A great opportunity

Ms. Poorvi Kunzru is a successful businesswoman who works on Wall Street in New York City. Her childhood was marked by multiple relocations, the fifth move landing her in India, her country of origin. As a child, she loved books and reading and quickly came to realize the importance of children’s literacy and the advantage that English learning offered students in India. This realization led her to found the Kitab Corner, a book library project for children in rural India.

Founding the Kitab Corner, Ms. Kunzru associated with Mr. Nitin Orayan, where the two worked together on the expansion of libraries into communities around the Learning Space Center. Ms. Kunzru recalls her time with Nitin and the Learning Space team as "exemplary ways of forging connections in the social sector." Speaking about Learning Space, Ms. Kunzru recognizes that their “partnerships are founded in such a caring and intelligent way.”

The Kitab Corner project, in collaboration with Learning Space, has reached thousands of children in rural India, providing textbooks that they otherwise would be unable to afford. Each library offered English and regional language textbooks, and were available to both women and children in each community. By empowering both women and children in the community through teaching English and offering access to libraries, it will lead to educational and employment growth, which are goals that align with the mission of Learning Space and serve as the backbone of their collaborative efforts.

Ms. Kunzru’s perspective comes from the overlap between the private and social sectors, which she puts aptly as “there are a lot of ways to make an impact.” And she has been witness to the work of Nitin Orayan and the expansion of Learning Space. She sees the work of Mr. Orayan and the organization “not just [as] a Learning Space, but a breathing space and a safe space for those who are within the Learning Space network and the wider community.” She hopes to return to India soon to remind her of the work that has been done, largely thanks to people like Nitin Orayan and organizations like Learning Space, and the potential that lies ahead.