Newsletter- October 2012

Welcome Note

The Second quarter of every year is very special to Team Unnati, all its family and friends. This quarter ends on a melodious note year after year with our signature event ‘Utsav’ which is celebrated with great pomp and show..‘Utsav’, which has become synonymous with Unnati was a resounding success this year too..Team Unnati believes that success is not just ‘ deriving satisfaction with the work you have done , but also to make others happy, which in turn gives you the happiness and confidence to climb up one step further. We firmly believe that Utsav this year has accomplished this success for us at the Unnati Centre, Bangalore.While the stage was graced with the stalwarts in the field of Carnatic music every day, the auditorium also was equally brimming with discerning rasikas, who made an excellent audience, enhancing the beauty of the concerts. The way every nuance, intricate gamakas, sangatis, aalapanas were appreciated and applauded, speaks great volumes about the keen interest, vast knowledge and great appreciation that the audience have for music. We thank the rasikas for their enthusiastic participation..The crowning glory of Utsav this year was undoubtedly the two special events organized to commemorate the centenary celebrations of two of the stalwarts of Carnatic music. The way these doyens were remembered, associations with them were reminisced by their close associates/ disciples coupled with the audio visual clippings made these two events memorable. For most of us who have attended either or both of these, it was an experience of a life time.

Utsav is one of the life lines of Unnati and its success gives us immense satisfaction, as this alone places Unnati at the epicentre of our cultural sojourn. We attribute this success to the extended family of Unnati, without whose patronage and help the same would not have been achieved. We request you to extend the same co operation and help for our continued success.

A special thanks to all the volunteers and friends who supported Utsav in many different ways..

On this happy note Team Unnati wishes all its patrons, friends and well wishers a very happy festive season ahead….

Editorial:

A dream is the starting point of the journey called success and excellence.

A small poem by Bryce Courtenay defines ‘success in life’ as follows….

This was the simple principle on which Unnati was incubated a few years ago. The vision was clear, the dream was detailed out with the right amount of ambition and confidence. We needed the necessary baking equipment in the form of our donors, patrons and volunteers to bake an excellent cake and to serve in generous portions with justifiable pride time and again.

Team Unnati was and continues to be extremely fortunate to have the consistent patronage of a few organizations and individuals which helps us to achieve our intermediate milestones with aplomb. We definitely need all this and more to reach our vision of 2020 with a sense of assured support and enhanced confidence.

One of the challenges Team Unnati has been facing in the recent past is “Donor Retention”, just like any other organization. If employee retention is a major task for HR, Client retention is for the sales team and Donor retention is equally challenging for the NGOs.

We at Unnati always put our best foot forward to stay in touch with our well wishers, sponsors and donors, encourage them to be part of our journey and vision. It is your support that makes Unnati run and we need all of you for us to sprint ahead with continued excellence..

Excellence is our passion that we are proud of.. The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not.

“Excellence” is a drive from inside, not outside. It is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and this is what Team Unnati believes in..

A very inspiring short story depicts excellence beautifully as follows..

A man saw a sculptor in a temple making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby.

Surprised, he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statues of the same idol?”

“No,” said the sculptor without looking up, “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage.”

The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. “Where is the damage?” he asked.

“There is a scratch on the nose of the idol.” said the sculptor, still busy with his work.

“Where are you going to install the idol?”, he asked the sculptor.

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high.

“If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?” the gentleman asked.

The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, “I will know it.”

We at ‘Unnati’ relentlessly work for this high degree of excellence in all our processes, procedures, trainings, events, placements and interactions. This is only possible through the helping hand that you extend for our success which makes it extremely special for us.

The Donors Wall/Corpus Wall at the entrance of the Unnati Centre, list of Donors for each financial year as displayed in our website are testimony to the fact that your valuable contribution has helped transform youth and thereby uplifted their families from below poverty line…forever.

Our Endeavour is to keep this relationship cemented with all concerned, with this very special movement called Unnati.

It is our dream to replicate Unnati across the country, as we continue to build the careers of several young men and women.

Please continue to be part of “Unnati Movement’ and help us achieve 100% retention.. You are our strength and support.

Recognition by Credibility Alliance:

SGBS trust is extremely happy to share a major achievement with all its patrons and well wishers that we have applied for certification with the Credibility Alliance which has been approved.

– Nikita Koloff

Events at UNNATI:

1. UNNATI DEBATE

A. On 16th August, a debate was conducted on the following topics to create awareness.

• 1. Does switching jobs help your career to grow?

• 2. Do you prefer to Spend or save?

• 3. What would you choose – Living independently or in a group ?

• 4. Will you quit the job if you are not comfortable?

B. On 23rd August, a debate was conducted on the following topics..

• 1. Women should take up Employment to be Economically Independent Women ?

• 2. Women are only responsible for Dowry System ?

• 3. Arranged Marriage is better than Love Marriage ?

2. Youth Leadership Program : Youth leadership’ programme was conducted on 30th Aug 2012 by Rotary club at Unnati Center for the benefit of students.

3. Eye and Dental Checkup : A free Eye camp was conducted by Vasan eye care for Ophthalmology on 4th Sep & Dental check-up was conducted by Dr.Koushick on 2nd Sep.

3. Go Green Project by Volunteers from Thomson Reuters:On 7th Sep 12, ten employees of Thomson Reuters have volunteered their time and made our garden look beautiful.

