Great Companies- How was the idea of 'Lakshya Jeevan Jagriti' born? Summaiya Afreen: When I was in college I met my co-founder Rahul Goswami and my team. We all were the part of distance learning college so we didn't have benefits and exposure which regular students get and to enhance our knowledge and overall development together we all used to participate in a different national and international conference to enhance our knowledge and confidence. Rahul was working on a case study which was around single lady parent and we presented that case study at IIM-Ahmedabad where we won that competition with some prize money. We all decided to invest that money to start an organization which can empower women and youth.
Great Companies- What is the ultimate goal of 'Lakshya Jeevan Jagriti'? How you plan to achieve it? Summaiya Afreen: To uplift the status of women and youth by making them skilled, independent and productive contributors to the communities in which they live. We train women and young people in basic education, financial education, and IT skills. Our special designed workshops train them in leadership skills and make them responsible contributor in society.
Great Companies- What steps do you take to ensure efficiency in your work? Summaiya Afreen: Our most important assets are our trainers. We train our trainers on a timely basis. We ensure the environment in our centers remains positive, we give everyone a space to express themselves. Our counselors are always available for our students and beneficiaries. Our personal-mastery and leadership workshops motivate our students to keep sharing about their achievements and failures. We practice sharing of everything to keep the community close and together as a support group. Great Companies- Your website mentions that Lakshya Jeevan Jagriti promotes gender equality across all programs, why you think, gender equality is important. How you plan to achieve it? Summaiya Afreen: The rate of girl child dropouts are higher than the male child in India. After spending 9 years of my life working at the grassroots I have personally observed that women and girls face discrimination when it comes to taking up higher education or a professional course. Parents tend to invest in boy's education rather in girl's education. To maintain an equal balance of both gender we ensure a ratio of 50:50 for both boys and girls in all our programs. Women are equal contributors to our society and have equal potential we just need to train and support them to achieve their full potential. We also run a program called Aao Sath Maa where we educate and train mothers. A mother spends most of their time with children it becomes even more critical if a woman is not educated. We train these mothers in basic education so that they can also contribute to their children's education but also gain confidence, self-esteem, and knowledge.
Great Companies- What is your success mantra? Summaiya Afreen: Be consistent in what you are doing. And always be present on why have you started it. When we start something we do it with full passion and enthusiasm but down the line, as road becomes difficult we lose hope and feel demotivated. My mantra is I always ask myself a question. Am I doing my 100%? I always see my gaps first and work on it.