Management Team

Amal Lad

Amal has been a participant on LEAD and Learning Journey programmes. He has spent a month volunteering in India and has helped organize the Learning Journey 2009 programme. Amal has completed a degree in Biomedical Science and is currently studying Medicine at Queen Mary, University of London. He is a keen musician and has composed for a number of charity films to raise public health awareness within the South Asian community.

“Some men see things as they are and say why, I dream things that never were and say why not?” Robert Kennedy

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Ani Devlia

Since coming from Kenya to live in the UK aged 7, Ani has been fascinated by the existence of the Indian diaspora. Her love of foreign languages and different cultures was largely inspired by her career in the international financial field. Moreover, her desire to connect with India, its people, its rich culture and deep-rooted spirituality has been powerful in shaping her life. Ani’s involvement with Connect India began in 2008 when Connect India made it possible for her son to volunteer in Ahmedabad. Since then, she has been an active member of the team, contributing to and co-ordinating programmes that will benefit other young British Indians. In her spare time Ani enjoys walking, meditation and traveling.

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Bijal Popat

From an early age, Bijal has always had a keen interest in indian culture and spirituality. She has travelled and seen many places but has always maintained a strong connection with India. Bijal has spent time volunteering at a school in south India and was also an active member of the Hindu Society during her study at Aston University. After graduating she worked within the Human Resources department at UBS and spent much of her time organising and facilitating programs within the bank. Before joining the Connect India team in April of 2010, she spent time working for an international procurement company which exposed her to the cultures in India, Africa and China. The experience of working with indian companies created a desire for her to work on projects which aim to make a positive difference in India. She continues to be an active member of the team, co-ordinating and facilitating all CI activities.
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Dharmesh Mistry

Co-Founder and Director

In 2004, Dharmesh joined Indicorps for 5 months and eventually returned to the UK after 2 years! As part of the Indicorps staff team, he had the opportunity to understand the challenges of international development. He also had the opportunity to explore more deeply the strength of grassroots service to enable young people to realise their potential. While at University, Dharmesh held the responsibility of Chairperson for National Hindu Students Forum (UK) and he has been actively involved with number of other community initiatives. Dharmesh has a keen interest in trekking having completed a nine day point to point trek in Ladhak, India and he has skied in Kashmir India. Now finally back in the UK, Dharmesh is keenly exploring the social enterprise space here.

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Meenal Sachdev

Co-Founder and Director

After completing an MPhil degree in Indian Studies at Cambridge, Meenal studied Indian Art at the British Museum. She then taught Sanskrit, a language she has learnt and loved from a young age, and worked at the BBC World Service. Fuelled by her passion for India and of social service, Meenal founded Connect India in 2006. Currently, aside from devoting her time to being a mother of two young boys, Meenal consults for iPartner India, serves on the board of UnLTD (UK) and Mara Foundation (Africa) and is actively involved with various philanthropic activities such as Women’s development projects and the Fight against Child Trafficking.

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Pramal Lad

Pramal is currently working as a Project Manager on an international programme to develop tractors for emerging markets. Previously, Pramal took time out from his career in financial services to be a part of the grassroots Indicorps Fellowship, where he worked on two projects based in Karnataka. The first project involved training unemployed rural graduates and the second project working with a micro finance start up organisation. The seed for such engagement with India was planted when he attended the very first Learning Journey back in 2007, before co-organising the subsequent one. Pramal is inspired by seeing people come alive and is motivated by opportunities to awaken potential across all levels of society.

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