It is brutal to say this, but charity should be treated like business. Most charity work go wrong because of lack of planning, business skills and accountability.” This is the quintessential Christel De Haan, one of America’s most powerful businesswoman and in India and the world over, the name behind Christel House.

Christel, who was in the City spoke about her ‘family’, the Christel House and the turn her life had taken. After selling her global business Resort Conominiums International, she decided that the next half of her life would be for the impoverished children to help them become self-sufficient. “I did not go back into the commercial world.

Christel House was the result of my desire to create something comprehensive. To optimise the potential of those who are not privileged through education, which is the biggest equaliser,” she says.

“Poverty begets poverty,” adds Christel who is very clear about the fact that her work should not stop with this generation. “The subsequent generation too should have a better life around the world. We want our children to take up financial responsibility by defining different pathways. We would be able to know which child can go for vocation and which can go for higher studies. Most of the children in Christel House come from slums. We foster in our children a sense of backing. We sit with the parents as they can be the best mentors. I don’t believe in running anything in absenteeism.”

Christel, who emigrated from Germany to the US, is a grandmother and a community leader as well. On her real estate days, she says, “it’s male dominated. But I can say that I have been successful.” A businesswoman and a philanthropist? “Primarily, one should conduct charity work methodically, as an enterprise. One should at the same time have a big heart too,” stressing on the ‘big’.