Leap of Faith

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”- Alchemist.

What brings success? Great success? Hard work? Yes. Passion? Sure. Vision? True. IQ? Right. EQ? Sure. But most defining factor is faith. Faith in oneself, faith in one’s dreams. It is what defines greatness and also it is what guarantees success. Rest of the things fall in place.  That’s how i have seen it and experienced:

For some professional interest I was studying about the “VidyaGyan” educational model of Shiv Nadar Foundation (SNF). VidyaGyan is no ordinary school. It is a social initiative conceived by Shiv Nadar, Founder - HCL, to handpick the brightest students from 100,000 rural government primary schools covering 75 districts of UP and provide them with world-class education absolutely free.

SNF is a significant force in education sector, with rural schools, colleges & university with a pledge of $1b for this purpose. As per Roshni- Mr. Nadar’s daughter- who co-leads the foundation’s work with her father it is the largest private foundation spending in India and also in emerging economies. While this was absolutely amazing and truly inspiring, i was particularly struck by a comment by Mr. Nadar in one interview- about its beginning: “it was a leap of faith and we didn’t know where we will get. Now we have data to prove that we are on the right track”. And he goes on…. “when I see those young children (at VidyaGyan Schools) there is something about them. I have this intuitive senses much like businesses I started with sheer intuition…I can sense that ability among these rural scholars.”

I got hooked to the two phrases “leap of faith” and “sheer intuitive senses”. And when i reflect on my own experience i find its reverberations.

Fourteen years back, when i started working in the development sector, i had the opportunity to work with Prof. Anil K Gupta of Indian Institute of Managememt, Ahmedabad. Prof. Gupta always maintained that teachers & scholars had taken (learnt) a lot from the farmers and grassroots entrepreneurs and subsequently theorized that or applied in practice, but rarely gave them the recognition or reward for their knowledge & innovations. He said now it is time to pay it back as well as build on it.

He took his leap of faith by first establishing SRISTI (with his PEW award money) & Honey Bee Network and then conceptualizing & institutionalizing the National Innovation Foundation (NIF). I have seen the formative days of NIF - how a small team relentlessly worked for a big idea, how it fructified on the ground, how the Honey Bee Network grew exponentially, how the grassroots innovators found their place in the mainstream, how institutional support for value addition, IPR and enterprise creation came from academia, industry, student and all other important stake holders. Today NIF is a unique Government Institute with global innovation linkages. Innovators every year are recognized & rewarded by no less than the Honorable President of India. This extra-ordinary effort was recognized by the country by conferring “Padmashree” Award to Prof. Gupta. He galvanized all institutions and people to the idea of making India innovative from the grassroots. But this was never an easy task. Heavy price had to be paid- people ignored him, discouraged him, contradicted him, left him. Yet he stuck to his faith.

Few years back…about 4/5 years, i had the opportunity to visit the Kalinga Tribal School (largest tribal school in Asia…perhaps in the world- home to over 10,000 tribal children) and its founder Prof. Achyuta Samanta.

Dr. Samanta withstood the vagaries of circumstances to rise tall, not by material richness but by ethical values of life. Setting up KIIT-a world class university all by himself with less than Rs. 5000 in his pocket is now history. He dreamed of a world where poverty would not stand as a hindrance to one's education. In his effort's he created a slice of heaven on earth, christened it as Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), for twenty thousand neglected and underprivileged tribal children living beyond our 'civilised' world.

He hails from a very humble background- but braving through poverty and shattered childhood he completed his school, went to college and then university, obtained his masters in Chemistry and landed on a lecturer’s job. While life was comfortable with the job something inside stirred Dr. Samanta constantly.  May be his childhood adversities, may be the struggle of his mother, or may be an exceptional entrepreneurial spirit, which had driven him to do something for the hapless poor youth, who could not do well in educational fields to secure regular employment. He took his leap of Faith 20 years back as an educational entrepreneur- starting with an Industrial Training Institute in a two room rented building which today is 20 sprawling campuses with state of art facilities on a built up area of 7.5 million hectres! His endeavor flourished into a full-fledged University 10 year back “KIIT University”- the most renowned engineering college, Medical, MBA, law school in Odisha. Around the same time of birth of KIIT, Dr. Samanta set up a small school for the tribal children. That fledgling school today is house of 20,000 tribal children who get free education from primary to PG level, boarding & lodging with latest facilities, pedagogy and equipment to make it one of its kind in the world.

