From a school to shoes for the blind
The Emanuels of St. Andrew’s School pride themselves for providing quality education, and so much more
While the Emanuels are known for their reputed St. Andrew’s School, not many are aware that the family also owns the A.E. Group which has an annual turnover of more than `200 crore.
The school, however, remains their first love and is run purely for their passion to educate the masses. Chairman of the A.E. Group, Nello Emanuel, tells us that it was his father Late L.W. Emanuel’s vision to set up an institute to provide excellent education at a reasonable cost.
“Back in 1980, I decided to establish a school on my father’s request, but I did not have a single penny. I borrowed `5, 000, big money in those days, from my friend and started my first school, St. Andrew’s, in 1985 at Marredpally with 200 students. The school attracted students from different strata of society as our aim was to just educate and not to adopt commercial aspects,” says Emanuel, who now runs three branches of St. Andrew’s, at Marredpally, Bolaram — which is the largest — and the recently opened one at Keesara. The total strength of the schools together is more than 7,500. The women of the Emanuel family are also active members of the enterprise. Nello’s wife Hyacinth Emanuel is the director of St. Andrew’s and she has never missed a working day at school.
“My responsibility is to see that my children receive the best education in the city with high values. Our primary focus is tutoring but we never compromise on discipline and equality. We have children from high, middle and lower classes and everyone is treated alike. Even my own kids are products of St. Andrew’s and they have never had the benefit of being the chairman’s children. I remember my husband being called by a teacher for my son’s mischief; that is how we have been running the school for 28 years,” says Hyacinth.
The school has an impressive list of alumni including Indian Idol Season 5 winner Sri Ram, cricketer Hanuma Vihari, New
THE FAMILY’S OTHER VENTURES INCLUDE REAL ESTATE, HOSPITALITY, IT
SERVICES FOR EDUCATION, HIGH-TECH FARMING AND EVEN OIL EXPLORATION IN
AMERICA
Zealand cricketer Tarun Nethula and Tollywood actor Adarsh Balakrishna. “I vividly remembered the day Sri Ram reached Hyderabad after he won. Though he had to meet the then chief minister, he visited the school first to thank us and his teachers. He sang along with the school choir and spoke about his school days,” adds the director.
Nello and Hyacinth have two daughters and a son. Their eldest daughter Anisha Lloyd is a chef and has worked with the co-host of Master Chef Australia,
I borrowed 5000 from a friend and started my first school, St. Andrew’s,
in 1985
George Calombaris. Their second daughter Niharika Lawrence is a lawyer and holds a degree in intellectual property law. Their youngest, Ashish Emanuel, recently took over as director of A.E. Group. The group’s other ventures include real estate, hospitality, IT services for education, high-tech farming and even oil exploration in America.
Anisha is married to Lloyd Raphael and is the mother of two-year-old Cayleb Lloyd. “I absolutely love being in the kitchen, cooking makes me happy. We have a ball during festivals. I specialise in desserts. However, I can never beat my mum’s dishes,” says Anisha, who also manages the Human Resource wing of the group. Her husband Lloyd heads the group’s high-tech farming team at Siddipet and has implemented a new technique of growing ginger. “Crops like ginger cannot be re-grown in the same soil after a certain period, so we have started growing ginger in the air by providing essential nutrients through moisture. This will not only save the soil but it can be grown next year in the same place,” says Lloyd.
Nello and Hyacinth’s younger daughter Niharika is married to Krispian Lawrence, an electric engineer and the co-owner of Ducere Technology Private Limited. He has invented first-of-its-kind shoes for the blind. “I, along with my business partner, have introduced a haptic shoe called Le-chal — meaning take me in Hindi — that has GPS to guide the blind.”
Niharika and Krispian have a two-year-old son Nataniel Lawrence. Ashish Emanuel, the youngest of the three siblings meanwhile is dedicated to expanding the group’s real estate wing. “It’s been two years since I entered the business world and I am enjoying it. I love structural designing; most of my house and my entire room has been designed by me,” says Ashish who is a guitarist as well.
The Emanuels also don’t forget to give credit to Nello’s elder sister, late B. Joseph, who had taken great pains in setting up the school.