Meet Neeti Goel - successful women enterpreuner / restauranteur
During pandemic when people were in great difficulties and normal lives were disrupted like never before, a very successful entrepreneur and restaurateur Neeti Goel with a golden heart didn't think twice and decided to come out and help those who were in great despair and needed urgent help to survive.
Neeti Goel , who hails from Chandigarh and who is the daughter of well-known industrialist Late SK Gupta, is a successful restaurateur based in Mumbai. She runs ''Keiba', 'Osstaad', 'Madras Diaries' and 'Madras Express ' in Mumbai and the brand 'Amore Stays' having premium staycations in Alibaugh. She has been awarded the 'Restaurateur of The Year' in 2019 at the Eiffel Tower in Paris and one of her restaurant was ranked 2nd amongst the Top 50 restaurants in the world. In 2022 she was honoured as one of the top 50 influential Indians at the London bridge in London .
As a restaurateur, Neeti Goel has many feathers to her caps but she has always been more than just an entrepreneur and restaurateur. During sudden lockdowns due to pandemic when thousands of migrant workers and their families were stuck all over the country, Neeti Goel along with actor Sonu Sood co founded a initiative named 'Ghar Bhejo' (Send Them To Their Home) through which they managed to send more than 1.5 lakh migrant workers safely to their homelands through buses, trains and even aeroplanes. Not only that, they also started another initiative 'Khana Chahiye' which started with 1200 meals a day during pandemic which now stands around 80 lakhs meals. They also distributed more than 60000 ration kits to the homeless n absolute needy to fight hunger.
During
pandemic,
Neeti
Goel
leveraged
social
media
as
the
great
mobiliser
and
used
her
experience
as
a
restaurateur
with
great
effect.
She
began
the
initiative
'Khana
Chahiye'
(Food
Is
Needed)
and
fed
millions
of
people
with
good
quality
food.
Her
efforts
earned
her
much
praise
from
all
quarters
but
that
was
not
her
aim.
She
selflessly
and
dedicatedly
focussed
on
poor
migrant
workers
and
their
families
to
help
them
reach
their
homelands
and
serve
food
to
millions
of
hungry
people.
They
also
adopted
32
orphanages
,
800
sex
workers
,
built
1000
homes
in
Raigarh
district
when
they
were
hit
by
Nisarg
cyclone
,
worked
with
work
in
jail
,
transgender
community
and
adopted
282
shramik
Trains
originating
from
mumbai
to
provide
free
food
and
water
in
them
to
5
lakh
daily
wage
earners
travelling
back
home
during
distressed
times
.
She
also
set
up
Migrant
camps
in
thane
,
Dahisar
and
vashi
to
provide
food
,
water
to
migrants
who
were
travelling
by
foot
to
their
hometowns
.
They
also
have
2
community
kitchens
running
in
mumbai
where
self
help
women
groups
are
employed
so
they
earn
a
living
and
melas
prepared
by
them
are
distributed
free
to
the
needy
in
the
area
.
On a mission to help people in need, 'Khana Chahiye' also collaborated with the government and adopted Shramik trains (trains for migrants) and provided passengers free food and water throughout their journey. In all, they adopted 282 Shramik passenger trains to help migrant workers reach their homes.
While preparing meals for hungry people the biggest challenge Neeti Goel and her team faced was sourcing the necessary ingredients in a cost effective and a timely way. Hence, they decided to reach out to those farmers in Maharashtra who were unable to sell their crops during pandemic. Social media came in as a handy tool to spread the word and one thing led to another which contributed immensely in their noble cause. During the second lockdown the efforts continued with emergency ambulance services providing mobile oxygen at the doorstep, cooked meals, ration kits and other daily essentials.
During pandemic Neeti Goels team of dedicated volunteers also adopted many stray dogs and cats, served meals to the Mumbai fire departments, provided relief to Rambo Circus groups and hundred of sex workers too. As lockdown was declared on a immediate basis, migrant workers were stuck all over the places and had no where to go. At such desperate times, Neeti Goel decided to set up camps at Thane, Vashi, Dahisar and Nashik highways which catered to 5 lakhs migrant workers walking back to home.
From distributing 50,000 sanitary pads among sex workers of Kamathipura in Munbai to rescuing 70,000 people stuck in cyclones, the list of charity work done by Neeti Goel and her organization is too long to name them here.
The
cause
of
domestic
violence
with
women
and
drug
abuse
is
also
very
dear
to
Neeti
Goel
.
The
beginning
of
green
army
in
the
rural
villages
of
Uttar
Pradesh
was
a
significant
step
in
helping
the
victims
of
domestic
violence
and
drug
abuse.
Neeti
Goels
team
started
the
work
at
grassroot
level
in
Kushiyari
village
of
Uttar
Pradesh.
They
created
a
group
of
25
women
who
were
trained
in
handling
cases
of
domestic
violence
and
drug
abuse.
Women
were
made
aware
of
their
basic
rights,
help
them
understand
all
the
benefits
available
for
them
and
also
make
use
of
self-defense
mechanism
whenever
it
is
necessary.Now
they
have
an
army
of
1800
Women
spread
over
250
Villages
who
are
self
sufficient
,
independent
.
Now
in
phase
2
Neeti
Goel
is
creating
jobs
for
them
and
hence
making
them
self
sufficient
swamybhu
.
Interestingly Neeti Goel is aims to reach 250 more villages of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Bihar in next 5 years and empower women and their children in every possible way. They are also aiming to form green groups in 50 naxal affected villages of Mirzapur district to tackle problems of drug abuse among adolescents and young adults, lack of education among children and women, domestic violence mainly originating from drug abuse etc.They also aim to conduct workshops with farmers to improve agricultural productivity.
While talking about the charity work she has been pursuing so rigourously, Neeti Goel says, "If earning name for myself would have been my aim, I would have just stuck to being a entrepreneur and a restaurateur. I have been felicitated with many big awards for the same. But I always been aware of my surroundings and the suffering of people in our society which reflects on my social work and I want to continue it till the time I am alive and spread smiles .