As the founder of a chain of pre-schools across the country, Hema is laying the foundation for a great future for children in their preparatory school stage with her unique pedagogy that focuses more on experiential learning.

Hema Harchandani is the founder of Canvas International Group of Schools - a chain of pre-schools in India.

Hema was born and raised in Jaipur. She did her schooling and bachelors in Jaipur itself. She did an MBA from Pune.

Talking about her childhood, Hema says that she was raised in a joint family with a deep value system. She says that her grandmother, the principal at a government school, was an influential woman of her time and she always considered her grandmother her role model.

Talking about what led her to entrepreneurship, Hema shares that after having worked for about seventeen years in the corporate sector from banking to financial services to the life insurance domain, she thought of starting her own pre-school. She says, she started her first pre-school in Jaipur, and later she was able to open branches of the same in other cities of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh as well. Today, she owns a chain of fifty pre-schools across different states in the country.

Hema thinks that challenges in life teach you a lot. Talking about her challenges, she says that starting her corporate journey at a young age and then working in the male-dominated fields like banking and insurance entailed its own set of challenges for her. However, she says that now the corporate sector has become more accepting of women. Besides, starting up on her own and being a woman entrepreneur, she had to face many challenges.

Talking about COVID, Hema says that starting in 2016 with her first pre-school, she had hit the break-even in 2019. But the onset of the pandemic in 2020, affected her adversely on the financial front in her business. However, she says that realizing the need of the time, soon she started online classes across her chain of schools. However, she says , on the personal front, it was a good time as she got to spend time with her daughter and family.

Hema strongly believes in experiential learning. She says that in today’s times it’s more about learning by doing things. She thinks that children learn the most when they are able to apply what they learn in classrooms.

Hema feels that learning should never end in life. She says one should keep working, learning, and chasing their goals.

According to Hema, leadership is about empowering your team and enabling them to make their own decisions. Besides, she says that a leader must evolve with time.

Hema thinks that more than any formal education and skills, children should be taught value systems and life skills.

Hema laments that nowadays electronic gadgets have occupied the place of parents and family members in children’s life which is impacting their emotional and mental health. Therefore, she advises parents to communicate with their children more to understand them better. Besides, she advises parents that instead of assessing their children on the basis of their grades, they should identify their talents and recognize their potential.

Hema doesn’t want to change anything in her past as such. However, she would want to write a book on parenting if she could go back in time via a Time Machine.

To the youth, her message is not to act blindly in every situation and not to run away from tough situations in life. Instead, they should have a fighting spirit and embrace their problems.