Abhishek Nayak

"During my E4SI summer immersion experience I worked on building an innovative portal for investments in the Small Medium Enterprises (SME) sector. I had the opportunity to observe the investment process and also be exposed to Intellecap’s consulting projects in microfinance, water and clean energy."

Immersion Experience

E4SI gave me an opportunity for me to work in an entrepreneurial organization working in the development sector. I had previously worked on the business plan of Dhanax, which exposed me to the business opportunities in the development sector. I was itching to get more experience that would enable me to understand the sector better. Also the cohort of organizations from which E4SI asked me to choose was exceptional and had amazing teams powering them.

The past summer I spent working at Intellecap was a very enriching experience. Intellecap is a unique consultancy that works in the development sector. They facilitate investment initiatives, incubate businesses and create knowledge focused on profitable and sustainable development. I felt Intellecap was a good place for me to get wide knowledge on the development sector.

I joined a team of theirs that was working to launch an incubated company called 'India Development Gateway' that would enable small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to raise equity and quasi-equity investments from multiple investors. My role involved understanding the investment banking process and adapting it to IDG. The team working on IDG consisted of four people with diverse skills and of varied nationalities. I was frequently invited to join the sessions on strategic planning and contributed my ideas on the business perspective of the platform. I also got to network with entrepreneurs and investors.

Other than my day-to-day work, at Intellecap I got an opportunity to closely observe investment banking, project consulting on water and microfinance. My co-workers were quite sharp and lunch time conversations were opportunities to argue and discuss various issues of the development sector. I got valuable perspective of the development sector in terms of its investment potential and opportunities for future career in various development sectors. I feel extremely fortunate to have been given an industry wide ring-side view of the development sector.

E4SI gave me an opportunity to work in one of the best consulting companies in the development sector. I felt fortunate to have the chance to meet smart people, from across the world, working in the development sector of India. E4SI exposed me to opportunities in the BoP market. As an about-to-graduate student, my experience of working with Intellecap was very valuable in helping me decide my future career options. In the future I hope to start a sustainable technology company. Overall this experience has given me new knowledge of the development sector in India.

Prakash Murali

"The Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI) fellowship’s summer internship at Vaatsalya was a very enriching experience for me. I was involved in the development of software for helping cerebral palsy (CP) patients learn and communicate better. The summer I spent at Vaatsalya gave me valuable organisational experience along with the great opportunity to reach out to the people in need."

Name Prakash Murali

College BITS - Goa

Immersion Experience Vaatsalya - Healthcare

Prakash Murali is a 3rd year Computer Science engineering student at the BITS Pilani Goa Campus. He is interested bio devices, artificial intelligence, computer human interfaces, and smart materials. He has worked on many projects including cardiac arrhythmia detection, SurfaceNext - a next generation touch interface, and automatic code correction. Apart from his academic interests he is engaged in thinking about ways to help people efficiently, enjoying nature, and watching the stars

Immersion Experience

When I first visited the Engineers for Social Impact website and browsed through the various immersion experiences offered, it was very easy for me to pick the one I wanted – Vaatsalya. I was looking for an organisation involved in healthcare related work and Vaatsalya (a semi-urban hospital network) fit my interest perfectly. Each organisation had given a short summary of the projects that they were offering to potential fellows; Vaatsalya mentioned that the student should be a “self starter”. This was a small reservation I had about picking Vaatsalya – What if I do not stumble on project that suits me?

