Samyak Chakrabarty, 2015 INK Fellow and Managing Director of Social Quotient, reveals the projects he is currently working on in the social sector; focusing on a very specific impact on the large community of young adults in India today.
Q. Whats happening in your life these days? Tell us about some of the projects you are pursuing now with your company Social Quotient.
Social Quotient and its 3 flagship projects are keeping me very occupied. Apart from Green Batti’s new approach (mentioned below), I am working on two initiatives called ‘Next Billion Tech Lab (NBTL)’ and ‘Brand Engagement through Impact’.
NBTL
Through NBTL, we are building a platform to empower, educate and entertain rural India. Providing connectivity without utility is frivolity. Think about it, what will Lala Ramsinghji, 38, living in Khimsar, Rajasthan do with a Facebook profile or a Gmail ID? How will it change his life? That is all I can say about this project for now
Brand Engagement Through Impact
Millennials are actively concerned about the current state of affairs including climate change, inequality, population, gender issues and corruption. Social Quotient’s ‘Brand Engagement Through Impact’ platform enables consumer brands to integrate a relevant cause into its messaging and activation. Market studies conclude that young customers are more loyal to companies that execute progressive solutions for problems which affect them the most. Consequently, social causes become a powerful platform to generate higher recall, produce unique content, reach larger numbers and collaborate with key stakeholders such as the government. Here’s a quick peek into one such brand engagement initiative with a condom company !
“Adopt Your Second One”: SOS Children’s Village reports that there are 20 million orphans in India, many of whom will never find a home due to various legal and socio-economic restrictions. ‘Adopt Your Second One’ aims to encourage and enable urban progressive young professionals to consider adopting their second child. In order to create a shift in mindset, an engaging campaign will be launched including infographics, videos, influencer endorsements and on-ground activation’s. The emotional, social, economic and environmental merits of adoption will be publicized across a variety of mediums in a disruptive, positive and thought provoking format. As a call to action, a mobile app and helpline will assist couples who pledge to adopt. Our mission is to find a happy home for all children in India who are legally adoptable by January 2018.
Q. Tell us a little more about The Green Batti Project.
After running it as a mentoring program for under-resourced youth for over 2 years, we have decided to evolve the model and even change the name! It is estimated that 100 Million people within India’s youth demographic live at or below the poverty line. Disseminating technical skills or a crash course in spoken English, computer literacy and self confidence will not alone make them employable. Factors that restrict their growth include poor quality education, lack of positive adult role models, insufficient resources and unequal access to opportunities. Social circumstances also often result in mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety and insecurity that often go undiagnosed and have a continued negative influences on their attitude and aptitude.
The new entity will be a human development company which enables upward socio-economic mobility for youth from under-resourced communities. Our three dimensional approach includes one on one mentoring, peer learning groups and resource access. Through impact areas such as emotional intelligence, creative thinking, mindfulness and goal setting we will work on deeply embedded needs.After a six month cycle, young adults will be confident about themselves at the core, have a clear professional & personal vision and perform progressively at the workplace. India’s booming business sectors have a huge demand for a high quality, enterprising and efficient entry level talent pool. We believe our model will also lower attrition, improve customer interfacing and overall delivery. An intelligent data-tool will map our community’s skillsets and match career aspirations with an employer’s dynamic requirements.
Q.What is your next immediate goal, what other passions you are pursuing?
Our immediate goal is to get the 5,000 youth employed in the next 3 months through Green Batti’s model to start working for NBTL in 2 states by the end of 2017, and conduct at least 3 brand engagement campaigns.
Q. What is on the drawing board for next year?
In addition to the above, i want to build an R&D lab to create solutions for grass-root problems that will occur in the future.
Learn more about Samyak’s work by visiting his website here.
