By Victor Michud | Operations Director - UnLtd Tamil Nadu
The last quarter of 2015 at UnLtd Tamil Nadu marked our first pilot program with partner organization _Social Starters, a UK-based social business that matches skilled international professionals with local social enterprises for short-term consultancy assignments. For UnLtd Tamil Nadu team and investees, the months spent with Social Starters team and their A-1 consultants were jam-packed with excitement, inspiration and hard work.
Over twelve weeks, we hosted sixteen consultants from across continents and professions (engineering, IT, fashion, finance) who worked in pairs with our investees in and around Auroville. Armed with their flip charts, colored post-it notes and mosquito repellent, they cycled relentlessly through scorching heat and harrowing monsoon rains looking to experience a more sustainable way of living and doing business, gain exposure to grassroots social innovation and get inspired by local changemakers. From livelihood projects for women self-help groups, Gypsy communities and people with intellectual disabilities, to farmer producer companies, ecotourism, art therapy, community mediation and an upcycling studio, they preached Human-centered design and Lean startup principles aided by our start Incubation apprentice Naveen.
Although all consultants did a commendable job supporting investees with ideation and goal setting, product design, branding, market testing and impact assessment, we want to extend a big shout out to one consultant especially dear to UnLtd Tamil Nadu’s heart. We were fortunate to host Rowena, dedicated HR specialist who contributed her skills and positive vibes to strengthen UnLtd Tamil Nadu’s recruitment, team management and training and development processes, as well as structuring our apprenticeship program. The team is very grateful for her commitment and deft facilitation of our two-day retreat, a landmark event which inaugurated a more agile organizational structure and fresh approach to project management.
We’re excited to host the next batches of Social Starters consultants during summer 2016. Our other monthly highlights include:
October: our office moved into Auromode community, a sustainable fashion garment unit at the heart of Auroville’s industrial zone! We’re glad to move closer to other Auroville units and take part in the vibrant startup community, with the inauguration of Integral Entrepreneurship Lab’s first co-working space also hosted by Auromode. In spite of heavy rains, we celebrated with an over-the-top office warming party bash for our extended family. Our ever-inspiring social entrepreneurs, awesome team and supporters gathered around homemade pumpkin soup, freshly breads and snacks, played music and danced like there was no tomorrow. Our new office has given our team even more energy and clarity to accelerate the impact of exceptional changemakers across Tamil Nadu.
November: we conducted a team retreat in Auroville hosted by Youth Link and Evergreen community and facilitated by our HR consultant from Social Starters. Over two days, we explored our values and guiding principles as an organization, discussed ways to leverage our strengths as a team and brainstormed a new organizational structure aligned with our individual working styles. This milestone event led us to redefine our internal processes and inaugurated a new approach to project management built on task forces, agile feedback loops and a lean team structure. The retreat was interspersed with fun games and activities building on the metaphor of UnLtd Tamil Nadu as a space rocket ready to launch. Evergreen horses also paid us a surprise visit!
December: We began shooting for our documentary ‘UnLtd Tamil Nadu: The Movie’! This short film is directed by Yatra Srinivasan, a local filmmaker and director of Yatra Arts Foundation. This is an exciting opportunity to showcase our work as a social incubator, share our investees’ inspiring stories and celebrate the impact they are creating in their community and in their field. We are planning to include the movie in our outreach and fundraising strategy after finalizing post-production: release is scheduled in March, followed by a promotion tour.
We’re gearing up for even more excitement in 2016, starting with our fundraising event in Chennai Annual Changemakers Day on February 5th, in partnership with Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry and IIT Madras. Stay tuned!
Thanks for your support.
By Gijs and team | co-creators
By Gijs Spoor | founder UnLtd Tamil Nadu
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