My E4SI fellowship immersion experience was for two months. I joined Vaatsalya in late May. The people at Vaatsalya gave me a good start. They asked me to keep my mind open to new ideas and thoughts; and keep looking for problems that have a huge scope for innovation and radical thought. I started working on building a baby warming device. Baby warmers are used in Neonatal ICUs to control temperature and are a must for saving a low-birth weight baby’s life in the first 24-hrs. The task was to design a low-cost baby warmer but soon I realized that I couldn’t innovate much in warmer technology. At this juncture, my project guide advised me to look at cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affects physical development. It can be loosely translated as “brain paralysis”. In India, CP affected persons are also known as “spastics” There is no known cure for CP. Medical intervention is limited to the treatment and prevention of complications arising from CP's effects. The current treatment regimen involves only physiotherapy which helps muscle stimulation and movement. This population also needs nerve stimulation in order for brains to develop. Though CP patients are physically disabled, research shows they have at least average intelligence. Just like muscle stimulation, nerve/brain stimulation could help brain development. Unfortunately this population finds it harder to communicate and even when they communicate others are unable to understand it. In developed countries such as the US, handheld devices and computer-based learning cum communications systems are available. In India, there are no such systems available either in English or local languages.

Vaatsalya provides physiotherapy to lots of CP kids at the Vaatsalya Hospital, Gadag, Karnataka. They made arrangements for me to visit their hospital to provide a first hand idea about CP. I met Akash, a 10-year old boy who never had an opportunity to go to school but yet learnt to understand seven languages primarily by watching TV! I was convinced a learning/communication tool is needed for these kids. During rest of my stay, we created couple of functional prototype sketches. Product design in still in process and I am happy to report other well-known software companies showing interest in the project. I hope to be involved in the project as much as I can and someday I would hope to see this little invention help CP kids to learn and communicate easily.

Sameer Segal

"Not only did E4SI give me the opportunity to leapfrog in terms of personal and professional development, but I also had the chance to do something I am truly passionate about."

Name: Sameer Segal

College: NITK, Surathkal

Immersion Experience: Ujjivan - Microfinance

Sameer Segal is a senior at the NITK, Surathkal and a founding fellow of Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI). His E4SI summer immersion experience was spent at Ujjivan, one of the world's fastest growing microfinance institutions, where he worked to conceptualize and implement a Service Quality Program (SQP). Sameer is presently Chairman of NITK's student chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's largest technical professional society, and the Marketing Coordinator of Engineer, India's fourth largest technical symposium.

Sameer is a great believer in Open Source and Free software, and an ardent promoter of Linux. He is fascinated by the power of the internet and its ability to reach out to millions to tackle specific issues; he believes that next generation problems can be more effectively addressed through the web and mobile technology.

Immersion Experience

I have lived in Bangalore for the last 16 years but the places I visited during my internship with Ujjivan stood in stark contrast to my own image of the city of Bangalore. My meetings with Ujjivan’s customers were real eye-openers. Poverty is so common in India that we seem to take it for granted but traveling through open fields of garbage and semi-flooded neighborhoods put things into perspective for me. The E4SI fellowship’s immersion experience has changed my picture of India, making it richer, more vivid, and more truthful than before.

The E4SI fellowship’s immersion experience has changed my picture of India, making it richer, more vivid, and more truthful than before.At Ujjivan I was given the task of implementing a full-fledged Service Quality Program (SQP). Through interactions and qualitative surveys I started understanding the customers’ needs. The more I learnt about the customers and microfinance, the more I realized how essential a SQP is and appreciated the challenges associated with its implementation. Our customers’ limited educations, their gratefulness at being given any money at all, and the lack of expectation of high quality of service on their part were all hindering the essential feedback mechanism required for a SQP. The common myths (that customers are scared to complain about the company and that branch staff often control such criticism so as to be looked upon favorably by the Head Office) questioned the plausibility of SQP even further.

As any good Engineer would, I divided the task into small chunks and closely analyzed the situation. While technology seemed a possible and scalable solution to enhance service, I realized there was no substitute to a SQP. I was always taught about tangible parameters like Strength, Efficiency, and Robustness but never had I paid any attention to the intangible emotional aspects. I was slowly beginning to appreciate how complex people were and started to treat the customers as individuals in order to provide the best kind of service.

