Giving Tuesday Bonus: From Mother Teresa to Creating Opportunities Through Hospitality - Harsha L'Acqua, Saira Hospitality

Harsha L'Acqua:
I have four sisters and the five of us grew up quite immersed in my father's work with Mother Teresa. And so, as a result of watching him work with her, as he used to help her fund and operate orphanages and homes all around the world, particularly in India. But as a result of watching his work, we grew up very much aware of the lack of equality in the world and the differences between what we had as children and what people all over the world don't have. And so, this strong philanthropic gene is very much in my blood.

Josiah Mackenzie:
Do you recall a early interaction you had with Mother Teresa that stands out in your mind? How did that shape you, do you feel?

Harsha L'Acqua:
Well, I was little. And so, in all honesty, it was more the impact that she had on my father that always amazed me. I was little. I was maybe six or eight. And I remember when she would call, she would come into London where we grew up and she would call at the dinner table. And my dad would just rush up from [inaudible 00:02:27]. "It's mother, she's calling." And then he'd say, "Okay, let's go." And it would be late for us. It'd be like, I don't know what it was, 8:00, 9:00 or something at night. We're like, "Where are we going?" And he's like, "Mother's in town. We have to go meet her." And so, I didn't know who she was at that time. I just saw the crazy impact she had on the world whenever we would see her in different places all over the world, but also on him.
And I also saw this woman who was so petite. She's very petite frame. I think what always stuck with me now that I think back is how she did so much for the world and for strangers that she'd never met, and how she'd pick up children, and hug them, and not be scared or worried about disease or anything like that, but also how she didn't take it too seriously. And so, every time she saw my dad, she would make a joke, like a funny inappropriate joke, where it would be something about him being the only brown man in the sea of white people and just things that you wouldn't imagine Mother Teresa to say. And she would laugh at him and with him. And they had a really close relationship. I know that he used to...
We were born Hindu and brought up Hindu, but also my father's very respectful and my mother of all religions. And it's because there was a church downstairs in London, my parents would send us to Christian summer school for no reason, just because it was convenient. And so, my father would also go into church and be able to pray next to her. And I think that just hearing those stories, and potentially seeing him now and then do that, I think has an impact or an image I would say that's stuck in my mind. But more than anything, I just saw the impact that this very petite woman could have, one person who could have on the world. And at the same time, almost, yes, she took it seriously. Yes, of course, she was passionate, that was her calling, but not so seriously that you can't still enjoy a joke here and there.
And despite all the sadness, and grief, and horrific situations that she'd see, there's still a lightness and there's still a fun and there's still an energy of youthfulness in her, regardless of her age or how she was feeling or how exhausted she might've been. And the idea and watching her, we'd always be told to take the blankets from the airplanes and give them away, take this, take that. So, I don't know that encouraged attitude of stealing, I don't know. But I do know that there were many things that we learned from just watching my father and mostly interact with her.

Josiah Mackenzie:
The way that you've described your journey feels formed by these early childhood experiences, these family experiences. Can you tell me a little bit more about your father's and your family's work?

Harsha L'Acqua:
Yeah. Well, my father, so when she passed, we had been working with her and in the one of child school worlds for I think maybe 76. I guess when he was around fifties maybe or late forties. It's been a few decades. And if you ever heard this, which he won't, he'll be mad that I don't know exactly the dates, but he's been doing this for a while. So, his attitude, which I think like a lot of philanthropists is make the money and then give it away. And never should they overlap and never should they be reliant on each other necessarily. So, he spent a lot of his time working in Nigeria and India, making the money that he made. And then actually has two offices. So, one on one floor and one on the other in Bombay where he now lives. And one is entirely dedicated to his charities.
And so, he focuses on primary healthcare. So, for him, he's so in awe of nature. And for him, the idea of anyone not being able to see really speaks to him. So, he focuses on sight, and through that, sight, primary healthcare and clean water. So, the basic needs. People need to see, they need to be able to drink clean water, they need to have basic healthcare. And that's what he's spent his last few decades on, which are... You can't really question that. And so, through sight, he has these cataract hospitals where... And that's how I started thinking about charity in terms of revenue models. And for him, I think it's about 30% of people end up paying for their cataract operations and 70% are free. And so, it can sustain itself. Once you put up the initial capital for the hospitals and they can self sustain themselves and millions.
He's impacted millions and millions of people. And being able to restore the gift of sight, you can't really, I don't think, ask for anything too much more than that. But yet I didn't agree with him in many things, I would say. But I didn't agree with the idea that you have to make money and give it away. I guess I come from a very different school of thought where you just don't know. Maybe we're not as privileged as people were pre-terrorism, pre-war, pre everything that we're going through right now. And so, I could never be okay with the fact that what if I died working for Six Senses and never did anything with my life, other than try and make money and work for a beautiful brand. But what was I doing for the world?
So, I had to quite quickly think, how can I marry these two and love, a love of hospitality and then love of everything that Six Senses has taught me, but also a need, more than I'd love, but a need and the sense of just what's right and wrong and to make an impact on people's lives. So, that's what he does and that's how I took what I learned from him, but also what I learned from hospitality and also what my core belief being we just don't know how long we have. So, it's important to do what you want to do as soon as you can possibly do it, and find a way to do it now, versus hope that you make it to a certain age and then be able to impact people. That doesn't work for me personally.

Josiah Mackenzie:
That's a great point. And for some people, maybe that other way works. But I'm very interested in what does it look like to be generous as we go and whatever we're doing. And that might be giving financial, it might be giving time, it might be creating opportunity or giving access. There's so many ways you can be generous, right?

