It is said that money acts like a magnet. However, after a certain point in time, money does not make a great difference in your life. What matters is to what magnitude a person utilizes their wealth to bring an impact on society. Bringing a change with his work, entrepreneur and industrialist Yohan Poonawalla has made a reputation as one of the most prolific names whose work has inspired thousands of budding entrepreneurs. Mr. Poonawalla is the chairman of the Poonawalla Engineering Group viz; Intervalve Poonawalla Ltd, El-O-Matic India Pvt Ltd and Poonawalla Financials Pvt Ltd and is a shareholder in Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
Growing up in a family of industrialists, Yohan understood the nuances of running a business in his early years. As per the industrialist, working on-ground to build a successful business empire has an upper hand over gaining theoretical knowledge. Along with it, he has always emphasized the need for expanding businesses to create different income streams for contributing towards the welfare of society.
Yohan Poonawalla’s other ventures include Poonawalla Stud Farms and Poonawalla Racing and Breeding. The prolific businessman who holds an MBA degree from the UK. Yohan’s primary focus has been on his company Intervalve Poonawalla. a leading name that manufactures different types of valves to accelerate industrial development in India.
As much as Yohan Poonawalla is passionate about taking his various businesses to reach newer heights, he is also working diligently by supporting an array of social activities. Known for his generous philanthropic activities that support education and healthcare for the underprivileged, Mr. Poonawalla feels blessed to carry forward his family’s legacy of contributing towards notable causes. The Poonawalla Group has earlier built the `Zavaray Poonawalla Cancer Building’ which offers top-notch facilities devoted to the treatment of cancer patients.
Continuing to educate children from all ethnicities and backgrounds, the Poonawalla family established the ‘Soli Poonawalla Memorial High School’ in memory of their founder. “Our family is attached to educating children and making them responsible leaders of tomorrow”, said Mr. Poonawalla. The other CSR activity supported by the Poonawalla Group is for the Poona District Leprosy Committee where they are working towards bringing an end to the disease existing even today.
Besides this, for the development of Pune city, the Poonawalla Group has maintained the Gool Poonawalla Garden and has widened and re-surfaced the Hadapsar Road; known as the Soli Poonawalla Road. While Mr. Poonawalla continues to make Pune city clean and green, his foundation, in 2021 presented new Mahindra Jeeps to the Pune Police for their selfless work to safeguard the citizens during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
The most prestigious Turf Club House in Pune is yet another work of CSR by Yohan Poonawalla. The club is currently getting renovated by his foundation to keep up the tradition of the Poonawalla family considering their love for horse breeding and horse racing. Understanding the importance of sports and physical activities, the Poonawalla family has jointly sponsored an initiative of Shri. Sant Gadge Maharaj Vidhyalaya South Main Road in Koregaon Park to maintain and create a sports ground for school children. The other initiative on South Main Road in Pune is a garden which is sponsored by the Yohan Poonawalla Foundation.
Not to forget, the brilliant work that the entrepreneur is doing has helped him earn several accolades and awards. Some of his achievements include the Business Leader Of The Year Award 2021-2022, Gravitas/Urja Award 2022 and AsiaOne Person Of The Year 2016-2017 for Global Leadership. On a concluding note, Yohan Poonawalla went on to say that his group aims to eradicate all societal issues and help underprivileged people from every nook and corner of the country.
