in sync with her life ideology of “Doing well to be well and when you aim to do good things to help others, good things come to you too”.

Feministaa encourages the women in the community to be inspiring leaders for the ones who are in need of community support. So, when we asked Pooja about the one integral thing that keeps her motivated, she answered by saying that she reads the  success stories of inspiring leaders, after which she feels motivated enough to  learn more about people who have made a difference or individuals who are striving to drive a substantial change.

Entering the social space as an entrepreneur is a daunting task but to know that somehow you can change the life of a person, always keeps Pooja on her toes. She believes in surrounding herself with inspiring ideologies, her favourite one being the one by Steve Jobs, “People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Pooja, an an entrepreneur advices all the women out there to just follow their dreams. Pooja says, “We are equal to any other individual out there who want to be in the social space, and hence we are equally equipped. Sometimes, we do lose focus of the bigger picture for immediate gains, but remember that it is always good to take a step back, look again and then decide”.