Tania Roy in a tete-a-tete with Executive Director of Sancheti Group, Manisha Sanghavi, who shares the success story of Sancheti Healthcare Academy which has just seen its first batch of students graduating and finding jobs

Life can throw a multitude of challenges but if you can rise to the challenge and turn adversities into advantages, you can emerge as a winner. Manisha Sanghavi, Executive Director of the Sancheti Group, is one of those confident individuals who believes in turning liabilities into assets. “It is one of the biggest lessons that I have learnt from my father, Dr KH Sancheti. Having this kind of attitude to work and life also makes you a very positive person,” says Sanghavi.

Wearing a black, white and amber salwar-kameez and beaded jewellery, Sanghavi looks resplendent and energetic on a Monday morning, ready to kickstart a busy week. “The first batch of students of Sancheti Healthcare Academy (SHA) has just graduated and all of them have found placements,” shares Sanghavi, who took on as director of SHA in 2011. As of now, there are 40 to 50 students who are pursuing Diploma in Hospital Management and 22 to 25 who are doing full-time MBA in Healthcare at SHA, which also offers courses in Physiotherapy.

The hospital industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in India, so there are plenty of career options for students pursuing hospital and healthcare management. “There is a huge shortage of professionally-trained healthcare managers, which is why we started the academy where we enrol students from all faculties — Science, Commerce and Arts. A course in Hospital or Healthcare Management can fetch them a job in the hospital sector, tourism department of a hospital where you take care of patients coming from overseas, IT healthcare and so on,” says Sanghavi, who has done her MBA, Diploma in Hospital Management and MSc in Psychotherapy and Counselling.

A creative person at heart

“As a child I aspired to be a doctor but later I pursued MBA. I married young and moved to Ahmedabad where I worked as Marketing Manager of Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) for five years. Working with an all women workforce and helping them to be economically independent was a great experience, more so because the women were engaged in creative work like making saris, doing embroidery, creating cane furniture, etc, which I thoroughly enjoyed because I am more of a creative person at heart,” says Sanghavi.

She quit work when she entered motherhood. After a seven-year break during which she took care of her two sons and focussed on home and family, she decided to resume work. “Getting back to work after a break is not all that hard. If you are willing to cope with the challenges, you can be productive,” shares Sanghavi who joined the Sancheti Group.

“I moved from department to department and worked hard. Since I was rejoining work after a hiatus, my father insisted that I have the experience before I assumed the responsibilities of a director. In fact, as a youngster when I was doing my MBA, I also worked at Sancheti to earn my pocket money,” she shares.