Zenobia Moochhala on the Desai Foundation: Scaling a Model of Opportunity for Women in India

For Zenobia Moochhala, the Desai Foundation offers an important example of how community-driven philanthropy can grow into a powerful force for change—and how the next challenge is to scale that impact even further.

Moochhala, an entrepreneur, business leader and public-sector official, will deliver the keynote address at the Desai Foundation’s 12th Annual Lotus Festival on October 10 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The event will bring together Indian American leaders, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and members of the Greater Boston and New England community.

In her conversation about the Foundation, Moochhala focuses on the organization’s work to empower women and children across rural India through health, livelihood and menstrual equity programs. The Desai Foundation operates more than 30 community-driven programs and reports that its work has impacted more than 12 million lives across more than 4,000 communities in eight states.

A central example is the Asani Sanitary Napkin Program, which addresses menstrual health while creating economic opportunities for women. The program takes on added importance following a 2026 Supreme Court of India ruling connecting dignified menstrual health with the fundamental right to life under Article 21 and emphasizing the importance of menstrual hygiene to girls’ access to education.

The Foundation is now expanding Asani as schools respond to the new requirements surrounding menstrual health.

That expansion raises a question particularly relevant to Moochhala’s own career: How do you scale a successful idea without losing the community connection that made it successful in the first place?

As co-founder of Care.com, Moochhala helped build an entrepreneurial venture into a global platform serving millions of families. She now serves as Undersecretary of Business Strategies at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development, working on business strategy, innovation and economic growth.

Her experience across the private and public sectors informs her view that scaling requires more than funding. It requires strong leadership, partnerships, systems, innovation and the ability to adapt while remaining focused on the people being served.

The Desai Foundation’s model also demonstrates the importance of community. Its work is supported by an Indian American network that provides not only financial resources, but expertise, relationships and connections between communities in the United States and India.

The Lotus Festival has become an important expression of that community. Now in its 12th year, the event combines fundraising and celebration while bringing supporters together around the Foundation’s mission.

For Moochhala, the larger opportunity is to think beyond individual programs and ask how effective nonprofit models can reach many more people.

The challenge is not simply to make a nonprofit bigger. It is to build the partnerships and infrastructure that allow proven solutions to grow while keeping local communities at the center.

That is the conversation Moochhala brings to this year’s Lotus Festival—and one that extends well beyond a single organization: How can we take ideas that change individual lives and create the capacity to change millions more?