Now comes naming the enterprise. Ajeevika in Sanskrit means livelihood and as Richa and her team of eight people are providing livelihood to rural people through Internet, they decided to call it eJeevika.
On the 14th April 2008, eJeevika identified 16 kiosks of N-Logue in Thiruvalluvar and Cuddalore. The first batch had nine candidates who were trained in retail sales. The client was NIS Sparta for Reliance.
Though the first two batches were trained free, now eJeevika collects a fee of Rs 1,000 for the 20-day training of 100 hours. The decision to charge was taken because they found that only if they charged the candidates, would they appreciate the value of the training being imparted.
"In no time, we found that nobody appreciates anything that is given free. We started the first programme with 14-15 candidates, but finally only nine finished the programme. Now that we charge, candidates are keen to complete the training and join the job."
The entire training is online, except three days of offline contact class. "The advantage of online training is that it is flexible. They can come at any time to the kiosk, practise and give the test. Everything is friendly for them. Because of ICT, training, selection and placement for each candidate is customised and done remotely from Chennai," Richa said.
Image: A counsellor speaks to prospective eJeevika franchisees. | Photograph, courtesy: eJeevika
Also read: Bill Gates: The rich must help the poor
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