Impressed by the simplicity of this promising system, Ujjivan’s Managing Director invested Rs.50,000 to purchase the proprietary license to implement the system on a large scale.I developed a service strategy for the organization after evaluating the intersection of how Ujjivan wants to be seen and what the customers really value. I devised measurable service goals to monitor our levels of service. Ujjivan’s rapid and almost organic growth has forced inefficiencies into the current processes. After analyzing them, I reengineered the core process of loan disbursement, potentially reducing time involved from ten to fewer than six days. My recommendations were received with enthusiasm, even though their implementation has been postponed slightly due to a current resource crunch.

I was also fortunate to receive Ujjivan’s appreciation for another innovative solution. I was fascinated to learn that most customers had cell phones. Using this simple observation, I devised an automatic system which could instantly deliver customers’ account statements through Short Messaging Service (SMS) technology. The information that had taken fifteen days to arrive in the past was now available instantaneously. Results were evident in the unequivocal delight of both customers and field employees. Impressed by the simplicity of this promising system, Ujjivan’s Managing Director invested Rs.50,000 to purchase the proprietary license to implement the system on a large scale.

These moments will shape who I become. The E4SI fellowship will shape who I become.At Ujjivan I had the chance to observe how an organization breathes and works as a whole. Through my interaction with all levels of Ujjivan’s employees I could actually feel the organization’s pulse. I observed how the organization’s philosophy trickles down to the bottom. And, of course, also had the chance to appreciate the unique business models of an MFI. It was a real privilege to be present at one of the world’s fastest growing MFIs when it achieved its first historical milestone of serving a 1,00,000 customers in just 980 days. These moments I will never forget and they will always impact the work that I do. These moments will shape who I become. The E4SI fellowship will shape who I become.

Shrey Goyal

"The E4SI fellowship has been a unique and eye-opening journey that has debunked my many myths about Social Entrepreneurship. I have realized Social Entrepreneurship is not only a sustainable approach to development but also a viable career option."

Name: Shrey Goyal

College: IIT, Kharagpur

Immersion Experience: iDiscoveri - Education

Shrey Goyal is a sophomore pursuing a B.Tech in Mining Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur (IIT-Kgp). He is part of the first cohort of Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI ) fellows. Shrey spent his E4SI summer immersion experience at iDiscoveri. He has an interest in developing sustainable business models for the development of society. Being a Presidential Classroom alumnus and a member of the Indian delegation at the Future World Leaders Summit has given Shrey a firsthand lesson in diplomacy, international relations, multilateral negotiations and compromise, and the opportunity to explore his interest in globalisation, strategy and leadership. Shrey is enthusiastic about meeting new people and taking on new initiatives and challenges.

Immersion Experience

While applying to Engineers for Social Impact (E4SI), I went through a list of their partner social enterprises and came across iDiscoveri. iDiscoveri (read I-Discover-I) is a social enterprise founded with a mission to renew education in India, a leader in the spaces of school education, enterprise leadership development, and outdoor education. I was impressed to see that iDiscoveri is backed by a team of "scholars & doers", exceptional individuals educated at institutions like Harvard, Cambridge, Georgia Tech., Wharton, MIT, Brown University, INSEAD, XLRI, the IIMs and the IITs, many of whom had previously worked with and played leadership roles in Fortune 500 companies in India and abroad.

I had no idea that so many talented people could be working in the education industry, in the social sector, and I realised the issues being addressed by iDiscoveri were the very ones that had been plaguing me for years. I had always thought that no one understood the plight of students, judged on their performance in mug-and-vomit exams, on whom huge quantities of useless information was imposed to hammer them into the desired shape. Apparently, someone did. Naturally, my application followed. Having got through the interview, I was inducted in the first cohort of 'Engineers for Social Impact' fellows, and soon joined iDiscoveri as a summer intern.

At this point I'll have to make a confession. Though I had always been very interested in social entrepreneurship models, I still pictured such enterprises as not very different from NGOs and other not-for-profit organisations, stereotyped as employing spiritless social workers, working in backward areas, and being low on funds and motivation. And was I in for a surprise!! So there I was, on my first day at work, greeted by a surprisingly cozy atmosphere and relaxed corporate culture. A company with a "you can be serious without a suit" dress code, complete lack of a sense of hierarchy, and a warm and friendly office environment, iDiscoveri was scripting its own version of the Google Story. And all of this was completely reflected in the iDiscoveri team's enthusiasm and dedication towards work.

