Breaking The Stereotypes - How Saarathee Is Providing Job Opportunities To People With Disabilities

How a society treats its specially abled persons is a true measure of a civilisation. Saarathee, a visionary company which aims to deliver business, social impact by operationalizing inclusion of persons with disabilities within the corporate workforce. Saarathee’s premise is built on the foundation of enabling sustainable change by offering a seamless connect between persons with disabilities, corporates and inclusion enablers by bridging the gaps of learning, collaboration, and deployment. Richa Bansal, founder of Saarathee gets candid about the inspiration behind starting such a startup and gives much more insight about Saarathee.

1. Please explain in depth about Saarathee and also the meaning behind the company’s name.
When we conceived Saarathee in 2018, we were always clear about what we wanted to offer to Professionals with disabilities and corporates… we wanted to be an anchor in their journey towards delivering/driving inclusion one way or the other….and therefore Saarathee – the anchor, driver and navigator.

2. What was the inspiration behind starting the company?
A few years ago, I chanced upon an opportunity to engage with people who could not see… and because of my limited understanding in the area… I thought that there isn’t much I can expect from them… not being able to see is such a big handicap…Till these people turned my perception around… and for good. This was a group of highly passionate and motivated persons with visual impairment who were hired as tele-sales executives to drive sales targets for Vodafone; and a pilot of 3 months turned out to be a sustainable business proposition. My learning therefore was, that skills required to do a job can be tailored to suit a person with disabilities…So what if he can’t see - he can talk, analyse, counsel, and lead, and do a whole lot more than any typical person can imagine. This insight and understanding then became my purpose… This then became what we now call Saarathee.

3. What is your vision and mission?
Our vision is to converge Technology and Human Capital to transform Disability Inclusion. Our mission is to deliver business & social impact by operationalising inclusion of PwD in the corporate workforce.

4. What are the top companies that have collaborated with you?
Our initial years were a struggle as most organisations would direct us to their CSR arm thinking we meant charity….but when we did manage to convince them of our business proposition and value we could add to them, we started onboarding some small businesses. Once we created success out of those it helped us get large clients on board. Some of the organizations that have trusted us in this journey are Amazon, Daikin Air Conditioners, ITC Foods, Coding Ninjas, Cashify, Kalyan Jewellers, Financepeer, Roop Autos etc. We have worked either as their outsourced sales and customer service partners or as their hiring and inclusion partners. In the recent years we have done some work in collaboration with SHRM where we have conducted masterclasses and workshops for HR professionals.

5. Tell us more about one of its kind web-based platforms. What is your aim behind building such platforms?
In the last 5 years we have realised that there exists a huge gap of awareness, exposure and connection when we talk about inclusion. This applies to both Professionals with disabilities as well as corporates. Having walked the path of operationalising inclusion for Saarathee, we understood the deep-rooted challenges that Professionals with disabilities face as well as what corporates struggle with. To solve the problem of disability inclusion at scale we want to bridge this gap by not only bringing Professionals with disabilities and Corporates on a single platform, but also help navigate their journey towards the common goal.

The aim behind building this platform is to converge the potential of technology and human capital to transform Disability Inclusion. The Web Platform aims to bridge the gap between Professionals with disabilities & Corporates to prepare Professionals with disabilities to become Future Skill ready, make corporates Inclusion ready and help Corporates hire Professionals with disabilities .

The aim is foundationally two-pronged – The platform aims to handhold corporates in their journey of inclusion through customised and strategic Consulting, Building a Sensitised Eco-System through Workshops & Self Learning programs to drive positive, inclusive & encouraging work culture, Experience Inclusion by Outsourcing initial services to Saarathee by taking first steps in the inclusion journey and Value Focused PwD recruitment through consultative hiring, job listing & onboarding support provided on Saarathee Jobs.

For Professionals with disabilities the platform will assist them in gaining independence via direct access to a nation-wide list of enablers, gain Corporate and Social exposure through mentorship, upskill themselves with relevant educational and vocational courses to become job ready and gain meaningful employment through our dedicated job portal for Professionals with disabilities .

6. What are the services provided by Saarathee?
Saarathee today offers:

a. We offer corporates advisory and consulting services to help them strategize and navigate their inclusion journey

b. To be an outsourced contact centre partner for corporates who choose to initiate their inclusion journey by taking baby steps.

c. We also offer to incubate Professionals with disabilities for corporates in various roles before they are ready to get on board directly with the corporate.

d. We offer to build customised online/accessible training programs for Professionals with disabilities as per the organisations requirements to upskill Professionals with disabilities as per requirement

e. We offer sensitisation workshops to corporates for peers, hiring managers and talent acquisition team – these are face to face and online

f. We offer hiring support to corporates based on detailed understanding of the job roles and disaggregation through our dedicated job portal for disability hiring