Royal recognition

Global social entrepreneur, Netherlands based Jeroo Billimoria was appointed Officer of The Order of Orange-Nassau (Orde van Oranje-Nassau) by the King of the Netherlands on April 26, 2018. This high-ranking Dutch civilian order of chivalry honor is awarded to persons who have rendered outstanding service to society. As an Officer of the Order, she is now ranked among renowned Dutch politicians, artists and scientists. Billimoria, who was raised in Bombay, is reportedly the only non-European to receive a royal honor this year, it was stated on the website of Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI), one of the eight global social entrepreneurial ventures she has initiated.

Jeroo Billimoria wearing the badge that symbolizes the Dutch honor

Photo: CYFI website

With 52-year-old Billimoria’s work highly regarded across the non-profit network, the NGO Advisor recently ranked three of the organizations founded by her — Aflatoun International, CYFI and Child Helpline International (CHI) at 26th, 32nd and 84th place among the top nongovernmental organizations in the world, according to CYFI.
In 2003 Billimoria founded CHI with the intention of improving child protection systems through accessible helplines. Currently the CHI network includes 180 helplines in 147 countries. Aflatoun International, started in 2005, hoped to break the cycle of poverty by teaching children about money. (Earlier she had co-authored fictional books where children could relate to one of the characters, Aflatoon.) The Aflatoun campaign received the support of Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and in partnership with Nederlandsche Bank and Deloitte reached 11 million people in 109 countries. In 2011 she founded CYFI to ensure financial inclusion and economic citizenship education for young people in over 150 countries. In the last 15 years that she has been in the Netherlands, these three organizations have reportedly touched the lives of an estimated 200 million children globally.
As an Officer of The Order of Orange-Nassau, Billimoria was conferred a badge that is to be worn on a ribbon, with rosette, on the left chest, mentions the website ‘unofficial royalty.com’ that gives details on Dutch orders and honors. "The badge is a blue enameled Maltese Cross (with white-enameled border), suspended from a crown. In the center is a blue enameled disc bearing the Dutch lion in gold. This is surrounded by a white enameled ring with the motto "Je Maintiendrai (I Shall Maintain)” and a laurel wreath. On the back is the crowned monogram of Queen Wilhelmina surrounded by the motto — "God Zij Met Ons (God Be With Us).”
After the Netherlands split from Luxembourg upon the death of King Willem III, Queen Emma formed the Order of Orange-Nassau in April 1892 to recognize foreign diplomats as well as Dutch citizens for their service to the nation.
Billimoria relocated to Amsterdam after her marriage to Bertjan Janzen in 2002. They had met when he was deputed by PricewaterhouseCoopers to collaborate with Childline, one of the many organizations founded by her. A postgraduate from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, among the educationists who influenced her profoundly was Dr Armaity Desai whom she considers her "guruji.” As Billimoria had conveyed in an interview with Parsiana (see "The Childline challenge,” August 2002) "I have a policy in life, never to stay with one organization for more than five years… Let it run without you and then move on.”
For her innovation and leadership, Billimoria was conferred a Skoll Award (awardee receives a $1.25 million investment or core support grant over three years). She was also conferred the Ashoka Fellowship (offering a stipend for first three years if required and a lifelong scholarship that encourages Fellows to deepen their impact by embarking on a tailored timeline of investments and support) and Schwab Fellowship (Fellow receives special benefits such as pro-bono consulting services and scholarships to executive education courses at world-class institutions such as Harvard Business School, Stanford University and INSEAD).