A journey from Corporate to Social Entrepreneurship | Gouree Manjarekar | TEDxTilakwadi

I'm so privileged and honored to be sharing this morning with you all and to be on stage with such eminent personalities. But today, I won't be talking just about my journey, but I will be talking and I will be the voice of several rural women and children who do not have the opportunities which most of us present over here have. I grew up in a middle class family who constantly reminded me to thank God for all the blessings and the only way to repay it by helping those who were less fortunate. One incident which made me realize the importance of their teaching was when I was about 10 to 11 years of age and I had my summer vacations. I had been to a mela, a fair, with my parents. At the fair, I saw a vendor selling ice creams and I so badly wanted to have an ice cream, so I kept insisting my mom to give one for me. But you all know how difficult it is to convince your mothers, especially for an ice cream. But after a lot of buttering, she finally agreed and I was so, so happy to hold that ice cream in my hand. I felt victorious. When I was about to eat that ice cream, I saw two eyes staring at me from a distance. She was a little girl in toned clothes. She did not come to me, neither did she ask me anything, but she just kept staring at me. And I don't know what made me do that, but the next moment, I went to her and I handed over my ice cream to her. She ran away quickly with a smile on her face and that smile gave me another level of happiness. Getting the ice cream made me happy, but giving it to her made me happier. And that was the moment I realized the importance and the happiness of giving. And that feeling which I had was completely magical. Fast forward coming to my college days, I completed my graduation and post-graduation in Belgaum. I completed my Master's of Computer Applications and I was a bright student. So for obvious reasons, my professors and my mentors had high hopes from me of getting placed in a good company with a good pay package. During that time, for any student, getting placed in Infosys was a dream. But what fascinated me more than Infosys was Infosys Foundation. Sudha Murthy was my greatest inspiration. I checked all her articles about her philanthropy, about her work, and how her work impacted women from rural areas. She was my role model and I secretly wanted to be just like her. And I believe that with good heart, if you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. And that is exactly what happened with me. I met my dear husband during my college days. He was pursuing his mechanical engineering in the same college and our wavelengths matched. And one thing which he told me and which had a very great impact on my mind was when he asked me that if all educated youth start leaving their smaller towns and villages, how is rural India going to develop? Wow, what a strong statement. But I thought that it is easier said than done. But he was different because despite having a bright career, despite having various options and being a topper himself, he decided to stay close to his roots. He started his business in a small hometown and decided to employ several other youth in the process. And he became my next inspiration whom I started looking up to. Meanwhile, I was placed in two companies and I decided to work with Mindtree Technologies and I moved to Bangalore. I was good in coding. I loved coding. I worked as a software engineer. Until one day, which I call as my day of awakening, we had a CSR activity in the company and we visited Ramnagar, which is a part of rural Bangalore. We spent the entire day there in a government school, spending time with the students and children there, telling them moral stories, having a lot of activities and games. They told us about their stories as well. And at the end of that day, I realized that although I loved coding, but community service is something which gave me happiness and that was something which I would rather do the rest of my life. I quit my job, I got married and I moved to my husband's place, Chikodi, which is a small town surrounded by villages in North Karnataka. And trust me, my friends and family were horrified with my decision. But the same year, in 2008, I started the foundation and then started my journey of social work. We named it as Joy Bank. I conceptualized it as a virtual bank, not a typical bank, but a place where people who had something to give deposited happiness and people in need withdrew the joy. It is now renamed as PUNK. PUNK, which means Wings of Hope. So we started a lot of donation activities, like visiting old-age homes, orphanages, schools, but the initial years were very difficult because we needed funds. I started taking tuitions for school students, engineering coaching classes, music classes. I did everything so that we could have funds for the foundation. We tried to continuously make a positive change in the society and we were blessed to have many helping hands join us as days passed. My interest started increasing when I started seeing that how our work is making a positive change in the community, in the lives of people. Rural women who were less privileged started approaching me. They started coming to me to get advice, to share their struggles. And I listened to them in a genuine, non-judgmental manner, giving them comfort, help, and advice whenever required. And that was the time I realized the importance and the power of simply being there for someone. When I worked with the poorest of poor, I found out that there is very high potential in rural India, but what is lacking is opportunity. For most of the rural underprivileged women, they do not have any formal education, nor do they have skills. And for them, the most easiest way, I can't call it easy, but the most obvious way of earning is manual labor, which is not easy. It's very difficult. Many years back, I met a lady who was working at a construction site. She had two daughters, and she was carrying a pile of bricks on her head. She might be fifth or sixth month pregnant, and I could see that that work was physically very disturbing for her. When I asked her the reason