Bold vision for Computer Classes set, Welcome New GDLers, Search for placement partners continues

The last two days of soul searching have yielded a bold new vision for GDL. Simply put, we want to expand the Bagar Employment Institute (BEI) and turn it into an institution that truly leaves a mark on the community. The answer is by scaling up rapidly, speed being necessitated by the limited time that the current GDLers are here for (till July 08).

 

The new vision for the computer class: Have 300 graduates of the computer class employed by July 2008.

 

A lot of debate and emotion went into coming up with this bold new direction. After building a solid trust base in the community, and a product that the community values, we wanted to expand the reach to everyone who could benefit from it. Furthermore, to create strong forward market linkages (i.e. tying up with businesses or recruiters to place graduates), a critical mass of graduates needs to be reached. Mostly, to fulfill our mission as a laboratory of local replicable solutions, we need to hit numbers in the hundreds to prove it as a financially viable (and thus easily replicable) model.

 

In order to hit these numbers, the computer classes will need to have at least 500 students enrolled by the end of March, since we estimate 60% of graduates to be willing and able to gain employment. This means expanding our current capacity in terms of classrooms, teachers, computers, as well as expanding our marketing efforts (likely by combining them and making them highly efficient). In the next two weeks, I will be focusing on expanding the computer classes by recruiting quality teachers (2 for basics course, 1 for Tally) and forging partnerships with companies and recruiters for placement of our graduates.

With such a daunting task ahead, we welcome the addition of two new GDLers starting January 1. Both of them are experienced candidates – one with over 10 years of experience in corporate sales, the other one a career social worker. Both of them bring unique skills and positive energy to the GDL environment, and will help to take GDL to even greater heights. The recruitment process has really proved something: GDL has become a very positive place where talented people choose to come and realize their vision of contributing to

India’s development. I know the people I live, work, play with are a source of inspiration for me on a daily basis.