Dr. Hina Shah

Hina Shah dares to be different. A home maker and a successful entrepreneur, an academician and the Director of ICECD, she is perfectly comfortable in each role. In a man’s world, she has created a niche for herself with path breaking innovative ideas.

As a young, energetic, qualified woman, with a desire to become independent, empowered and successful, Hina Shah faced many hurdles when she decided to become an entrepreneur in 1976 when society was not prepared to see women being independent but with determination and grit she emerged a successful entrepreneur in the field of plastic packaging. This was her first crucial step towards acceptance and recognition in society. With a belief that economic empowerment is the tool for overall empowerment of women, she piloted a development strategy called Women Entrepreneurship Development program in 1980 that viewed women as an active participant in economic development.

In 1986, she transformed her vision into an initiative “International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (ICECD)” which today is recognized as “Centre for Excellence” by the United Nations. Hina institutionalized Women Economic Empowerment strategy in over 60 countries of Asia, Africa, Pacific and Caribbean, and lately, USA reaching out to develop over a million women to become entrepreneurs!

She has also initiated the Satyameva Jayate International School, where students learn the nuances of entrepreneurship from class 1 to 10 through a specially designed “entrepreneurship model”. Her mission is to create these students into capable, successful, persistent and responsible entrepreneurs of the country who will emerge as job creators and not job seekers.

As a true entrepreneur she has produced and directed a Gujarati feature film titled HuTuTuTu (under her banner “Limelight Pictures) which received 8 State Awards and her new film “Saatam Aatham” is ready to be released.