Ronak Shah originally hails from Gujarat. But for the past 13 years he has been living in Udaipur. He has been with NGOs for the past many years. Currently he is the CEO at Seva Mandir, Udaipur.

Ronak Shah is based in the city of lakes, Udaipur. He lives here with his family. His family comprises his wife and son. His parents live in Gujarat. Ronak says that his parents were doctors by profession. They shifted to a tribal village with an aim to serve the people. They set up a hospital there. It was his parents who inspired him to do social service. Ronak also lived with his parents in the village and completed his schooling there itself. For his graduation he went to Ahmedabad to pursue environmental engineering. After that he completed his masters in environmental planning. He has also done a masters in international development from the UK.

Ronak started volunteering with NGOs whilst he was in college. He would spend his weekends working with NGOs. From there only he got the clarity that a career in the voluntary field would be better suited for him.

After completing his education he started his first job with GiveIndia- a non profit organisation. He says that GiveIndia was the first organisation to start online fundraising in India. He worked with it whilst it was in its founding stage. He learnt a lot while working with this organisation. After that he worked on some other assignments and later joined Seva Mandir. At Seva Mandir he worked on water and energy issues. In 2014, whilst working at Seva Mandir he also founded a start-up by the name of Udaipur Urja Initiatives. He led this start-up for 4 years and then became CEO of this organisation. Ronak has worked on ground while working at Seva Mandir. He always tries to leverage the technology to improve the lives of villagers. He has learnt how to do extraordinary things living an ordinary life. At Seva Mandir he works with various departments and tries to learn from people from different fields be they finance, technology etc.

Ronak doesn’t have any one person as his role model. He takes inspiration from many people and from their work. His inspiration to work in the voluntary sector came from his grandparents who always tried to help people in whatever little way they could. Besides this he also considers that his wife has had an influence on him. He thinks that they both have similar thought processes and it helps them in motivating each other.

Talking about struggles and challenges in his life, Ronak says that struggles are a part of one’s life. He considers struggles as milestones. He feels that struggles in one’s life can be self induced too owing to one’s desires. Struggles in his life have made him a better person.

To anyone who wants to make a career in the voluntary field Ronak advises that this sector is not about making money. Though this field provides enough to fulfill one’s necessities one should have a purpose and passion to work in this sector. It really takes time to bring about a change. So being patient in this field is really important.

Ronak is of the opinion that education is very important in one’s life. Education is a lifelong process. It just doesn’t stop after you leave your college. He thinks that whilst working one should also continue studying to update himself.

Sharing about his childhood, Ronak says that a part of his childhood was spent in a village named Amalsad in south Gujarat. He lived among tribal people. He would fly kites and play games which kids in the cities are oblivious of. He also says that his grandmother was a great cook. She would always be prepared to cook whatever he would want to eat. His friends still relish the food cooked by his grandmother.

Besides his work Ronak likes to read books. He also took to farming during this COVID-19 pandemic and aims to continue it further.