Meeting the Mentors: Kiran Bir Sethi

Kiran Bir Sethi

Kiran was born and raised in Bangalore. Growing up, design and innovation were pervasive in Kiran’s environment. It was while visiting her older sister at the National Institute of Design (NID) on winter vacation that she became smitten and applied to NID—abandoning her plans to study medicine. Though NID accepts students only after having completed class 10+2 studies, they made an exception for Kiran, and after a difficult administration process accepted her during her eleventh year of school.

When Kiran became a parent she realized what children were missing as far as experiential learning. She also realized that urban spaces are no longer safe and welcoming of children. It was from this concern and a strong desire to contribute to finding a solution that she began her journey both with Riverside and aProCh.

In 2001, she founded the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, designing the primary school's curriculum (and its building) from the ground up. She also runs an NGO, called AProCh -- which stands for "A Protagonist in every Child”, which works for making cities child-friendly. Design for Change is a worldwide movement, which runs across 33 countries with 200,000 children. Kiran Bir Sethi is the head, heart, and soul for this global movement. Her visionary leadership, enigmatic personality, and a loving accepting heart are what makes her such a powerful force.

Kiran has successfully carved a niche for herself in every area. She has demonstrated the ability to understand complex issues; from founding a world-class school or convincing the administration of Ahmedabad to partner with her to achieve her vision. She looks beyond what exists, to ask, "could we do this a better way?"