Recently I realized I haven’t shared much about the work I’m doing here other than I’m working for a social enterprise so I thought I would elaborate a little more.
First off, this experience has taught me that I am definitely meant for the start-up world. I love wearing many hats and not having a rigidly defined role. Not to mention its exciting to help a new company get off the ground!
So what am I doing exactly? Well I’m working for a start-up social enterprise called Enzi. Enzi is developing an education loan product that will make vocational training courses (i.e. Hotel Management, Accounting, Graphic Design) accessible to those at the base of the pyramid (BoP: the 4-5 billion people who live on less than $2 per day).
So why is this important? Because as you may know India’s population is booming and because of that India will need 500 million skilled or upskilled workers by 2022 (NSDC). Sounds simple enough…right? Entice more people to go to vocational institutes and academies?
Well India presents unique challenges to this goal. How does the population get access to skills training when 68% of the population lives on less than $2 per day?
This is exactly where Enzi and other social enterprises begin making an impact by creating innovative solutions that meet and hopefully help overcome this social challenge.
My work has mostly been in market research; meeting with institutes and academies in Mumbai to understand whether their courses and criteria fit our solution and if they would be interested in participating in our pilot.
Other pieces of my work have focused on researching and recommending mobile banking solutions that fit our BoP market.
In my final blog I hope to share more about the overall outcome of my fellowship and the future of Enzi and the education sector in India. For now I thought Id leave with these fitting quotes:
“Be the change you wish to see in the world” Mahatma Gandhi
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” Nelson Mandela
