Launderer or Corporate Career? : A choice and life made possible by Unnati

Sathyanarayana – 36th Batch – Admin – 95381-44465

This powerful quote applies as much to Sathyanarayana as it does to Unnati as an organization! Sathyanarayana is a native of Gandhinagar in North Karnataka.  His parents run a laundry business in their hometown, and Sathyanarayana has 2 siblings, a brother and a sister, both younger.

Sathyanarayana had an ordinary, uneventful childhood. He was one of those small town, small income group children who would study well. He completed his schooling and went on to do a Bachelors in Commerce. He got his degree in 2011, and at that point, both his siblings were still studying. His youngest brother now pursues Bachelors in Commerce, following Sathyanarayana’s footsteps, and his younger sister is now a teacher in his hometown.

Once Sathyanarayana completed graduation, he was at a crossroads regarding his future. He had this very unique hobby of collecting old newspapers. While reading one of such old papers  he chanced upon an interview about Unnati in the Enadu daily. This was the trigger for him to join Unnati. And that was the one step he needed to make a positive impact on his family.

At Unnati, Sathyanarayana joined the 36th batch and chose the Admin vocation. This was almost 4 years ago, in 2012. He said his only aim in life at that time was “becoming employable”, and the interview he read about Unnati gave him the trust that he’d attain that goal.

His top 3 picks of “Unnati’s lessons for life” are slightly different from the standard ones that many students tell us:

• Confidence and leadership: Sathyanarayana mentions that every student who comes to Unnati with dreams like him, are first trained to be self-confident. Such a proven training actually makes the individual naturally confident. The Unnati training provides a stage to develop leadership skills as well. There are multiple opportunities for a student to portray and develop leadership skills.

• Communication: We have not seen a student so far who has not spoken highly of Unnati’s communication training. Sathyanarayana mentions that the practical sessions ensure that each individual’s communication ability comes to the forefront, is moulded and hence improved when he / she completes the course.

• Social responsibility: Sathyanarayana feels that Unnati leads by example. The training makes him think at every step if his actions are being socially responsible.

Once he completed his course at Unnati, Sathyanarayana was placed with a job in TCS in their Admin division. He drew an annual salary of 1.2Lakh rupees per annum in 2012, which was more than double of what his family was making back home.

He performed very well at TCS, both in his core function and outside, and has won multiple recognitions for his sincerity, team work, being active, conducting fun events for co-workers, even for athletics. He has won the top performance award in his division in 2014. Sathyanarayana feels that the life skills instilled at Unnati brought him all the mentioned laurels at TCS.

Sathyanarayana found a better opportunity at Novopay as a financial analyst, around 5 months back. This job was closer to his field of interest and study, so he accepted the offer. He now earns around Rs. 2,76,000 an annum, which is a 100% increase from his pay in 2012.

He wants to continue being a top performer and thanks Unnati for the life that he’s now happily leading.

Unnati is happy for Sathyanarayana (another ethical droplet in the mighty ocean of life) and his journey from Gandhinagar to Novopay. The team at Unnati wishes him the very best as he continues his corporate journey!

Contribution by Sukanya Kuppuswamy (Volunteer)

Team Unnati