How is Zoho's Sridhar Vembu transforming Indian village economy by providing education & jobs?

 

Hi everybody,

today's episode is very special because today we are gonna talk about one of the most underrated legends of India.

This is the story of a man who went from being an ordinary employee to becoming one of the biggest social entrepreneurs in India. and he has a net worth of $2.6 Billion This is the story of a man who is running a revolutionary experiment that can solve the unemployment crisis in India by turning the remotest villages of India into the tech hubs of the world. and after listening to this story, if you think I make sense then please share this article with as many people as possible.

This person that I'm talking about is the CEO of ZOHO Corporation and goes by the name Sridhar Vembu Sridhar Sir is a Princeton graduate who had the perfect job in the silicon valley startup Qualcomm and that is when he realized that there are so many Indian engineers working at crucial positions at multiple billion-dollar companies all across the world, and yet very few Indian companies were strong contenders in the software industry.

So, he decided to step into the ring with a vision to build a software company that can empower the youth of India and that is how he started AdventNet which then became ZOHO Corporation. and since the past 22 years, ZOHO has gone from an ordinary startup to becoming a billion-dollar company with an estimated market value of $5 Billion but what's more astounding is not the growth of ZOHO but what Sridhar Vembu sir is doing with his company's massive influence He decided to start a revolutionary experiment to solve the unemployment crisis in India.

Now, we all know that there is a huge gap between the teachings of the college and the requirement of the industry and even after 4 years of engineering, millions of engineering students severely lack the skill to work in the industry. Now, every politician and billionaire in this country knows about this and many have even spoken about it.But very few have done something proactively to fix this problem.

This is why in 2004, the founders of ZOHO started something called the ZOHO University. and here's where they started to onboard and train students with skillsets and abilities at a very young age. Now what is unique about this system is that instead of asking for fees and donations from the students, ZOHO pays the student a stipend of ₹10,000 per month throughout the tenure of the 2-year course. and during this extensive training, students are taught Mathematics, English, Programming, and every other subject that is needed to turn an ordinary kid into an employable candidate.

And after the course, they get recruited in ZOHO itself with an amazing package regardless of their degree. And through this job, these students get the golden opportunity to uplift their families from all economic challenges forever. and guess what? These schools have been designed specially to empower the youngsters from the villages of India where let alone employment, even education is considered to be a luxury. because ZOHO believes that skillsets and abilities are far more valuable than paper credentials.

One of the most successful stories of the ZOHO system is this boy names Abdul Alim who was an ordinary security guard working 12-hour shifts at ZOHO but one fine day, one of his seniors decided to tap into his potential and started training him. Fast forward to a few months later, today, this boy works as an engineer and takes up technical projects in the very same company wherein he was working as a security guard And today close to 10% of the entire workforce of ZOHO consists of ordinary kids like Abdul Alim who became capable engineers after hailing from the remotest villages of the country. and not just that, today ZOHO is experimenting with these models in 10 villages in Tamil Nadu wherein 200 of its engineers 20 in each village will collaborate and build software for the world.

And the leaders of ZOHO are working very hard to extend its empowerment models to the villages of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh also Now people, while most of us dream about having corner offices in the city of Manhattan.

Vembu sir believes that village offices would be the future of work, as village economies begin to prosper. This is why despite having his offices in 21 countries, including America, China, and Australia. Sridhar sir stays in a small village named Mathalamparai which is about 650 km away from Chennai. And he operates his $5B company from this village itself Now, this is what you call 'practicing what you preach'.

Now, the reason why Sridhar sir is a legend is that the model that he is building is scalable that can be replicated by several billion-dollar companies all across the country. And instead of giving out donations for a short-term impact through this model, companies can create a long-term impact and also make a ton of profit. This is how they can create a win-win scenario wherein companies can get capable employees and people can get opportunities.

Now if many such billion-dollar companies start setting up institutions like ZOHO to build a direct bridge between academics and employment, can you imagine what kind of a magical revolution could come up. This is the reason why we need to start promoting incredible ideas like these. So that, we can have many such leaders like Sridhar sir, who don't just talk about the problems but also act on the solutions and this is what will make India a truly incredible country.

If you agree with me then help me spread this message and share this article with as many people as possible So that we can send out a very strong message out there that India doesn't need heroes, it just needs a handful of gutsy people who stop waiting for them Thank you.

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