Ms. Rekha Koita
B.Tech., 1992 Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science

Ms. Rekha Koita is a Co-Founder of Koita Foundation, Founder of Pyramid Plus and a Faculty member at Mind Matters – an organisation which enables NGOs to scale and increase their impact through optimisation of business processes and implementation of technology solutions. Ms. Koita did her Bachelor of Technology in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 1992 and is a recipient of the Institute Silver Medal. She obtained her M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, USA in 1994.

After completing her Masters in 1994, Ms. Koita returned to India and worked for Accenture as a management consultant for 8 years. Her key focus areas at Accenture included operations, ERP design and implementation, performance/ profitability enhancement, and human resources management across various industries. After an eight years stint at Accenture, she became a corporate trainer – specialized in training senior/ mid-level corporate professionals on core consulting, problem solving and structured communication skills. She also conducts programs for start-ups, organizations in the development sector and for low income schools/ colleges. Since past few years, Ms. Koita is active in the social sector. Ms. Koita co-founded Koita Foundation where she works with NGOs in the areas of education, livelihoods, maternal and child health.

Ms. Koita’s active involvement with IIT Bombay began with the Silver Jubilee Reunion of her batch, as one of the leaders of the Legacy Project team. The team ensured high participation and received pledges from 170+ batch mates summing to a total contribution of INR 9.50 Cr.

Their team identified key projects to sponsor based on the needs of IIT Bombay and students, and the interest areas of their batch. Their key initiatives include:

  • Positive mental health program for students’ emotional well-being – includes series of sub-initiatives which have been rolled-out
  • Travel fund for UG students wanting to go overseas for conferences (live for past year)
  • RISE – Rural immersion program to provide students with a flavor of rural India and explore their interest in developing technology solutions to solve real-world problems (live for past year)
  • New café in the academic area (under development – to go live in 2020)
  • Air-conditioned study rooms in three hostels (under development – to go live in 2020)
  • Other contributions: Institute scholarships, Financial Aid Program (FAP), Retired Faculty Wellness Program and Young Faculty Awards

Ms. Koita interacts with SINE and conducts sessions for some of their cohorts. Along with conducting training sessions for students studying entrepreneurship at the Desai Sethi Centre. Ms. Koita has recently joined the Board of the IIT Bombay Research Park, a new initiative to drive collaboration across IIT Bombay and corporate organizations.

Ms. Koita has many memories associated with IIT Bombay. The ones which come to her mind are going for long walks around Vihar lake and Powai lake in the evenings. Also, just chilling in hostel and chatting with her wing mates for long hours discussing everything under the sun. For her, life on campus then was simple and away from all the pushes and pulls of the ‘real world’.

Music, travelling and food are her hobbies.