Shantanu Naidu Age, Girlfriend, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Shantanu Naidu

• Shantanu Naidu is an Indian businessman, animal rights activist, human rights activist, and corporate executive. He has established several organisations including Motopaws, On Your Sparks, and The Goodfellows, aimed at helping the needy and reforming the society. He has often hit the headlines for maintaining a close relationship with the ex-chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata.

• Shantanu Naidu belongs to a Telugu-speaking family in Maharashtra.

• He completed his school studies in Pune.

• In May 2009, he joined Tata Technologies, where he worked as an engineering intern till May 2010.

• In 2014, he got employed in the Pune branch of Tata Elxsi, where he worked as a design engineer till 2016.

• Out of empathy towards the stray dogs killed in road accidents, especially at night, Shantanu established Motopaws in 2015. The organisation makes radial collars for stray dogs so that drivers at night can identify dogs on the roads. Shantanu, in an interview, talked about conceiving the idea of establishing Motopaws and said that while coming home at night after completing his shift at Tata Elxsi, he would often see dogs laying dead in the middle of the road, killed by a vehicle; therefore, to save dogs from getting hit from a speeding vehicle, he founded the organisation. Motopaws also advocates for animal rights and spreads awareness about it. He said,
  

  Working the night shift at Tata Elxsi, I used to get horrified looking at the dead street dogs who were hit by a speeding vehicle at night. So, I got the idea of creating a special collar that would glow in the dark so that people from far can see if a dog is crossing a road or is on the road.”

  

  A photo of Shantanu (standing on the left of Ratan Tata) with Motopaws’ volunteers

  Soon after establishing Motopaws, Shantanu began facing many challenges, one of them being a lack of resources to manufacture collars. Following his father’s suggestion, Shantanu wrote a letter to Ratan Tata in 2015, seeking his assistance. Ratan responded to the letter two months later. In his letter, Ratan commended Shantanu for his work and invited Shantanu to meet him. Shantanu talked about his experience of meeting Ratan for the first time in an interview and said,

  I stared at the door of Mr Tata’s cabin. There was a moment when someone went in to serve him coffee. As the door closed slowly, I caught a glimpse of him eating cookies in slow motion. I found myself wondering what kind of cookies Ratan Tata must eat. Would they be very different from what Amma bought for me? Only moments later, he came out to get us We showed him the Motopaws journey. He kept repeating how innovative he believed the idea was. Incapable of handling praise, we continued to smile sheepishly, with an occasional ‘Oh, stop it, you’ chuckle escaping.”

  As of 2023, Motopaws has received orders for the collars from four countries; the organisation is also active in as many as twenty cities in India.

• Upon completing his engineering, Shantanu Naidu started studying for the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). He gave the GMAT examination in January 2016 and secured a score of 760.

• While studying at Cornell University, Shantanu Naidu added many feathers to his cap. He emerged as a victor in the Johnson Leadership Case Competition, received the Hemmeter Entrepreneurship Award, served as the ambassador of Johnson Social Media, became the president of a Motorcycle Association named The Cornell Motorcycle Association after establishing it, published many articles in The Cornell Business Journal, and worked in the Finance, South Asian Business Association as its vice president.
  

  Shantanu Naidu’s photo taken after he had won the Johnson Leadership Case Competition

• Shantanu joined Tata Trusts in June 2017 as a business strategy intern.

• In 2018, Ratan Tata was present at Shantanu’s graduation ceremony at Cornell University.
  

  Ratan Tata with Shantanu Naidu during his graduation ceremony at the Cornell University

• In the same year, after returning to India from the US, he moved to Mumbai and began working as a deputy general manager at Tata Trusts. As per Shantanu, Ratan Tata personally rang him up and offered the job.

• He established On Your Sparks in May 2020 with the intent of guiding young entrepreneurs in uplifting their businesses.

• Shantanu was employed as a freelance author at the Mumbai-based HarperCollins Publishers India in December 2020.

• Shantanu co-authored I Came Upon a Lighthouse: A Short Memoir of Life with Ratan Tata, which was published in January 2021.
  

  The cover page of I Came Upon a Lighthouse: A Short Memoir of Life with Ratan Tata

• He hit the headlines after a clip of him celebrating Ratan Tata’s 84th birthday with Ratan went viral on social media on December 2021.
  

  Shantanu Naidu with Ratan Tata, celebrating Ratan’s 84th birthday

• He was appointed as the general manager at the Office of RNT at the Tata Group in May 2022.

• With the intent to help the senior citizens of India battle loneliness, Shantanu Naidu established an organisation named The Goodfellows in September 2022. Through the organisation, he recruits volunteers coming from different fields as companions for the elderly.

• He was appointed as the director of the Advanced Veterinary Care Foundation on 18 January 2023.

• Shantanu Naidu has affectionately named Ratan Tata as Millenial Dumbledore, while Ratan affectionately calls him Millenial Friend.
  

  A photo of Shantanu Naidu with Ratan Tata taken during an event

• Shantanu Naidu is multi-lingual and is well-versed in Telugu, Marathi, Hindi, and English.

• Apart from working as an advisor to Ratan in business affairs, Shantanu works with Ratan as his social media advisor. He has taught Ratan about the various aspects of social media including keeping up with social media trends as well as using emoticons and hashtags.

• For generations, Shantanu’s family has worked in the Tata Group. His great-grandfather was employed at Tata Power, his grandfather was employed at Tata Electrical, his father was employed at Tata Motors as an engineer, and his paternal cousin is employed at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

• Shantanu Naidu has shared his experiences through many talk shows including TEDx.
  

  Shantanu Naidu’s photo taken when he was giving a speech at TEDx