- She started the Mount View Care Home project in Mauritius in 2017 and got the home operating in 2021. She is the Director of the facility.
- Ms. Koodaruth aims to break patterns chaining farmers in Kenya and involve the youth who can easily understand new farming methods and modern ways of earning.
- She believes having role models and success stories is key in changing lives.
We have to work on our values and beliefs to correctly show up for those around us
Kawsar Koodaruth, Author and Life Coach.
A certified Life and Business Coach, an entrepreneur, an accredited caregiver and psychotherapist, a daughter, and a mother, Kawsar Koodaruth says her continuous desire is to continue making a difference in the lives of others.
Born and bred in Mauritius, over the years since her childhood, she was accustomed and encultured to a lifestyle of helping others, visiting the elderly, and giving her voice to issues that matter in society.
Her journey could only be narrated better by herself, so I had an exclusive interview to hear it from her and amplify it to the world.
“I like to contribute to making a difference, and make people jump to the next level of their lives,” she says.
Practicing her career in Physics and Environmental Science, her first degree, she was also visiting the needy and elderly people as part of her family commitment to serving humanity.
She later developed an interest in starting a care home for elderly people.
“When I looked at the trends in Mauritius for caring for the elderly and vulnerable community members, I felt there was a need to start a care home for them,” she explained.
She started the Mount View Care Home project in 2017 and got the home operating in 2021. She is the Director of the facility.
The undertaking would encompass the dexterity and skills she gained from her quantity surveying master’s degree.
After founding the care facility, she left for Kenya in 2022 to expand her services. “I came to Kenya to do life and business coaching,” she says.
Coaching to change lives
Ms. Koodaruth joined hands with organizations and change agents working in different sectors and serving communities in diverse areas nationally, ready to change lives.
One of them is the One Planet Education Network, an international entity passionate about sustainable community development and understanding across cultures.
Her focus has been mainly on impacting farmers and young people.
Since landing in Kenya, she has been in a life-changing partnership and mission with the National Youth Service (NYS), and she looks forward to having the young people impacted and readied to go and change their communities.
She says while many opportunities for farmers and youth exist in Kenya, they are yet to tap into and leverage them, which is where she comes in to coach them and turn their mindsets into a pursuit gear toward their dreams.
“Visiting the farmers in the rural areas, I’ve realized they have large chunks of land and they work very hard but are yet to know how to obtain the best from their expansive farms,” she notes.
Ms. Koodaruth aims to break patterns chaining farmers in Kenya and involve the youth who can easily understand new farming methods and modern ways of earning, even from an early age.
They would, subsequently, empower their parents and friends.
“I want to get the market and help them to diversify and obtain several sources of revenue. They should not be at the mercy of weather and irrigation water, and wait for months or even a year for their maize,” she explains of her mission.
An apiculture farmer herself, she understands the terrain, challenges and opportunities in agribusiness and is learning more by day and collaborating with more individuals and organizations to achieve her mission.
She also coaches other people in the corporate sector, helping them break from any entanglement impending their journey to greatness.
On psychotherapy, she says the recipients must be willing to be mentally transformed and make the most of their available resources.
The expert is confident that as more people, cooperatives, champions, and organizations collaborate, more people will start taking action and gaining from coaching and therapy services.
Challenges
“Getting them into starting new businesses is a significant problem. They want to be given free resources to start them off.
I am coaching them to understand they don’t need donations and foreign aid to succeed in life, but can get the means by themselves,” she explains.
Ms. Koodaruth reveals that most people are not daring enough to utilize their potential and creativity and appreciate humble beginnings toward greatness, which would propel them from poverty and helplessness.
She also says most people, though receptive and willing to get better lives, aren’t ready to take action on what’s at their disposal.
“While a life coach is there to partner with them, guide and help them think through their situations, it is upon them to personally make the choice and take action,” she says.
She believes having role models and success stories would catalyze this.
Moving forward
In partnership with organizations in diverse sectors, they are now developing a course in apiculture to equip more people with the knowledge and skills needed in honeybee farming, which Ms. Koodaruth says is one of the easiest and most sustainable ventures.
The results are expected to be informed and empowered farmers and youths and the availability of a ready market for their farm products.
The change agent says farmers may focus on apiculture, growing beans, peas, and other crops yielding within a shorter time to spare them the sting of waiting for a very long time when they don’t have resources to sustain their families.
Kaswar Life Choices
Ms. Koodaruth believes in the power of choices, the inspiration behind naming her apiculture enterprise based in Kenya.
Kaswar Life Choices, according to their website, is “a brand that aims to promote health and empower people in rural areas of Kenya while eradicating poverty.”
They produce organic honey and bee-related products such as bee pollen, beeswax, royal jelly, and propolis.
They target spas, hotels, beauty shops, and retailers needing oils and bee products.
“Bee keeping, in my opinion, is the easiest in terms of investment. You need the least investment to become a bee farmer, compared to other means of earning in agribusiness,” comments the entrepreneur and Director, Kaswar Life Choices.
They have expanded, dealing with moringa, neem and baobab oils, and are aiming into mixed oils from other products as macadamia and avocado.
Into authorship
Ms. Koodaruth is the author of Chained by Beliefs, an informative book inspired by real-life stories on the impact of beliefs and mindsets from childhood to adulthood, underscoring the need to seek help and make effort to rise above self-doubt, cultural shackles, fear and helplessness.
You can order your copy and start benefitting.
She says authoring the book allowed her to express her inner feelings and gave her clarity, structure and a sense of satisfaction and relief in using her knowledge and experience gained over time based on her profession.
“When I started writing it, more people came and shared their experiences with me. With more research and the inner feelings and knowledge I had, I was able to compile the book,” she explained to Scholar Media.
The book tells of women’s experiences captured from Ms. Koodaruth’s interactions with numerous women, from the art of parenting to the normalization of seeking help, even in adulthood.
Yet, it’s a book for all genders.
She also co-authored She Leads Vol. 2, where her chapter focuses on “How Beliefs Determine Leadership Effectiveness”.
In Chained by Beliefs, she focuses on how untamed beliefs, distractions and mindsets can impede maximizing one’s life, but in this other chapter, she focuses on how leaders can and should leverage beliefs to ensure that they understand, feel and relate with the people they are leading to ensure they lead them with empathy and care.
“People’s values are formed by beliefs. My values as a leader will connect me to my clients and staff and tell more about my organization. We have to work on our values and beliefs to correctly show up for those around us,” she says about the interconnectedness.
Ms. Koodaruth also talks of the idea of femininity and masculinity, especially in the family unit, and why each should rise to their responsibility to regain and retain the already jeopardized state.
She expresses her discomfort with how, in our era, gender roles have perpetually been flipped, triggering a “not-you-ness” that is affecting relationships, families, and organizations.
These are thoughts to be captured in her in-the-baking book.
Becoming a coach?
Undoubtedly, the life/business coaching industry is gaining traction, and more people are diving into it as coaches, trainees, and beneficiaries.
“For you to be coach, it’s not about your academic papers or doing a course. It’s a tactful combination of the life experiences, exposure and everything you have lived. That is what you make available to others,” she points out.
Ms. Koodaruth says that she does not see life/business coaching as a business but as an avenue to empower the person being coached and the coach as well.
“When you see it that way, it can be so fulfilling,” she assures.
WE REVIEWED HER BOOK: BOOK REVIEW: Chained by Beliefs
To do a discovery call, book a session, partner, or be part of the transformational journey with Ms. Koodaruth, please connect with her on LinkedIn or fill a form to share your details for an outreach call.
