Olly Belcher (Donnelly): Founder & CEO


Appointment date: May 2008

Olly founded Shivia in 2008 and was appointed CEO in September 2010. She drives Shivia’s overall strategy and fundraises to support the operations in India. Olly has an MSc (Distinction) and MA Geography (First Class Honours) both from Oxford University. She based her Undergraduate and Masters theses on issues affecting the poor of West Bengal, India. She travelled extensively in India and Nepal before joining the World Bank in Washington DC where she was awarded the World Bank Youth Innovation Fund. She returned to London to work for Accenture Strategy and started on her plan to launch Shivia.

Olly sits on the board of the charity MAITS and is President of St Edmund Hall (Oxford) Association, representing 10,000 alumni and relations with the college. She previously sat on the committees for Leonard Cheshire International, St Mary’s Ascot School Alumnae and the board of Moonpig Foundation. She was the UK Ambassador for the NGO, BASE, working with very poor communities in West Nepal and remains heavily involved with the foster home, Familia, in West Bengal.

Awards

2009: selected as one of Management Todays ‘35 women under 35’

2014: ‘Women of the Future, Community Spirits’ award

2015: selected for Financial News Extra Mile 40 List

2016: selected for St Edmund Hall Oxford 35 ‘Women Inspire’ Collection.

2018: in recognition of the National Year of Women, Olly was selected as one of 12 women to be displayed at the School of Geography and the Environment representing diversity of achievements among female alumnae.

olly@shivia.com

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IMPACT STORIES

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(SHANTI)

Shanti lives in the Nayagarh District in Odisha with her husband and…

Poultry Farmer

(RACHANA)

Rachana was one of the first women to enrol on Poultry Development…

Poultry Farmer

(AKINA)

Akina is 50 and is married with seven daughters. She and her…

Paddy Farmer

(NISHIKANTA)

Nishikanta is 45 and he registered for AMS in June 2014. He…

  • It has been a pleasure to help shine a light on the inspirational work that Shivia does. The team’s passion and determination to make a lasting difference to families living in poverty – and doing so respectfully – is clear in every interaction. By contributing support for their marketing communications and brand identity evolution, we hope that they will be able to empower even more people in the future.
    Rebecca Lovelock
    Founder at Bretom
  • Shivia’s work is very impressive - how it is carried out and who the people are working in the locations.  It is a very healthy and together team which is being very effective.
    Jane Meyer
    Trustee of T&J Meyer Family Foundation
  • "The work Shivia does is simple and yet so life-changing, we’re thrilled to have been part of the charity’s growth story and hope to partner with them for many years to come.”
    Marisa Charosky
    Coordinator - Artemis Charitable Foundation
  • Agri-management Services has the capacity to deliver lasting change for our farmers. I have always felt that the farmers feed our nation while they can hardly afford to feed themselves. What an irony. So if my team and I are able to help farmers earn a sustainable income through agriculture, there’s nothing better than this.

    Joe Rao
    Lead Consultant for Shivia
  • I have witnessed first-hand how Shivia has not just changed but transformed people's lives with its livelihood programmes.
    Yasmine Hilton
    Chairman - Shivia
  • Alquity supports Shivia because they transform lives by giving people the opportunity to do things themselves and they do it with dignity.
    Suresh Mistry
    Director - Alquity