A Golden Career

Teacher, Social Worker, and Businesswoman

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The Managing Director of Manappuram Jewellers Ltd., a prominent gems and jewellery franchise, operating in three Southern states of India strides into the Boardroom. As simple as she appears, one cannot miss the aura of elegance around her. Meet Sushama Nandakumar, a teacher turned businesswoman who is still affectionately called ‘Sushama teacher’ in Valapad, a coastal town in central Kerala. Valapad is also where the Manappauram group, a large conglomerate in the banking and finance sector, is headquartered.

The teacher

Her teaching career started in 1981 and she served in schools in the coastal belt of the Thrissur District in central Kerala. After teaching for 30 long years, she retired in 2011. The schools where she worked catered mostly to the underprivileged students coming from the coastal fishing communities. Those days she often went out of her way to support them to whatever extent she could, such as by providing textbooks to the students, or paying their fees. Towards the end of her career, when she had become the Principal of her school, she would find herself using almost her entire salary to pay for various needs of the school, including the noon meal programme and paying for co-curricular activities.