to do that work, she told me that she knows the risks behind it, but she has no choice because she has to feed her family. And that shook me to the core. In 2014, we decided to start Punk Handicrafts with the aim to make a more sustainable impact on the lives of rural women. The idea sparked when my cousin Smruti and my brother-in-law Manish discussed with me that instead of only focusing on donations, why not skill these rural women so that they can earn a livelihood, and we generate livelihood opportunities for several rural women. So Punk Handicrafts employs skills and provides a platform for many, many rural women. Today, we have skilled more than 300 rural women with professional stitching skills, and they have mastered the art of stitching uniforms, hospital apparels, bags, and many more handmade products. I'm glad to share that during pandemic, we gave them a big work of almost more than 3 lakh masks. All these women who are working with us have their husbands either as truck cleaners, rickshaw drivers, many of them are alcoholic. So they need support during this time of crisis, and they got the support, and the family was really very happy. And it's a very proud moment for us to see that our products are getting exported, and the Make in India tag, when we put it on our products, our hearts swell with pride. Honestly, this journey would not have been possible without the support of our co-founder Manish. Although I started Punk Foundation with a vision, it was Manish who gave it a proper direction. Through Punk Foundation, over the years, we have a lot of initiatives which focus on empowering rural women and educating rural kids. So this is Gyan Vardhini Yojana, under which we cover the educational costs of rural boys and girls. I believe that education and skills is equal to development of any country. This is Kiddie Pack initiative. Under this initiative, we provide handmade bags, and stationery, and books to rural children, underprivileged children. And the beauty of these donation activities is that all these products which are being donated are handmade at Punk Handicrafts. So not only do they help the kids who are getting the donated products, but they also help us to provide employment opportunities to several rural women. This is Happy Periods initiative. Now, under this initiative, we spread awareness about menstrual hygiene to rural women and slums. We also promote reusable sanitary pads, which are sustainable means of menstrual practices. And all these reusable pads are again handmade at Punk, a very unique concept which we have started at Punk. Now, menstrual hygiene in rural parts is a topic of concern. It's a very huge topic, which I'll keep it for the next TED Talk. We have Punk Pathshala. Punk Pathshala is an initiative under which many, many volunteers, not just from India, but from abroad, have joined us in mentoring rural children. Recently, we have started working with a school in Nangnur village. And we are working for mentoring all the students to boost their confidence level, to teach them basic English skills. So this is about Punk Pathshala. Then we have blankets of happiness, where handmade blankets are given during crisis, like we have floods and other crises. This is Winter Jacket Donation Drive. All these jackets, again, are handmade by the rural women. And I cannot tell you the happiness when these women stitch it for these underprivileged kids, the happiness which they get while stitching these products. Today, as I stand here in front of you, I go back to my roots. I come from a family of teachers. So education had a very important role in my life. And I was the only girl child of my parents. But never was I treated less than a son. You might be thinking, why am I emphasizing so much about education and equality? It might seem normal to all of us. But this is something which is lacking in rural India. This is the story of Akshata. Now, Akshata was a very bright student. She came to me when she was in 10th standard. This is her marks card. Akshata had topped her school, not just her school, she stood 7th to an entire Karnataka board. But her mother was working as a household maid, and her father was absconding. Her mother could not afford her education. So we thought that we will cover her educational costs under the foundation. She decided to take commerce, and she did exceedingly well even in her higher secondary. She was again topper to the college, and she stood first to the district. I had very high hopes from Akshata. She had the caliber of becoming an IAS officer. And I told her that I'll provide everything for you to do that. But destiny had some other plans. Because one day, Akshata's mother along with Akshata came to me with a bunch of bananas. And she told me, Madam, please take this and allow Akshata not to study. I was shocked. Was it a bribe I was getting to allow her to study? I asked her the reason. She told me that Akshata was qualified for some government job. I convinced her in every possible way, but all in vain. Her mother asked me that what is education going to do? Her job is going to give her money, and with that money, Akshata can raise her younger brother. So Akshata stopped her study midway when she was in B.Com II. Can you imagine? A girl of that caliber, who was seventh to entire Karnataka board, could not even complete her degree. But Akshata was a fighter. Because after joining the job, after two years, she did an external BA. And today, she's working as the head village accountant in Raibag Taluka. Akshata, Rupa, Rani, Apsara, Afroza, there are so many women and so many stories worth sharing. But we are short of time. These are the ladies who teach me, who inspire me. And the lessons which they teach me cannot be read in any book and cannot be taught by any book. They are extraordinary women who could not have the opportunity to go to school. But one thing which all of them have in common is hope. Today, all of us sitting over here, we are all educated. And I think it's our social responsibility to be the voice of these voiceless. Let us all inspire each other, uplift each other, motivate each other, and make a difference in the society in whatever way we can. Thank you.