Harsha L'Acqua:
Right. You don't have to be Mother Teresa and dedicate your whole life to it. And I hope that we've proven through Saira that we are a nonprofit in the US and a CIC in the UK. But I think also challenging the norms of nonprofit and the idea that we're a nonprofit and so we don't pay well. And we're a nonprofit, so we only rely on donations and we don't know how long we're going to be around for. And all of these stigmas that nonprofits have. And competitiveness too, they're fighting for the same funds and the same grants. And so, I think thinking outside of the box and saying, just because we're a nonprofit doesn't mean we have to rely on grants or be competitive with other nonprofits or be anything lower quality.
So, it doesn't mean that our teachers are just people we find and hope they can teach a class. No, these are hospitality professionals who can tell incredible stories, who feel incredibly drawn to the industry that we serve and who we're lucky to have found at a time when they feel called by what we do. And we're able to then train them and have them bestow that same sense of excitement and honor and pride to our students that they have in themselves. But nonprofits typically don't think like this. So, it's been an interesting journey of challenging a lot of norms that we take as granted.

Josiah Mackenzie:
I would love to hear from you, Harsha, what are the type of organizations that you'd love to partner with? You're always forming these partnerships and working with different hotels. I don't know if manifesting works or not.

Harsha L'Acqua:
It does.

Josiah Mackenzie:
If you communicate what you would like to see happen, maybe there's some people listening that will say, hey, that might be me. So, who would you like to partner with in the year and years ahead?

Harsha L'Acqua:
Interesting. Like a manifestation. I would hope there are two different avenues I would love to see. Actually, three, now that we're really dreaming big. So, one is I want Saira to start to be put into management contracts. We're talking with a great brand and this is where it comes from. And hopefully, we'll be in their management contracts as they open and launch their brand in the next five locations. And it's everywhere from Dublin to Bhutan, to Kenya. It's a luxury brand, but a brand that I believe really believes in the sense of place. They believe in entering mindfully. They believe in along what we believe in terms of giving before you take from different locations. So, I would love that to be a no-brainer for hotels as they develop and expand. I would love...
We're branching out. So, we were lucky to partner with Muse from the tech world. And it's an amazing company and amazing partnership. And they funded the entire of our school this year actually. And we've agreed to partner on another four schools. But I think hospitality tech companies are also, as we are, realizing the benefit of this kind of partnership. And for them, I think they're realizing this is a great way to give back to their customers as hotels. It's a great way to network with other tech companies. It's a great way to have access to the different hospitality partners that we have.
So, we have tech companies now that we're speaking to who are interested to come on as partners to help us fund the schools. And also, to say to their customers, we know you struggle with finding great talent, so we've donated on your behalf to Saira. And as a result you'll have access to X number of graduates that will hopefully help to solve some of the issues that hotels have. The other thing that I would love to see happen is entirely different. It's the social credit card. I don't know if I've ever spoken to you about that.

Josiah Mackenzie:
I would love to learn more and for our listeners to learn more, because I heard a little bit about this concept and found it fascinating.

Harsha L'Acqua:
Yeah, it's interesting. And it doesn't have to be a Saira social credit card. I think we have a lot going on. And I'm more than happy and thrilled if it does become Saira social credit card that happens all over the world. But I started to think a couple of years ago how difficult it is as a guest to be able to give back easily and impactfully. And so, I would travel myself to places and be like, I don't know how to give back and I'd like to do something for this community. They seem like a great culture. I'm sure there's need. I just don't see the need. It's not easy. So, what we would typically do is for a hotel who would be interested in... And for a hotel that would be interested in offering this for their guests, is this menu that would be placed in strategic places around the hotel, by the pool side, by the bedside site, wherever you would normally come across room service menu or something like that.
And so, this menu, which we have a picture on our website under the CSR menu, I think it was called. It's just divided into time and funds or resources. And guests would be able to choose how much they wanted to donate in terms of time or funds or both. So, is it two hours, two days, two weeks? Is it $20, $200, $2,000? And what we would do as Saira is identify with the local community around that hotel, what are the main needs, the real needs, not the football field that people think the hotels want, that the local want, the real needs? So, do they need water? Do they need transport? Do they need English classes? Are there a group of women who want to learn about entrepreneurship? So, what are the different ways that guests can give back? And as a result, based on what you're donating, how much time, how much money, the hotel then rewards you to say thank you for having this impact on our community.
And whether it's points that you get as a customer of the hotel or whether it is a wine tasting or a spa experience or whatever it may be. It's just a way to say thank you for not only staying with us, but also having a very positive impact on this community that we live in. These are our neighbors. And you're not just coming, staying in our hotel, we're making money, you are enjoying yourself, but you're going outside of the wall and you're really immersing yourself, however that looks for you. Because I also hate the idea of going on holiday and being like, I have to go drive five hours to school and take pictures and come back. And that's not enjoyable for anyone, nor is it impactful for anyone really. So, I feel like if that were manifesting, if I could see this little credit card everywhere I go, but just the option. Because I just think even just having that would allow communities to be so much more excited when hotels are opening, as opposed to being like, what's coming with that hotel? How much traffic, how much water are they taking?
Everything that we get scared of with too much development. Because if people feel drawn to this and they want to reach out or they want to even learn more about where donations would go. And we've had some amazing donors say, I'd like to do a school, here's some money. I'd like to love this, for this to go specifically to single mothers. And so, we're very open in terms of donations and where people want the money to go. And so, I think that's probably on Giving Tuesday a approach and for them to know, I believe it's £1,600 to fund a student through a six-week program. That's a good number.

Josiah Mackenzie:
£1600 per student, which could change their life. That's really cool. Well, I'll link in the show notes to this, I think for people just listening to the audio and go to sairahospitality.com. Right at the top right-hand corner, there's donate button and click their get in touch and learn more.