Using Dialogue in the Dark — an exhibition tour on persons with disabilities (PwDs) — as a stepping stone, Hyderabad-based ACE Experiences recently partnered with the National Skill Development Council (NSDC) for its Take 1 initiative, aimed at getting companies to employ the differently abled. ACE has set a target of skilling and making 1,000 PwDs employable by this fiscal year end.
ACE says it has placed about 70 people in companies such as Aegis, Prasad Corp., Kantar IT, Rockwell Industries and SAP India in the last few months. "Further, we have a commitment from companies like Lemon Tree, Dominos, Veetech Diesels, Landmark Group, Mediciti Hospitals, Aditya Birla Retail, for creating 200 jobs for the PwDs in the coming fiscal," said SV Krishnan, founder and CEO of ACE Experiences.
Apart from this, 40 other companies are keen on recruiting people with disabilities, Krishnan said. Krishnan launched the DID concept in 2011, kicking off the Taste of Darkness restaurant concept a year later. The dine-in-the-dark experience is for better understanding about disability. Rockwell Industries managing director Ashok Gupta recalls his first experience.
"Initially, it was a little uneasy but we were made comfortable by a voice of our guide. It was a great experience and after finishing our food we stepped out only to realize that Razzak who had engaged us was visually blind," he said.
Rockwell has hired four PwDs from ACE and is planning to add another 30 by the fiscal year end. ACE is looking to set up DID centres in Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi within a year as it looks to widen employment opportunities for PwDs. NSDC will help ACE spread its footprint by connecting it to industry. "Through ACE, we expect to skill around 1,00,000 PwDs over the next 10 years," said Dilip Chenoy, CEO of NSDC.
Source : Economic Times , 9th September 2014
Source : Economic Times , 9th September 2014
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