Every headline and article we read on rapes and sexual assaults leaves us sad, angry and helpless. We all collectively work towards getting laws changed, installing strict security systems in place, preparing women to fight the situation. These are all preventive measures, Nilima Achwal- founder of iEsha put a finger on a deeper, subliminal problem. Read about how she raised funds to reconstruct minds.

About Nilima

A super versatile and ebullient personality, Nilimahad previously spearheaded the SEED program at Villgro Innovations Foundation with the conception to launch an intensive incubation program to enhance the productivity of early-stage social entrepreneurs and hone their business tactics and raise seed capital of which 60% got it right. She was also a Business Case Writer at the William Davidson Institute where she worked to put together case studies for courses in MBA.Nilima is currently working on two socially challenging initiatives. She is the founder of Yuja, which is leading several projects and fundraiser in and around Mumbai and in the state of Maharashtra. 

What drove Nilima to start iEsha

The brutality of the Delhi gang-rape didn’t just shock the world, it also gave us an idea of how rewiring of some mindsets is the call of the hour. “Like the entire world, I too was terribly shaken by the Delhi gang rape case. I kept going back to the underlying question of why such inhuman cases occur at all”, says Nilima. Soon she realized the problem lies in the mindsets which are too rigid to change once you’re an adult.
“On discussions and a lot of reading, I realized there’s a lot of missing information that children look for when they hit puberty. It’s because of the precise unavailability of this information that they turn to pornography and uninformative sources, creating an irresponsible tomorrow.”
School syllabus lacks one basic subject that seems to be the need of the hour – gender education.

Nilima’s solution

Nilima decided to go to schools and speak about menstruation to children. “When I started talking about it a few girls giggled, some had a horrified expression on their face. But as I started talking about it, they started opening up and were more comfortable. In fact, I remember, the next day when I went to school again, one girl ran up to me excitedly and asked me, “Ma’am, are you going to talk about periods today?”, not shying away from saying the word out loud at all. I smiled and said yes, “But I’m going to talk about it to the boys today.”

Her objective was to make them uncomfortable, if that’s what it takes for them to grow up to be well informed, responsible adults. iEsha came up with a colourful, fun, digitized and most important scalable syllabus designed specially designed to help children understand menstruation, sexuality, interaction between girls and boys.

To turn this wonderful concept into reality, she needed funds. That’s when she decided to give crowdfunding a shot. She started a fundraiser to raise Rs. 1 lakh on Ketto.

Nilima’s experience

“I was totally blown away by how fast my fundraiser got funds through crowdfunding. In the first 24 hours, we reached 80% of our goal and in just 48 hours we hit the target.”

Nilima’s fundraiser got a positive response with a lot of people showing their support and also taking it forward by sharing the cause. It wasn’t until I started crowdfunding that people heard about our cause and what we do.”

Nilima decided to discuss menstruation, definition of masculinity and gender differences to create powerful beings that we were meant to be.

If you have an idea that has the power to make this world a friendlier, safer place, don't hold back, the world needs you! Get funds for it.