Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Final Report
NGO: PRAYASAM
N. Yogeswaran
Naina Sharma
Sherin V S
Vinod Kumar N.
Dishant Nagwanshi
Dripto Ganguly
0216/51
0218/51
0338/51
0396/51
0128/51
0131/51
PROJECT REPORT
About PRAYASAM:
Prayasam is a nonprofit organization that focuses on empowering children so that they can get and are
in a position to best utilize the opportunities that come up their way in future. It was started 8 years
back by five friends in the city of Kolkata. Its motto is to act as an aid to help children achieve their goals
and thereby help them become good citizen of the country. It believes to do that, the prerequisite is to
help children develop dignity and self-respect. Once these aspects are taken care of the children are in a
better position to aspire and achieve their goals. These effort by PRAYASAM are directed towards
making children (especially underprivileged children) caring, productive and responsible citizens of
future society.
Over the years of its existence PRAYASAM has helped children from slum areas become successful peer
leaders and educators thereby transforming lifestyle in these slums.
PRAYASAM core activities include activities in the field of preventive health, sanitation and hygiene etc.
The beauty of its approach is that it encourages children in an area to bring change, to improve the
physical and social environment of the society/community they live in. PRAYASAM encourages children
to be agents of change by spreading awareness in their community while acting in groups. These
children are supported by PRAYASAM in terms of information, trainings, materials and mentorship. Over
the years it has come up with many such models for empowering children and improving communities.
The above one is just one example. It has an advisory board constituted by senior citizens and
representatives from young generation which guides PRAYASAM and its members in their endeavour to
bring change in underprivileged communities by guiding and developing children as agent of change. In
fact children have been the engine of its successful ride. PRAYASAM has membership from different
socioeconomic background, this helps it to consider all perspectives and opinions while planning and
executing a plan. It has provisions of internship and volunteerism that provides opportunities to
students to actively participate and contribute to the cause by being a part of PRAYASAM.
PRAYASAM focuses on education for employability, human personality and overall development,
infrastructure development for communities. It also makes effort to address social problems like early
marriage, girl education, social exclusion of females, accessible education for children etc.
PRAYASAM WORK STRATEGY:
To achieve the goals PRAYASAM tries to:
1. Develop new leaders within the community and society by nurturing the children of that
community
2. Develop the right mindset in children of the communities at an early age
3. Encourages children to develop as leaders and bring about change in communities and society
4. Shape the perspective of the children
Although due to some unforeseeable circumstance she had to cancel that day as well, but we were finally able to meet
her at Salt Lake on the following Sunday.
We had a 3 hour long conversation with her where we tried to figure out various problems that PRAYASAM is facing and
how we as management students help them resolve these issues.
At the end of our discussion we had clarity on the 4 initiatives through which we could help PRAYSAM:
Although the two weeks after that we werent able to get in touch with Piyali Maam due to our busy
schedules and also due to her being preoccupied with her mothers surgery, hence we decide on cutting
down to just one initiative for the scope of the courses project and continuing with the others after the
time boundation on us was lifted.
We decided to meet Piyali maam again with our ideas on all 4 initiatives and discussing about the
feasibility of each, we also let her know about our situation with the course deadlines and ask her to
prioritize one of the four initiatives suggested by us.
Hence, 4 members from our group went down to the Salt Lake office of Praysam on 21st August to meet
with our POC and also the Director of PRAYASAM Mr. Amlan Ganguly, who was very keen on meeting
Dripto after hearing his thoughts and ideas from Piyali Maam.
During the meeting we discussed the scope of all the initiatives and mutually decided on focusing on the
training module for the Capability enhancement program for Prayasam associates in creating Business
Reports and Pitches.
We decided on conducting two workshops for the associates at Prayasam for the same and also refining
some of their documents as a part of teaching. Following our prior discussion we communicated the
workshop dates and timings to Prayasam.
Final Scope of Project:
These dates were decided on the basis of availability of all group members as we had end terms in the
following week and many group members were flying home in the next week.
We requested maam to forward us the organization profile and other related documents thatll be
required for our project. These were handed over to us on the 31st of August.
Since then we have been working on the reports, refining them, noting down the hacks to be
communicated to the associates over the workshop. We have made a full-fledged presentation entailing
the various tricks and hacks of pitch/report writing, we have also arranged for some good and bad
examples of reports thatll help them differentiate good and bad reports better.