Although some possible roles for me had been suggested during the selection procedure, I was still doubtful regarding my exact placement in the organisation during my two-and-a-half month stint with them. In keeping with the flexible nature of work at iDiscoveri, I was allowed to choose my project on my own after interacting with the various teams there. Finally, it was decided that I'd be working with the Curriculum & Knowledge team. My interest in Mathematics, and the way it is taught at the school-level, finally lead me to work with the Math team for XSEED.

XSEED is a comprehensive curriculum and training solution for schools, which is suitable for CBSE/ICSE/IGCSE/IB systems, that has been changing the way teachers teach and children learn in classrooms across the country and abroad. XSEED aims at making learning more experiential in nature and I decided that the best way to make learning of Math experiential was by the introduction of Math Labs to XSEED. My work was greatly encouraged by my colleagues.

I started out by studying the aids presently used by Math Labs in Schools in India and abroad. I was surprised to find a number of self supporting organisations who were doing great work in this field, some of whom were already working with iDiscoveri. Their tools were quite good, but were not implemented by schools properly. Hence, they could be used by XSEED with minor improvements in the design and the teaching methodology. However, there were almost no easy-to-use aids available for the more abstract concepts. I explored the use of "manipulatives" to teach math, which have been very successful in the West, but virtually unheard-of in India.

Based on what I had accumulated by then, I began developing some new instruments. After creating some prototypes, we tested them by using them to teach sample groups of children and made many alterations in their designs and implementation strategy based on the response. Ultimately, I developed some pedagogical aids which enabled learning of abstract mathematical concepts such as geometry, integers, fractions, ratio, proportion, and algebra less abstract and more intuitive.

In particular, Math-tiles, a new product developed by me, was highly appreciated for simplifying the teaching of the most abstract and difficult-to-understand concepts at the school level, mainly relating to Algebra, using which Algebraic expressions and equations could be tackled with a hands-on approach. These colourful tiles are used as toys and games are played rather than formulae taught. For example, quadratic expressions may be factorised by a simple game of rearranging the tiles, while another tile-train game will tell you the actual meaning of Lowest-Common-Multiple. The fact that the work done by me during my E4SI summer was going to be actually utilised by XSEED in its classrooms all-over the country made my job even more exciting and rewarding.

Besides this, I also had the opportunity to interact with the Advocacy team at iDiscoveri which gave me a taste of Marketing and Strategy. My experience with them completely changed my outlook towards social entrepreneurship. It is, after all, not social work but profitable work aiming at social benefit, so beautifully exemplified by iDiscoveri. The social impact made by iDiscoveri is by far greater than most NGOs can hope. And yet it is reaping great profits, which ensures that the impact is sustainable and, in effect, perpetual in nature. The core of the E4SI immersion experience is, perhaps, the realisation that the impact made by Social Enterprises not only makes a huge dent in the society, but it is also sustainable as well as profitable in nature.

iDiscoveri’s schools division is changing the way learning takes place in schools in a revolutionary way. iDiscoveri has worked with close to 200 schools across India, including The Doon School, Heritage, Cambridge, Mallaya Aditi, Modern School, Vasant Valley, Bharti Foundation Schools, and several DPS schools, and has entered an agreement with the Bhutan government where it will be helping the Royal Education Council to enhance learning standards throughout the country.

What I learnt during my E4SI summer at iDiscoveri was invaluable in comparison to any other opportunity I could've got. Along with giving me my first corporate experience, it was also a truly eye-opening journey which demystified my many myths regarding social entrepreneurship. In effect, it was true experiential learning for me, and had I not experienced iDiscoveri myself, I wouldn't have imagined the same otherwise. iDiscoveri is a journey that seeks to help make awakeful the lives of all those who take it. I am immensely grateful to E4SI for having provided me with the chance to travel this journey, a journey that I took, and which I shall continue so forth.