Founder Trustee

We are a small team that bears overall responsibility for managing the foundation. We love what we do, and we do it with a passion.

Koolesh Shah At Matrimandir Auroville

Koolesh Shah

Founder Trustee

Born and raised in Britain, Koolesh Shah founded London Town Group in 1988, a private sector corporation focused on cutting-edge performance in four main pillars – Real Estate, Philanthropy, Energy and Technology. Koolesh was named Hotelier of the Year at the Asian Business Awards.

Koolesh is a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and is Chairman of the Sri Aurobindo Trust.

The Trust has introduced modules on the teachings of Sri Aurobindo at SOAS, University of London since 2017 and has organised regular informative visits to the Ashram in Pondicherry and to Auroville.

The Trust has organised permanent major exhibitions in Auroville on Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mothers teachings and has enabled the English of Savitri to be published.

Throughout the past 20 years the Trust has been a substantial doner for the Matrimandir in the centre of Auroville. It has sponsored and co- produced several films on the life and teaching of Sri Aurobindo, the most recent being released in 2023 – Sri Aurobindo and the Earth Future.

In UK’s first Hindu crematorium, Aum Crematorium, the Trust has sponsored a prayer room based on the teachings of Sri Aurobindo on the continuing journey of the soul.

Koolesh is also founder of the Koolesh Shah Family Foundation a UK charity, our objective is to harness the activities and initiatives of the family’s ongoing philanthropy work.

Koolesh has been involved in the Jain community, having been President of the Jain Social Group London a role he held between 1986 and 1996. The organisation has over 60,000 members and 425 groups worldwide.

He was a founder member of the Vanik Business Group, which enabled the business community to further engage together and mutually flourish.

Koolesh actively supports Making The Leap, which is a charity focused on promoting social mobility in the community through inspirational speaking and mentoring opportunities to students from disadvantaged background.


Kalakant Shah, FCCA

Trustee

Kalakant is a retired chartered certified accountant having being in professional practice, and having also served in financial and commercial enterprises.

He has been associated with Koolesh for many years in various capacities not least acting as his group financial consultant in numerous business ventures.

Having visited the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville on multiple occasions I am honoured to be a trustee for this long established charitable trust, spanning over 60 years.

Kalakant is well placed given his background in assessing projects which the charity consistently supports. With his financial background he is able to contribute positively on fundraising activities which enable the trust to grow and thrive, meeting its objectives.