 – Nikita Koloff

Placement Record

1. Unnati Bangalore: Placement details of 34th Batch. Unnati kept its track record of 100% placements for 34th batch as well. We had an excellent placement session with a total of 14 companies participating in it. We are very happy to note that there is a steady increase in the salary range offered to our students. The highest salary offered in this batch was 12100 per month in the Data Entry stream, with the other vocations closely following it. A total of 41 students secured a job with accommodation as well.

Following is the break-up of the placement details in various companies:

TCS (8), Nuware (1), Vindhya E- Infotechmedia Pvt Ltd (12), Croma (20), Au bon pain (10),Chai point (22), Concorde Cuppa beverages (11), Mast Kalandar(7), St.Mark’s hotel (10),Adigas (4),RMKV (1), Care well (3), Private (12)

TCS HR Executives talk about Unnati during campus interview as you can see the video following:

2. Unnati Delhi: We are extremely glad to inform that our placement record at the recently opened New Delhi Center has been excellent. All the students of second batch were successfully placed in some of the reputed organizations.

Numbers in the parenthesis indicate number of people employed in a particular organization.

 – Dhirubhai Ambani

Mr.Sreepathi Vasudevan:

With my 10 years of Finance & Accounting experience, I am currently working as a Team Lead in Capgemini Business Services Ltd.

I always liked teaching and sharing knowledge. So when I came to know about Unnati during Gokulashtami celebrations in 2011, I volunteered to be a part of Unnati and for the last 2 batches I contribute my time to take Spoken English Classes.

Thanks for the opportunity! It’s a great joy to be part of Unnati! 🙂

 – Talmud

Know Your Team

Ananthalakshmi M Educational Qualification: BA , LLB, PGDBA ( With personality development)

My first employment was in Hindustan Lever Ltd., head office at Mumbai. I was worked as an Administrative officer for 15 yrs looking after recruitments, training(Officers/Workers),evaluation, housekeeping, legal liaison, event management, VIP Visits, guest care, AMC and office automation.

I taught English to 10th Std CBSE students in S.J.E.S and also to I & II PUC. I have also worked as a faculty at VETA for about one year and taught spoken English in VETA.

Presently I have joined Unnati, where I am enjoying teaching and grooming the students. It is a challenging and satisfying assignment for me..

 – Winston Churchill

Students speak

This time we chose to highlight a few students who nurtured great ambitions to scale newer heights even after passing out of Unnati. Their destination was not just securing a job because Unnati taught them a lot more than that, which they have put to the right use and are dreaming big. We are extremely proud of them and are absolutely sure of their success. We would like to share a couple of such stories here while wishing them all the very best.

Name : Satyamurthy G Course : InStore

When a farmer’s son from GH Kaval, Thattiguppe post, earns Rs.18000/-a month as a manager, moves his father from a hut to his own house is a moment of pride for the family

He completes his masters in Arts and works hard to realize his goal of becoming a KAS officer is indeed a moment of pride for his extended family at Unnati..

Satyamurthy, a student from 4th batch of Unnati joined in retail stream when the program was being run from a rented premises in Indiranagar. He was placed with Café Coffee Day, became a manager and worked there for a good 3 years. He also worked as a manager at Dominos Pizza for a year. In the meantime, Satyamurthy built his own house and fulfilled his father’s dream.

After this he started pursuing his own dream of furthering his education. He did his MA in women’s studies and passed with 72%. Unnati not only motivated him to study, but it had also sowed the seed of public service in him. This made him to aspire to become a KAS officer and serve the society.

Satyamurthy says, but for Unnati he would have been a’ nobody’ doing nothing other than wandering the streets.

To quote Satyamurthy, “My life got a direction and I evolved as a person only after joining Unnati.”

We pray to the Almighty for Satyamurthy’s success and would like to see an ‘Unnatian’ become a KAS officer.

Name : Bansidhar

Here is an unbelievably inspiring story which needs to be shared with every youngster who wants to make it big in this world.

Bansi, hailing from a small village ( Ganjam district) in Orissa, completed his SSLC and was referred to Unnati by Manoj, a student of the 14th batch.

Bansi belonged to a very poor family, was constantly faced with challenges and hurdles in life. It is Unnati that played a major role in his life. In his own words he says “ Unnati gave me the confidence that I too can achieve anything”, and ever since he has not looked back.

After completing his course at Unnati, Bansi joined Royal Orchid Hotels. He saved every rupee that he earned there to pursue a Diploma Course in Electronics and Telecommunication. He could not manage the finances after the first year, hence he requested his college to allow him to become a student of distance learning so that he can support himself through a job. He assured them that he will make them proud. Bansi came back and continued working while he was studying. With his sheer grit and determination Bansi came out with flying colours and stood 2nd in College. He has now been selected by Subros Company in Pune, through campus interviews , with a CTC of over 2 lakhs.

During his course at Unnati, Bansi realized that securing a good job was neither enough nor his sole aim in life. He understood the importance of education a s the key to growth and to reach greater heights in life. He says that his teachers and volunteers at Unnati inspired him to a great deal. We are extremely happy to hear his story and his dream of wanting to complete his BTech and MTech too. He has already spoken to HDFC regarding the financial help required for his education.

We at Unnati are extremely proud of Bansi and that we are a part of this great journey of a boy named Bansi from a remote village in Orissa.

. – W.P. Kinsella

Reminiscences

1.Unnati, Bangalore:34th Batch Valediction snaps & Videos:

2.Unnati, Delhi: 2nd Batch Valediction:

Unnati Valediction Video: 

– Confucius