A chemical engineering graduate of Gujarat University, Brijmohan Chiripal started his career in 1972 as an entrepreneur in the textiles processing industry by promoting a small-scale unit with a workforce of 200 employees. Since then, Brijmohan and his three elder brothers have nurtured and developed the Chiripal Group of 17 companies into a widely diversified conglomerate engaged in the polyfilms, petrochemicals, infrastructure, education and solar renewable businesses. Currently, the annual revenue of the Chiripal Group is over Rs.10,000 crore with the number of employees having risen to 20,000.
Yet even as he was planning and developing his numerous business ventures, Mr. Chiripal made the time to promote several education ventures under an umbrella company named Shanti Educational Initiatives Ltd (SEIL, estb. 2008). “Right from young age, it was my intention to contribute to education and human resource development. Education has a profound impact on society, and establishing high quality foundational education institutions in particular, is the best way to contribute to the prosperity of future generations. By establishing durable education institutions, we can leave a lasting legacy more valuable than business enterprises, to address critical societal needs such as literacy, innovation and skills development,” says Chiripal.
Since then under Chiripal’s guidance and nurturance, Shanti Educational Initiatives has developed into an education powerhouse which has made – and continues to make – a significant contribution to provision of high quality education to K-12 and higher education in Western India and the state of Gujarat (pop. 65 million) in particular. Over the two decades past, SEIL has promoted several enterprises that are providing high quality early childhood, primary-secondary and business management education to 18,526 children and youth across the country.
Among them: 250 Shanti Junior preschools in 13 states countrywide with an aggregate enrolment of 13,500 youngest children mentored by 2,000 teachers; five Shanti Asiatic Schools affiliated with the CBSE exam board with an aggregate enrolment of 9,401 students mentored by 530 teachers; School Shack, a corporate and school uniforms manufacturing company; Keystone Global, an education consultancy and counselling firm that advises school-leaving students about higher education options and opportunities in India and abroad and Shanti Business School, Ahmedabad (estb. 2010) which has 625 undergrad and postgrad students and 33 faculty on its muster rolls. Moreover in 2021, Chiripal promoted Catalyzer Learning Pvt. Ltd, a company that promotes best-selling American management guru and author Stephen Covey’s (7 Habits of Successful People) Leader-in me programme to 18,000 students in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
“I believe it’s of paramount importance that there is proper alignment between education institutions and industry requirements. That’s why right from kindergarten to postgrad in SEIL our focus is on preparing and equipping our students with the modern learning and skills required by industry and employers. This is the best way to address India’s growing unemployment problem,” says Chiripal.
For his sustained commitment to critically important early childhood education and for expanding his missionary zeal to primary-secondary and higher education, the Editors and Board of Directors of EducationWorld are pleased to confer the EW Extraordinary Leadership in Education Award 2024 upon Mr. Brijmohan Chiripal and induct him into the EW EducationWorld Hall of Fame.