Unfortunately it was communicated to us by Piyali Maam that due to some seminars in this week she
would have to cancel the workshops, but she promised on having them next week, hence we have
confirmed the workshop timings as follows:
Workshop Plan:
Project Status:
We are ready with the refined reports and have clarity on what we will be covering in the sessions.
We are attaching the various refined and unrefined PRAYASAM documents that we have worked on
uptill now, we are also researching as much as we can on report and pitch writing so that we can help
the associates as much as we can.
As of now, we are prepared with our bit of the deal and are really looking forward to the workshops in
the next week, hopefully we will be able to add some value through our initiative to the associates and
hence to PRAYSAM.
We would like to thank Prof. Devi Vijay for providing us with this wonderful opportunity of getting in
touch with PRAYSAM, Piyali Maam, Amlan Ganguly Sir and various other people from the organization.
It was a once in a lifetime experience and as we have promised Piyali Maam, we will stay in contact with
Prayasam and keep helping in any small or big way that we can till the time we are in Kolkata.
Thanks & Regards,
Business Pitch
Developing a business without the support of investors will be a tough thing. Meanwhile, it is also hard
for us to make them listen. They often hear the story. They need assurance and exact measurement on
the stories. Meanwhile, we cannot promise that. So, here are ways to develop your pitch and to make
them listen. Real-world fundraising should take place in 30 minutes.
Tell a real customer story
When possible, open your pitch by telling a real customer story that addresses the problem your product
or service solves in the marketplace. Avoid using buzzwords and tech talk when you tell your story.
Instead, use real names and real customer challenges. Keep it simple and realistic. In the end, what people
will remember after they walk away from you are the stories you tell, so its important to have a few
compelling customer stories ready to share.
your business model is back to you. Ive done this many times, and its always an eye-opening exercise to
hear what people repeat back.
Talk about yourself
Its important to know that investors invest in people first, and ideas second. As a matter of fact, Ive had
several investors tell me to keep them posted on my next startup because theyd like to invest in me and
my next venture. So dont be afraid to toot the horn on your and your teams accomplishments
especially if those accomplishments relate to what it takes to start and scale a venture. Tell (and whenever
possible, show) the investors why you are the right people to lead this venture.
Tell us, what have you done lately?
By this I mean that you should share the successes and traction your team has had since the inception of
your company. It always surprises me how frequently this is left out of pitches. Investors want to hear
about your first customers, other investments put into the company (including your own sweat equity),
key media placement, signed letters of intent (LOI) to purchase/partner, product and customer
milestones, key hires, etc. As the CEO of your own company, you will be expected to be the lead sales
person, so show the investors that you know how to sell them on your own company.
Give the numbers that are behind your numbers
Dont say youre going to be a 50 crore business in three years, because most investors wont even believe
itunless youve done this before in another company. Whats more compelling than big talk is to show
exactly how you will reach those millionswhat information about your company do you have thats
made you forecast those kinds of sales? Share what your assumptions are about your business model.
For example, heres an appropriately detailed financial forecast for a SaaS (software as a service) business:
We leverage the site traffic and customer base of partners A, B, and C
100,000 unique visits/month to our network of online sites
1,000 new leads captured per month
0.22% average conversion rate
5% monthly churn rate
16 months is the average lifetime value (LTV) of a customer
$160 is average revenue per user (ARPU)
$12.50 is our customer acquisition cost (CAC)
You want to see investors take out their phones and begin calculating numbers. This is a good signit
means they want to see how you think, and see if it matches (a) what youve indicated as your total
revenue numbers, and (b) what they know about your industry.
Show your product!
Ive seen so many pitches where the entrepreneur doesnt even show their actual product. For some
businesses, showing their product is not easy to do, but for most people pitching for funding to investors,
it is. Even if your product is not yet built, show mock-ups. Its amazing what a visual representation of your
product and your business can do for the overall effectiveness of your
Pitch Just the Right Investors
Pick people who really know your business. They are already interested on it, and you will get more than
their cash. They have expertise.
Your Plan on the Money
This is the most important part. You must tell them how their money will help the company, and how they
will earn profits from there.
Let Them Ask Themselves
In the end, give them self-challenging questions why not to involve on the business. Give them multiple
questions and let them motivated to join you.
Now, try to make your business pitch first orderly. Do it slowly and prepare yourself on how to deliver it.
