Essay D
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The document details the author's experience as vice-president of the Shades of Happiness Foundation, highlighting efforts to educate and empower underprivileged communities in India through strategic partnerships and innovative teaching methods. It outlines challenges faced in fundraising and community engagement, as well as the author's increased involvement in the social sector and corporate social responsibility initiatives. The author aspires to pursue an MBA at IE to gain skills for effective social change and strategic philanthropy.
Essay D
- 1. www.shadesofhappiness.org I have truly begun to comprehend the depth of the Latin phrase ‘Per Aspera Ad Astra’ – ‘through hardship to the stars’ - during my tenure as Vice-President of ‘Shades of Happiness Foundation’, a Not for Profit organization.
- 2. Vision: A world with sustainable socio–economic inclusion. Mission: To act as a catalyst in educating, enabling and empowering the less fortunate sections of society with knowledge, skills and infrastructure in order to achieve comprehensive socio- economic equilibrium in society.
- 3. The real challenge was at grassroots’ level- translating my passionate narrative into legible action plans by realizing the holistic needs of poverty-stricken communities by adopting a slum in Hyderabad.
- 4. Motivating 60 children from the vicinity to attend classes and soliciting concerns of their families was a true test of communication-skills.
- 5. . Our creative methods of teaching through theatre workshops, art and audio-visual learning modules gave children an intrinsic motivation to attend.
- 6. Changing the parent’s attitude towards education was the next hurdle. We developed an incentive system such as providing the children with mini-meals and regular medical check-ups.
- 7. However, we initially didn’t realize the constraints within which these people were operating. For instance, when it came to health investments – instead of providing direct medical services we learnt what was really needed was effective awareness campaigns.
- 8. We have amplified the scope of our impact by partnering with corporate such as Datamonitor, D. E. Shaw & Co., Centuryply& Co. and Fortis, among others.
- 9. Gradually, as we begun to expand our operations to government schools and orphanages, we felt the dire need of a fundraiser.
- 10. We decided to leverage India’s cricket fever and organize a corporate tournament, ‘Hope Cup 2011’, enabling us to achieve financial stability and simultaneously generate awareness about our initiative.
- 11. Consequently, I was elected as the nation-wide Vice President and became a trustee of the organization.
- 12. •My decisions became more strategic, such as partnering with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Program to build a stronger volunteer base. My decisions became more strategic, such as partnering with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Program to build a stronger volunteer base.
- 13. I have encountered myriad UKVs (Unforeseen Killer Variables); sponsors backing out of fundraisers, legal environment being non-conducive towards tax benefits, volunteers with ‘Shiny Ball Syndrome’ ignoring our operational capacity.
- 14. By acknowledging areas of weakness I use failure as a stepping stone towards improvement.
- 15. I regularly consult a dashboard of performance indicators; ‘Would the community be impacted by our absence?’ is the litmus test I apply to measure progress.
- 16. Articulating a Not-For-Profit’s soul and mission is the greatest leadership challenge, mandating that I make systematically pragmatic decisions regarding our limited financial resources and simultaneously foster my ability to connect with a wide spectrum of people –beneficiaries, volunteers and donors.
- 17. The ‘pixie dust’ I use to make ‘Shades of Happiness’ unique is embracing the idiosyncrasies of the children we work with, giving volunteers meaningful, customized responsibilities and treating transparency and authenticity as are our most valuable currencies.
- 18. Today, Shades of Happiness Foundation caters to the academic, medical and extra- curricular needs of over 200 direct beneficiaries…
- 19. …and continues to grow exponentially.
- 20. This has been my most inspirational journey of relentless pursuit of disrupting the status quo and developing the fortitude to initiate, persevere and stand strongly behind an idea.
- 21. My Shades of Happiness experience, inspired me to become more involved in the social sector. In 2010 at an official lunch with the senior executives of my company, D. E. Shaw & Co., I brought up the query of why our C.S.R. cell was inactive.
- 22. We have some of the brightest minds who helped the company beat the market during the global financial crisis; and clearly the solution to social and financial inclusion lies between the market and the traditional philanthropic model. Within a month, the C.S.R. core committee was formed of which I head interim events.
- 23. Consequently my exposure to the social sector reached new dimensions while working with other Not For Profit organizations on CSR initiatives.
- 24. Whether by leveraging my contacts as an N.S.E.F. Strategic Partnership Manager to conduct a social entrepreneurship conference or by organizing an interactive visit to Bluecross, an Animal shelter I’m associated with I have displayed the propensity to align organizational visions and achieve multiple objectives.
- 25. The goal of the IDEA conference was to catalyze social entrepreneurship amongst the youth, develop social innovation models and mutually learn about effective solutions to pressing social problems. I organized 4 such conferences in and around Hyderabad which were attended by over 500 college students from varied backgrounds.
- 26. These events served as a networking platform as well. For instance, I had the opportunity to liaise with the founder of Milaap, a microfinance institute. The interaction has not only deepened my understanding of Milaap’s modus operandi but has also given me a platform to become more involved.
- 27. Promoting a free-credits project, accompanying them on field trips and helping create a documentary about their efforts improved my understanding of the complexities involved in lending without collateral and assessing the reliability of small scale business models.
- 28. Additionally, during my association with Shaheen Women’s Welfare Association as a Communication Lecturer, I have worked with 30 young economically disadvantaged women on a vocational training program to help them achieve financial independence.
- 29. I also had the opportunity to use my law degree to assist the organization on weekends as a para-legal. We offer free legal assistance to victims of domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape for women who are socially discriminated against.
- 30. Realizing firm-wide constraints, building an active platform connecting employees with a plethora of social ventures and balancing my existing work responsibilities as a financial analyst has not been without its vicissitudes.
- 31. But with collaboration and perseverance, I have scaled up our initiatives to support over 10 NGOs, tripled employee participation and persuaded the higher management to increase the C.S.R. logistics budget by 60%.
- 32. During this journey, my passion and interest in the social sector has increased exponentially. I aspire to use my skills in a meaningful way to create an impact on organizations and change lives.
- 33. An MBA from IE will not only give me a substantive knowledge and framework for strategic thinking but also ensure I have a moral comprehension of how best to effect social change.
- 34. I intend to adopt the language and tools of business to develop outcomes and strategies for sustainability by complementing hard skills like financial know-how with a razor sharp understanding of Non Profit Organization dynamics.
- 35. ‘Strategic Philanthropy’ mandates a sound foundation in management, leadership and scalability. An MBA will equip me to bring in organization wide efficiency by implementing an operational and streamlined culture.
- 36. With recent trends of unprecedented blurring of the distinctions between Corporations and Non-profit initiatives, emerging economies need people who know how to build companies not just people with good intentions.
- 37. IE’s curriculum in particular offers over 60 eclectic courses that relate to sustainability and corporate responsibility as part of its stellar MBA program, which would be catalytic in making my vision materialize.
- 38. IE has served as a social incubation cell by supporting students with Entrepreneurship and Strategic Consulting Projects, which will be invaluable experiential learning opportunities for me.
- 39. Networking with like-minded individuals courtesy SR Forum and Net Impact club and having professors like Dr. Amrou Awaysheh as mentors makes IE the ideal institute for prospective students like myself, who aspire to be agents of social change.
- 40. Furthermore, I strongly identify with IE’s unique innovative curriculum, focus on social responsibility, unparallel diversity and entrepreneurial spirit, which have earned the school its position as one of the world’s top Green MBA programs. Slide No. 33-40 – Images have been sourced from IE International MBA brochure.
Editor's Notes
- #41: Slide No. 33-40 – Images sourced from IE International MBA brochure.