Our team in India

Country Director - Babu Menon

Our office in India is headed by P.G.R Menon (Babu). Babu was born and raised in Kerala and was instrumental in the decision to locate Global Volunteer Projects – India in the country’s most beautiful state.

The son of a banker, Babu went to school and later University in Kerala, graduating with a degree in Botany and Zoology. After his degree Babu travelled to Calcutta to complete a post-graduate course in management but was brought back home by the sudden and un-expected death of his Father.

Following the death of his father, Babu stayed in Kerala and decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, joining the banking industry where he spent many happy years. It was during this time that he met his wife, Thankam, a widow with two children that had lost her husband to a car accident. They married in 1980 and a short time later, his wife, a nursing professional, was recruited to the Ministry of Health in Saudia Arabia. Babu gave up his beloved Kerala a short time later and joined his wife, working as the head of Human Resources for a training establishment based in Abah.

With their two children now qualified professionals and working overseas, his son an engineer in the US, his daughter a dentist in the UK, Babu decided to look for a new challenge and during a trip to the UK to see his daughter, met the GVP director and GVP in India was born!

Babu is the ideal person to run our projects in Kerala. A vociforous promoter of Kerala, he believes that no other state in India is as beautiful or offers as much opportunity.

Incredibly well connected, if Babu doesn’t know someone who can help us arrange a project, he probably knows someone who does. As a result, our projects in India are quite unique.

His background in banking has given him a meticulous eye for detail which he applies to the arrangement of all our placements.

His experience in HR in Saudia Arabia has also given him experience in working with people from different cultures and an understanding of the challenges facing people living and working in new country for the first time.

Babu is driven by a passion to interact with people from different cultures and enjoys meeting volunteers with their varying backgrounds and personalities. He is committed to arranging projects that are worthwhile, not only to the participants but also to the local community which makes him the perfect Director of our programme in India.

Babu is looking forward to meeting you when you arrive in India!

“Be happy and make others happy and a wellbeing will come to your own life” Babu Menon.