Those ways are proven to be effective. Combine them and make it perfect. They will listen to you as long
as you make it perfect and nice.
Reporting an Event
Who was there?
Event Tagline: From Good to Great: Turning a Mediocre Campaign into a Home Run for Your
Client
Memorable information:
o Meet the unspoken needs by going the extra mile to discover what your client really
wants but is afraid to ask for
o When you think youre done, let it sit on the shelf for a day. Then go back and make it
even better.
o Dont ask whether your client will like what youve done; ask yourself if you would
purchase the product based on the advertising youve provided
The guest of honor Miss Helen LaFave, US Consulate General, inaugurated the film festival
and released the teaser of CVNN (Community Visual News Network ) with eight filmmakers
Media persons from newspapers such as MukhyaBartha, Bartyaman, Newstime, the
Telegraph, Rajasthan Patrika and Xpress Bengal covered the event
The people from the field of film studies from universities like IIM Calcutta, Ram Mohan
College, Calcutta University and Jadavpur University adorned the stadium with their presence
The students from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute constituted of the audience
Coordinators and community children from several other NGOs such as World Vision, Jungle
Crow and Srishti Foundation also attended the film festival
Event
The festival screened eight films created by the youth in the Visual Basic class as a part of the
Grassroots Film Studio
The films were based on the issues that the community members face in their daily lives such as
verbal abuse, bullying, domestic violence etc
Venue
The BBW festival was hosted in the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute situated on the E.M.
Bypass Road, Kolkata by Prayasam
History
Grassroots Film Studio, GSF is supported by Adobe Foundation USA and is in collaboration with
Adobe Youth Voices. It conducts Visual Basics classes for children from different communities that
Prayasam is working with. Students use the studio to create unique videos that address social
issues in slums and marginalized areas of Kolkata.
Impact
Stakeholder Level
When the Kolkata Korcha reported about the BBW film festival, Cine Centre presented
Prayasam with a great opportunity of screening the eight films in Nandan, a government cinema
hall in Kolkata on 17th July during the Nandan Film Festival
The eight films have also nominated by Films Division for screening during the Mumbai Film
Festival
One of the very well reputed cultural institutions Rabindra Okakura Bhawan has also offered to
show the films in every district of West Bengal
The representatives from the Srishti Foundation also want to show the movies in the
communities they are working with
Miss Helen LaFave enlightened the spectators with her speech on how India has become one of
the largest users of social media. She also mentioned the fact that since most of the Indians
operates Internet on their mobile phones; the news travels with them wherever they go. CNVV is
an effort by the Prayasam to bring before the world, the various issues and endeavors of the
communities that it has been working for that are so often neglected by the people.
Community Level
One of the residents of RAC remarked, The movies were eye opening for us as they reflected the
daily lives of people in our community. The movies were based on reality and it felt like a day from
our lives has been videotaped and shown on the big screen. After watching the movies, they felt
that whats happening in their community is wrong and its time to change the scenario.
When asked, Do people think twice before committing any offence like verbal abuse, bullying
against girls/boys, taking alcohol etc.? One of the residents of Mahisbathan answered, If people
would have thought even once, then the circumstances in our community would have been
different today.
Business Report
Aim: To give people a chance to express their emotions to their audience effectively.
Mission: To provide high-quality writing services at competitive rates to individuals for important
occasions of their lives.
Vision: To enable people convey the right message as desired.
Service Offerings:
WordsForYou
Personalised
eg: Appreciation,
Apology, Proposal
etc
Script
eg: Events, plays
Business
eg: Brochures,
Website Content
Application
eg: SOPs, essays
Operational Process:
Requirement
Understanding
Collection of
Data
Writing
Quality Check
Moderations
Edits
Feedback
Key Resources:
a. Writers: It is a freelance model where writers will be paid on a per-assignment basis. The idea is to
leverage upon the untapped talent of potential writers who are not associated with any professional
writing service.
b. Quality assurers: To maintain the quality of work.
Revenue Model: Service fee from clients.
Cost Structure:
a. Fixed Costs Office rent
c. Sales and marketing costs
Value Proposition:
Clients
Writers
Investors
Effective Communication
Customization
High ROI
Channels:
a. Website
b. Lead providers
c. Hotline Services
d. SEO e. WOM
A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company, organization or person; its reason for
existing; a written declaration of an organization's core purpose and focus that normally remains
unchanged over time.
