7. What are the 5 things you have learned as an entrepreneur and program director of EFNT?
These are some lessons I have learned along the way:
1. Define Success for yourself and be happy with your own definition of it. Do not let others define success for you. 2. Be grateful at every stage in your life. 3. Hope for some early failures – as that will teach you a lot. 4. Count your wealth in terms of the number of meaningful relationships you have built not $$ in the bank. 5. If you were lucky, pay it forward.
Sejal Desai, Program Director of Entrepreneurs for North Texas
Sejal Desai is the Program Director for Entrepreneurs For North Texas (EFNT) where she manages community engagement and philanthropic strategies for small to mid sized companies in North Texas. Sejal is also the Founder of SevaYatra, a social venture that offers short-term service project opportunities at NGOs in India. Sejal previously worked as a Principal at MHT Partners, a boutique investment bank based in Dallas where she worked on cross-border merger and acquisitions primarily between US and Indian companies. She was also a Co-Founder and Principal of STARTech Early Ventures, a seed stage venture firm, that invested in early stage technology ventures in Texas. She also led various entrepreneurial education and training efforts as CEO of STARTech Foundation, a sister organization of STARTech Early Ventures. In addition to STARTech, Sejal also co-founded and sold a hands-on science education business, Mad Science of Denton County. Prior to her work in the U.S., Sejal served as a manager in the corporate advisory services division for Ernst & Young in Mumbai, India for a few years where she worked on various foreign inward investment projects, valuation as well as due diligence studies. She began her career at D.J. Shukla & Co., where she handled personal taxes and conducted audits for domestic corporations.
In her career, she has worked with over 300 entrepreneurs and 35 venture-backed companies and investors. She also has extensive working knowledge of the philanthropic community in India and US. Sejal has served on the boards of The Dallas Assembly, thinkIndia Foundation and Texans Credit Union and On-Target Supplies & Logistics Ltd. She currently serves on the Board of the DFW South Asian Film Festival and on the Philanthropy Council of North Texas Food Bank. She also serves on the Leadership and Education Advisory Councils for the American India Foundation and is a graduate of Leadership Richardson. Sejal holds a Masters in Liberal Studies from Southern Methodist University. She has an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas and she is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Sejal lives in Dallas with her husband, Hemang and two children, Mohan and Maya.
