Bain & Co. organizes a company-wide Community Day every year, wherein its employees participate in service projects with NGOs within their local communities.  For the past 2 years, SevaYatra has acted as Bain’s partner in this endeavor – from conceptualizing and planning to implementing this project.  This year, Bain’s Community Day was scheduled for March 30, 2012 across both Bain locations in India – viz: Delhi (NCR) & Mumbai.  Employees from the Gurgaon offices of Bain volunteered with Literacy India NGO in Gurgaon while those with the Mumbai office spent their day serving at Kherwardi Social Welfare Association (KSWA).

Bain Mumbai – KWSA:

The Bain Mumbai group – 50 employees in all – spent the day working with 50 youth from KSWA.  KSWA’s mission is to create opportunities for school dropouts and deprived youth to help lead productive and socially useful lives.  The NGO focuses on 4 main areas: vocational / livelihood training, community engagement, industry partnership and placements.

After a quick orientation and the welcome, volunteers were split into three groups to work on different activities with the youth at the NGO.  The group largely focused on career planning, interview skills and computer education. 

One group of volunteers, paired with the youth, taught them about the importance of setting short and long term career goals, preparation of resumes as well as cover letters and interview skills.  Another group of volunteers were paired with a batch of youth to teach them computer skills with applications like MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint – based on the skill level of the student.  The third group of volunteers conducted mock interviews with the youth and giving them feedback on the same.  They also showcased to the youth on what a good and a bad interview looks like. 

After a much engaging first half of learning and sharing, both the Bain volunteers and KWSA youth participated in a fun team building exercise, preparing and enacting skits and plays on topical subjects.  The day ended with a room full of volunteers and youth with happy smiles!

Apart from the immense learning, sharing and the fun that transpired through the day, the feeling that each Bain volunteer went back with was sheer contentment!  With over 200 man-hours of active service at KWSA, and with cash & kind donations to both the NGOs, the Bain Community Day 2012 was indeed a great success and an excellent way for Bain to engage with their local communities.  A project like this not only benefits the participating NGOs, but also proves to be a great bonding exercise and team experience for the Bain volunteers themselves.