The commercial mission statement consists of three essential components:
1. Key market: Who is your target client or customer (generalize if needed)?
2. Contribution: What product or service do you provide to that client?
3. Distinction: What makes your product or service unique, so that the client would choose you?
Vision Statement: (Desired End-State) A one-sentence statement describing the clear and inspirational
long-term desired change resulting from an organization or programs work.
General Findings
The best visions are inspirational, clear, memorable, and concise.
Avg length for the full 30 organizations listed here is only 14.56 words (excluding brand references)
Avg length for the first 15 organizations is only 10.5 words (excluding brand references).
The shortest contains only three words (Human Rights Campaign)
The longest contains 31 words (Amnesty International)
Habitat for Humanity: A world where everyone has a decent place to live. (10)
Oceana seeks to make our oceans as rich, healthy and abundant as they once were. (14)
Make-A-Wish: Our vision is that people everywhere will share the power of a wish (13)
San Diego Zoo: To become a world leader at connecting people to wildlife and conservation. (12)
The Nature Conservancy: Our vision is to leave a sustainable world for future generations. (11)
Ducks Unlimited is wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. (13)
In Touch Ministries: proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people in every country of the world. (14)
NPR, with its network of independent member stations, is Americas pre-eminent news institution (12)
World Vision: For every child, life in all its fullness; Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so (19)
Teach for America: One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent
education. (16)
ASPCA: That the United States is a humane community in which all animals are treated with respect and
kindness. (18)
Cleveland Clinic: Striving to be the worlds leader in patient experience, clinical outcomes, research and
education. (14)
Goodwill: Every person has the opportunity to achieve his/her fullest potential and participate in and
contribute to all aspects of life. (21)
Smithsonian: Shaping the future by preserving our heritage, discovering new knowledge, and sharing
our resources with the world (17)
WWF: We seek to save a planet, a world of life. Reconciling the needs of human beings and the needs of
others that share the Earth (25)
Save the Children: Our vision is a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection,
development and participation. (18)
Kiva: We envision a world where all people even in the most remote areas of the globe hold the
power to create opportunity for themselves and others. (26)
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkins disease and myeloma, and
improve the quality of life of patients and their families. (18)
Boy Scouts of America: To prepare every eligible youth in America to become a responsible,
participating citizen and leader who is guided by the Scout Oath and Law. (24)
charity: water believes that we can end the water crisis in our lifetime by ensuring that every person on
the planet has access to lifes most basic need clean drinking water. (28)
Clinton Foundation: To implement sustainable programs that improve access worldwide to investment,
opportunity, and lifesaving services now and for future generations. (19)
VFW: Ensure that veterans are respected for their service, always receive their earned entitlements, and
are recognized for the sacrifices they and their loved ones have made on behalf of this great country.
(32)
Special Olympics: To transform communities by inspiring people throughout the world to open their
minds, accept and include people with intellectual disabilities and thereby anyone who is perceived as
different. (28)
Creative Commons: Our vision is nothing less than realizing the full potential of the Internet universal
access to research and education, full participation in culture to drive a new era of development,
growth, and productivity. (33)
Amnesty International: Amnesty Internationals vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of
the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human
rights instruments. (31)
Food
Elementary education
Vocational Training and Life Skills
Employment
Brief:
Prasaad initiative focuses on providing skilled labor to adolescents in the field of catering and
hospitality service through Prayasams training program as a part of its commercial venture.
Prasaad focus on the business aspects of delivering nutritious foods to the schools, working
professionals and households around Salt Lake City, Kolkata and Rajarhat, Kolkata area. Prasaad
will work as a profit venture and the man power will be generated from the 30 trainees who are
part of the skill development program.
Benefits to the trainee candidates; provide marketable technical skills to adolescents in food
production and catering services that aims to enhance employment opportunity for children.
Vocational Training is given in 6 key aspects of running a restaurant business namely Cooking,
Serving, Packing, Operations, Marketing and Distribution and Finance
Selection Procedure:
The Commercial Kitchen involves 30 adolescents from the source areas of Bidhannagar and
South DumDum Municipalities of the district 24 Parganas(N), namely, Udayanpally,
Mohishbathan, Nazrulpally, Shantinagar, Duttabad and Rishi Aurobindo Colony.
The trainees at the commercial kitchen are also enrolled in the National Institute of Open
Schooling (NIOS) education program and are part of other activities of Community
Development like running the YUVA (YOUTH UNITED for VARIOUS ACTIVITIES), working as Area
Health Minders, taking part in Alternate Media, Computer Education etc.
