Drawing inspiration from her mother's school social work, Jeroo Billimoria started early by setting up a help line for children in distress, risk or those that needed counseling. From just eight child volunteers answering a total of 848 calls in the first year, Child Helpline International has grown to handle more than two million calls a year, and serves over 153 countries.

In a similar vein, her most recent venture, Aflatoun, was born to fulfill the lack of basic financial literacy in rural children. In the initial years of Aflatoun, the major detriment to growth was the skepticism from the nonprofit sector over the importance of financial education. The naysayers believed that children did not need to know about money matters, and that her cause was a wasted one. Billimoria knew better. Leveraging her vast experience in pioneering social enterprises, she chose the most difficult countries and piloted her venture. After a staggering success in 11 nations, Aflatoun is set to cover more than one million children via a campaign run in over 75 countries by the year 2010.