LifeDream Course

BPO demand is well known. By 2008, the sector is expected to fall short by 2,62,000 people out of a total requirement of about 10 lakh people. According to Nasscom the requirement may not be met by over three million graduates trained by universities each year, as the gap between abilities and skills are substantial.

Estimated to grow to the value of US $500 billion by 2010, retail sector is also one of the most rapidly growing sectors in India. Organized retail chains are still at its infancy and occupies a market share of 5 per cent vis-à-vis the unorganized, family owned retail outlets. Retail sector is witnessing a trend similar to what became popular for the IT and the BPO sector in terms of the creation of jobs. . It has been estimated that the organized sector will create 11.5 lakh jobs and the unorganized sector is expected to add more than 2 million jobs to the Indian economy by 2010. The recent years have seen numerous Indian and foreign big players like Reliance, Wal-Mart, Pantaloons, Tata etc entering and expanding in the Indian market. Keeping pace with its rapid expansion plans, Big Bazaar and Pantaloons have plan to recruit more than 1,00,000 people together by the year 2010. Similarly, Reliance also plans to recruit around a million people for its retail business in the next four years . The organized retail sector has also seen its employee base increasing from 5.4 lakh to 16 lakh in the last couple of years.

The LifeDream™ program will contain five major subjects

1. Computer Skills – MS Office, Typing and Internet
2. Life skills – Decision making, Communication etc. imparted via games
3. Spoken English – In 3 months time we expect the students to speak business English
4. Retail Sales Management: The candidates will be taught the basics of retail sales including personal grooming
5. Ethics and Responsibility: The students will be taught the ‘Charter of Human Responsibilities’ by www.allies.alliance21.org/charter/ .This module also includes simulating typical ethical dilemma’s faced in workplace.

The course also includes modules on Quality basics, Project Management and Environment Sensitization.

The 3 months program is conducted FREE but there is a ‘gurudakshina’ to be given by the students. The students will champion the environment issues facing the locality and work towards solving them. We are hopeful that the majority of the students will be placed, so there will be a natural tendency to ‘reciprocate’ by paying the ‘Gurudakshina’

LifeDream™ run by Shashwath addresses the needs of youth (18-25 years) who are constrained by low income levels, inadequate skills, irregular employment, absence of opportunities for training and development, family indebtedness and little bargaining power at the economic or social level. We expect 85% of the students to be successfully placed after the training. In return they will work on environment and sustainability of their society. This novel experiment thus kills two birds with one stone. We need volunteers to achieve our big hairy goal to create 'One Million Ullalu's' -- drop a line to lifedream.course@gmail.com