Shalini Mahtani, MBE

Shalini Mahtani is one of Hong Kong’s most authoritative and respected voices on social issues, particularly diversity and inclusion and the plight of Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities. Shalini has been a pioneer in civil society working in areas previously untouched in Hong Kong.

She is the founder of The Zubin Foundation, a charity that works to improve the lives of Hong Kong’s marginalised ethnic minorities by providing opportunities and reducing suffering. They are mostly Hong Kong’s poorest Indians, Pakistanis and Nepalis. The Zubin Foundation is among the city’s most accomplished and recognised on issues related to ethnic minorities. The Zubin Foundation works with women and girls in crisis and has the only helpline for them called “Call Mira”, it has the only mental health centre for ethnic minority children and adults in Hong Kong, works with families with special needs children in public schools and offers yearly scholarships for the financially needy to enter tertiary education. Simply put, Shalini works with those that lack visibility and opportunity in Hong Kong who are mostly of South Asian and South East Asian descent. The Zubin Foundation is named after Zubin Mahtani Gidumal, Shalini’s first child who died tragically in 2009.