Pankaj Agarwal

E4SI's existence came to my knowledge as a result of a conversation with my batch-mates back on campus. In January 2009, when E4SI released their second edition, I followed the criteria in detail. After reading up on the impressive network support they have in the form of their partner social enterprises and advisors, I decided to send in my application. Choosing the organization I would be interning with, however, did force me to stop and think twice given the vast sector options that the immersion experiences offered. I finally settled on A Little World , a Mumbai based nonprofit organization which heads ZERO Mass Foundation engaged in bringing financial inclusion in the remotest of the villages of India where banks are not able to set up their operational unit because of the costs. ALW, which acts as the banks' correspondent carry out their operations in villages and provides front-end transactional services.
 
The interview process was sharpened to determine my compatibility with the work activity that I would be performing rather than to test my knowledge of the organization which, I think, worked well. The work ambience took me off guard for I was welcomed by comfortable bean bags and a friendly and helpful staff. After brain storming with the head of the technology department of the organization, I was put to research on the expansion plans of the company and check out case-specific feasibility by taking different scenarios. The research varied from analyzing the capacity of a bio-gas plant to finding the legal mandates for setting up a theatre in rural domains. This sphere involved a considerable field work and I was constantly traveling either to take the quotations from an organization manufacturing bio-gas plants or to know the intricacies of business procedure in a village Panchayat. As a result of this multi-pronged work task that I had to perform during my internship, I learnt a lot about the opportunities that exist is the development sector and various technicalities which can be learnt only by personally testing the waters. 
 
E4SI gave me a brilliant opportunity to work in the organization which scaled massively during its tenure and gave me deeper insights about the myths that prevail regarding social entrepreneurship and development sector. I am now more focused about the career options that behold my future and I sincerely thank the E4SI team to have made this opportunity available for me.