At her NGO, Sujaya Foundation, Neelambari Rao trains physically and mentally challenged youth from economically weaker sections so they can find employment. Leslie D’Monte talks to the founder.
It takes some effort to walk up the narrow staircase to reach the third floor of this old building which stands on a busy stretch of Nana Chowk in South Mumbai. However, when you finally catch your breath and enter the door, what meets your eye makes the entire exercise worth your while. You spot around 35 young girls and boys staring intently at keyboards, slowly raising each finger and feeding data into the desktops painstakingly. You may think they’re taking computer classes. But, in reality, they’re working for a contact (call) centre which is unique in many respects. One, it is run by an NGO called Sujaya Foundation. Two, the employees here are differently-abled — they are either physically challenged or autistic. And three, they all come from the economically weaker sections of society.
“All those who work at this contact centre are on the rolls of Sujaya Foundation,” says Neelambari Rao who started the NGO. She is the wife of Jaitirth Rao (better known as Jerry Rao, the former Citi India head, MphasiS founder, poet and now a promoter of low-cost housing) and this is her independent venture “to give underprivileged children and youth a platform to launch them into the dignified and bright future they deserve”.
Those working at this contact centre enter data for the likes of HDFC Bank, Deutsche Bank and Clear Concepts, an education company, which pay on a “per entry” basis. All the infrastructure costs are borne by the foundation, and the payments by companies are treated as “pass-through” transactions. “The foundation does not use the payments from the companies to pay salaries, electricity bills, rent, etc. We do that with our own money and donations from well-wishers,” says Rao.
The aim is to bridge the digital and linguistic divide through education. “We teach underprivileged school children mathematics, science, English and computers. The endeavour is to provide education to increase employability,” says Rao who founded the NGO around 10 years ago. When she and her husband returned to India in 1998, she initially volunteered with an NGO called Premadaan, and even taught English for two years in a municipality school in Colaba, before starting Sujaya Foundation. “It was very satisfying to see the failure rates decline drastically since English is a tough subject for these students,” recalls Rao.
And her foundation’s efforts appear to be paying dividends. A severely autistic person earns between Rs 700 and Rs 1,000 per month. “This may seem to be a small amount. But this person may otherwise never step out of his or her home and be productive,” says Rao. A physically-challenged person, depending on individual productivity, takes home between Rs 6,000 and Rs 6,500 per month.
Imran Sheikh, a 25-year old from Uttar Pradesh who now lives in Mumbai with his brother, sister and mother, is one of those who’ve found employment through Sujaya. He's the sole breadwinner in the family, and earns around Rs 2,500 per month. He stutters but is confident: “I’m doing my best, and hope to increase my typing speed and earn more.” Twenty-three-year-old Ata-ul Mohsin, who came from Gujarat to Mumbai, has a similar story. Mohsin, who also has difficulty speaking, has been working for nearly two years in this contact centre and earns around Rs 2,000 per month. “I now want to take a computer course, and hopefully earn more,” he says. There are also others like 22-year-old Clara who started on Rs 300 per month, but “with training, currently earns around Rs 1,500.”
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Initially, the foundation would approach other NGOs to identify differently-abled candidates for work at its centre. “Now, it works through word of mouth,” says Sujaya Rai who has been running the centre since its inception around 2002. She is assisted by Huzan Mistry who works as a consultant to reputed companies for three days and spends the rest of the week with the foundation. Mistry, with her contacts in the corporate world, also helps in facilitating dialogues with potential clients.
Companies, too, appear to be happy with the data entry of these differently-abled youth. “We feel privileged to highlight the excellent quality of services rendered by you... We are pleased to note that you have always endeavoured to meet our deadlines without exceptions and have rendered error-free output at all times,” says a testimonial from Uday Sahasrabuddhe, the head of clearing operations of HDFC Bank.
Similarly, Sanjay Mansabdar, the founder of Clear Concepts, says: “We are an education company and Sujaya Foundation helps us with our content. They have successfully learnt a difficult process, and we are very happy with the quality of work done by their team.”
“The two activities run for Deutsche Bank by Sujaya Foundation are currently in a well-stabilised state, requiring very little operational guidance by DB. Honestly, these activities could not have been any better, had we kept them in-house,” concurs Supratik Datta of Deutsche Bank India.
As further endorsement, some of these employees are gradually being absorbed by companies and banks as full-time staff. “It’s a very small start. Nevertheless, some of them have found jobs on their own, while others have been placed by the foundation,” says Rai. Around three employees, for instance, were placed with a construction company in Bangalore, while five have been placed with HDFC Bank. And a pilot is being worked out with National Stock Exchange, too.
Corporations have also been pitching in through other ways to help the foundation, which got its initial corpus from The Global Fund for Children. Deutsche Bank India, for instance, has helped by giving money and donating computers to the foundation. Gunit Chadha, the CEO of Deutsche Bank India, says: “Sujaya Foundation's commitment in spreading quality education among underprivileged children and providing youth employment opportunities is exemplary. We at Deutsche Bank are delighted to partner Sujaya, and will continue to support them through funding and volunteering.”
Rao is hopeful that the enthusiasm from companies will only increase in the days to come. “If 6 per cent of India’s population is differently-abled, that is over 60 million people who are not being given an opportunity to contribute to the country's GDP. Companies should look at hiring from this group as they are productive and can contribute to organisations. It is important to harness our energy to include this group in mainstream India.”