Customers:
Shopping Malls
Local workforce that come here for work and Bus stands
Services offered:
Pricing:
Two kind of pricings are followed
Subsidized rate mainly for schools mid-day program, NGOs and hospitals
Standard rate Corporate houses, shopping malls and academic institutions
Partners:
The Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Kolkata
Hyatt Regency Kolkata
Selection
Inside training
Workshops with other training institutes
Basic Computer Education and Accounting
Vocational training session with Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology
and Applied Nutrition, Kolkata
Local partnership Employment opportunity
Suggestions:
Proposed Training Program Life Cycle
Support/Funding mechanisms for people who want to start their own business at the
end of the program
Restructuring the curriculum after every year for the new batch based on the industry
standards and changes in catering and hospitality sector
Opportunity for passed out trainers to stay back us resource personals with a monthly
incentive
Partner with schools and colleges for school/college canteen management
Project : Prasad
Budget for 12 Months
Sl
No
Particulars
1 One time Costs
Utensils (including gas oven, Refrigerator
hiring, Mixer, cooking utensils, storing
1.1 utensils, caps, gloves, aprons, uniforms, etc.)
2 Recurring Costs
2.1 Venue/House Rent with electricity
Per diem to Participants (30 Participants x 20
2.2 days/month) Rs. 200/participants/day
2.3 Honorarium of Resource Person/s
2.4 Capacity BuildingTrainings
2.5 Raw Materials
2.6 Fuel, Cleaning etc.
Grand Total Rs.
Unit
No of Units
Total Budget
Remarks
200000
200,000.00
Market survey
of
requirements
Month
12
20,000
240,000.00
Dumdum
Month
Month
Visit
Month
Month
12
12
6
12
12
180000
10000
15000
6000
10000
2,160,000.00
120,000.00
90,000.00
72,000.00
120,000.00
3,002,000.00
Materials
Supervisor
Concerns:
The budget only accounts for one Resource Person and its advisable to have minimum 4
resource persons for a group of 30 students, because every year new batch of students
will take part in the program
No mention of culinary experts and other trainers who required for the program to
manage the training and curriculum for students
No mention of age of adolescents who can be a part of the program; because there are
clear restrictions about using under 14 children for labor activities
No mention of profit management and re-investment into the program
Suggestions/Improvements
Identify few of the existing charity organizations which deal with collection of clothes and try to
work/connect with them.
Should have any specific kind of clothing such as childrens clothing or blankets, or if they do not accept
certain specific clothing for example inner or undergarments.
Flyers/ Word of mouth /email with information on kind of clothing and other details
Spread the word in as many ways as possible.
Sort the donations as soon as it is received or as regularly as possible so that it doesnt just keep piling
up.
Show gratitude to all donors, either in person or mail, including details of how much was collected and
how many people their donations will help, this would encourage them to donate on a regular basis.
Binapani Tailors
The Binapani Tailors program is one of the newest ventures at Salt Lake City Prayasam. The boys and girls
involved in the program have learned how to sew to help sustain their higher education. Binapani, or
Saraswati, is the goddes of learning and knowledge, and the inspiration for the name. So, to promote
higher education, we have started creating this male shirt and Kurta ensemble to sell. We use hand-woven
Tangail fabric, which is appropriate for any weather, and also represents the sentiments and emotions of
the migrants in this part of Bengal. Tangail originates in Bangladesh, and most of the marginalized people
here are from that part of the globe.
The shirts and Kurtas are customized according to the wants and needs of our customers, and they have
already gained popularity in and outside of India for both their comfort and their benefit to students. Have
you ordered yours yet?
Suggestions
Expand from just clothes to table cloths, towels and other simpler sew-able items.
Since it is seen as program intended to promote higher education, interested and motivated students
can be encouraged to pursue advanced tailoring courses.
Work/connect with a local vendor so as to maintain a constant demand for the sewed materials.
If there is already a huge demand for the materials from outside India, we could explore options on
taking this online or on Social Media.
Performance
Dance
Therapy
Art therapy
Life Skills
Through the process there could be a possibility of identifying some children who are exceptionally good
at either dance or drama or art and can in turn be motivated to pursue the same.
The Extracurricular team must be extremely energetic and capable of influencing other children to take
these form of arts and become more expressive.