An interesting conversation with Pooja Rai – CEO and co-founder of anthill creations, a social enterprise
dedicated to create play spaces for under privileged children.
Ideation
Pooja and her team of 5 architects from IIT Kharagpur did
their first pilot project of creating a playground for the residential school
in IIT campus. As students Pooja says they did not have much funds. They
creatively used scrap tyres and designed swings, climbers, see-saw and cube
structures. They sourced the scrap tyres from Michelin tyre
company. On the completion of the project they got covered in newspaper and
requests for creating similar play spaces poured in from all over India. The
ideation with proof of concept and acceptance of idea was a huge inspiration.
Need
Pooja says she and her team uncovered a bigger
problem for which they have a sustainable solution at low cost. Their venture
is a non-profit organization and aims at identifying and converting Public dead
spaces into play spaces or activity hubs. Any barren land or unused land below
the flyovers are workspaces for Anthill Creations. These activity hubs would
enable children to come out of their homes and engage themselves in play. The
seek to partner with schools, organizations and collaborate with communities to
create awareness for efficient utilization of dead spaces.
Team Formation
Pooja recalls discussing the idea with her classmates for
the pilot project. Within no time a team of five congregated to take the
project forward. The purpose brought them all together and they executed the
project with passion and dedication. The team is still intact and bonds with
the same passion even today.
The leap
After graduation from IIT
Kharagpur, pooja and her friends
cum co-founders started working in Bangalore. They pursued their dream of
creating workspaces during weekends. It was challenging for them with full time
jobs. Pooja and one of her friend Nancy decided to go full time into the
venture. The other co-founders are Vishesh, Paul and Nupur. 
The other three co-founders work part-time and
bring in their experiences and expertise. They are now incubated at NSRCEL,
IIMB Bangalore.
The other three co-founders work part-time and
bring in their experiences and expertise. They are now incubated at NSRCEL,
IIMB Bangalore.
Culture at Anthill
A young organization with a lean time have set their goal of
creating an impact with play grounds with do-it-yourself simple and sustainable
solutions. The team of five co-founders share the same passion and enthusiasm
and are in alignment with their goals.
They have started the hiring process and have 2 full time members
and lot of local and global volunteers from Australia, Spain, Portugal. Pooja says the new team members are in sync
with their goals and purpose.
They do have open communication as part of their culture.
They strive towards outcome-oriented work and are not just task oriented. The
team resonates with this attitude and are able to see the bigger picture. Pooja
adds that “it is the passion that keeps them glued” towards making a difference
through their work.
Through the collaborative strategy Anthill aims at creating
sense of awareness and ownership among the community members and organization
which work together in creating play areas.
It is indeed very gratifying to see the enthusiasm, passion
and the conviction of Anthill creations to walk the path less trodden. Kudos to
the young team. They have made a mark in a short span of time. They are open to
partner with organisations who are willing to take up the cause of creating
play areas and make dead spaces come alive with smiling faces.
Watch this space for
more insights. If you would like your workplace culture to be featured in
“joyful-workplaces” blog, do feel free to write to us. Our editorial team would
be happy to get in touch. Write to us joyworkshop@hasovan.com. Catch
the work-place philosophy of companies in the book “Erupt with Joy” by Savitha
Hosamane.
0 comments:
Post a Comment