Dr Jiva Odedra was born in Uganda. He grew up in India before settling in the United Kingdom during 1980. After arriving in the UK, he learnt English language and went on to university to study Electrical Engineering and subsequently specialised as telecommunications professional and travelled to many countries of the world. Since leaving Marconi, he has held a number of positions including CEO of Leicestershire Asian Business Association (LABA).
Jiva draws inspiration from the timeless poem representing conversation between two cousins on a battlefield over 5000 years ago in the form of the ‘Bhagavad Gita’. He encourages the members of the Asian communities to stop being passive participant and become active participant in the local, regional and national agendas and contribute selflessly.
As chair of trustees at Shree Hindu Temple in Leicester he is keen to create a platform which allows younger members of community to become more active – since Dr Odedra believes that the younger generations have a number of advantages – technically savvy, more energetic, ability to learn and apply new knowledge and better at communications skills.
He lives in Scraptoft, Leicestershire with his wife and two grown up children.
1) What is your current position?
Chair of trustees at Shree Hindu Temple in Leicester; and CEO of a start-up company, Jalaram’s Farsans Limited which manufactures snack products.
2) What are your proudest achievements?
There are so many achievements covering different fields; as Electrical Engineer specialising in fibre optics as well as Telecommunications technology; award of PhD for examining nature of supply chain innovation in the UK was another; the recent start-up company manufacturing snack products is also another source of pride.
3) What inspires you?
The Teachings of Bhagavad Gita inspires me; it allows me to view other human beings without filters such as faith, gender, geographical and ethnic boundaries.
4) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?
I have been fortunate enough to hold responsible positions in private, public, and volunteer sector organisations and there were challenges – such as different management cultures, inequalities etc - but not any particular obstacles having impact on my career
5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?
I haven’t had a single influence or gurus as such, but my parents support is permanent and was crucial in supporting me to gain university education;
Over the years I have continued to draw inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita and its timeless message of selfless Action (Karma), Knowledge (Gyan and Devotion (Bhakti).
6) What is the best aspect about your current role?
Being able to create an environment at Shree Hindu Temple, this focuses on the future as well as it is community driven.
The structure includes the trustees, the management committee, temple staff, volunteers and community members. This team takes support to people and deliver support on demand.
7) And the worst?
There is no worst aspect. Being given an opportunity to serve the communities of Leicester from Shree Hindu Temple is a great honour and privilege.
Every breath changes us and therefore every moment is once in a lifetime opportunity to create or contribute.
8) What are your long term goals?
To see Shree Hindu Temple of Leicester being recognised for its selfless service to communities of Leicester as well as the United Kingdom - we have created the base and moving in the right direction – its crucial to recognise at all times that it is important what we do as temple post holders but even more important is who we leave behind to continue to serve long after we have departed.
9) If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?
As per teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, the current Prime Minister is driven by the same divine and therefore he is me. He is doing a great job in serving beautiful people of these islands in the North Sea we call the United Kingdom; therefore, there is no need to change anything since ‘change’ is already a constant for us all.
10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?
Lord Krishna because he would not propose any remedies or solutions but guide me to reflect and recognise my real form; he will also give me key of recognising the soul within myself; where I would learn to use my body as part of the physical world to serve the divine. Equipped with his message of selfless action and with him being around I would not be marooned for too long on that island.