When I met him there were two more visitors. One of them- a professor from IIT, asked him about what was the mystery of his incredible achievement. He silently pointed to the temple in front of him: God (Lord Jagannath). Later he also mentioned that selfless work and unwavering faith in one’s work could be the reason. Faith in one’s work & convictions….

Few months back, i was in a remote tribal area called Mahuda in Odisha, where ‘Gram Vikas’ works. Forty years back Joe Madiath, a young student leader from Chennai University, alongwith his friends came to work for rehabilitation in Odisha after the ‘supercyclone” there. Since then he stayed back in this hinterland and created a magical transformation in this community. As a radical thinker in his student days and keenly aware of the growing divide between the privileged mainstream and the rural poor, Joe and his like-minded friends began to think about ways to articulate that disillusionment and came together to form the Young Students Movement for Development (YSMD) to initiate development activities for the underprivileged. They engaged in relief works of Bangladesh war refugees in 1971 and subsequently went to Odisha coastal region for rehab works, followed by many more initiatives with the rural poor. But staying on with the tribals of Odisha Joe gradually realized that there was very little in common with the YSMD back in Madras. Living in a remote village, witnessing the perils of relentless poverty and indebtedness had given him a perspective that was essentially different from any theoretical awareness. It was time to set up a new organization. It was time to take the leap of faith. Gram Vikas was born on January 22, 1979…..

It all began with water, sanitation and housing. Unlike other development models, Joe’s MANTRA model emphasized on safe & hygienic habitation followed by natural resource management and income generation, which then was supplemented by unique education, sports, green energy and rural industrialization initiatives. Today Gram Vikash is among the top 25 NGOs in the world, it has spread its activities in neighboring states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh & Jharkhand serving over 400,000 families and won most prestigious accolades for its work. I spent about two days with Joe in Mahuda- and was astonished to see the houses, the schools, the plantations, the natural resource engineering, the solar power plants and above all the transformation of human capacities in the tribal communities there- the farmers, the youth, the girls, the kids…all. An example of the care and commitment: i visited one tribal school of GV alongwith Joe. In the sprawling campus the

main school building stood as a motif of art and skill. On the roof of this five-story building there was a massive water tank that has capacity of 140,000 litres of water. All these were most satisfying to see but one was in complete awe when one learnt that this entire building was done by tribal girls & women who got vocational training from GV…including the water tank! A feat of engineering excellence brought to the grassroots. At another place i saw how the basic principle of water flow from higher to lower level has been applied to bring water to various habitats from the hills. No pump, no electricity, only simple scientific principle applied to vast hilly areas- that solves water problems of hundreds of families! The leap of faith taken 35 years back, has blossomed so fully today.      

And there is one person I know closely for few years now. Chandra Sekhar Ghosh. Born in a family of sweet makers, he did his masters from Dhaka University, Bangladesh and then joined BRAC- the biggest NGO of the world. All was good unless at the middle of career he decided to come to India and do something on his own. Then the struggling phase started- irregular assignments, unsuccessful business ventures…with uncertainties for family. And at that crucial juncture he took the leap of faith. He set up a micro finance organization in a two room office at a suburb, with two colleagues.  Next year the struggles only intensified but he didn’t budge. And then things started falling in place. Today it’s the largest NBFC-MFI in India and recently became a full-fledged bank to cater to the low income/ middle income population. After independence (in fact after 85 years) Bengal has got its first bank- thanks to the social entrepreneur cum "people’s banker" CS Ghosh.

These are only few personal experiences. But we know of many more illustrious examples like Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) or N R Narayana Murthy (Infosys), Dr. G. Venkataswami (Arvind Eye Care) or Dr. Debi Shetty (Narayana Health)., who has given us most astonishing examples of this leap of faith and gave the world path braking innovations & institutions. But the purpose of this blog post is not to celebrate these incredible visionaries- they are already very much well known and respected. My purpose is to highlight the underlying principle: the leap of faith. All of them had one thing in common…or rather few things: they all had unique idea, revolutionary concepts; they all faced failures, humiliation & hindrances; they all had to walk alone- at least some length but all of them had the courage to take the leap of faith and then stick to it to the end.  

Apart from the above, who have done it real big, there are so many examples around us. There are numerous budding entrepreneurs (in technology, finance and social spaces) and i can tell you they are going to be equally illustrious in coming days. I remember a young girl came to work as intern in NIF. She was then studying computer science at IIT Kanpur. But she loved writing poetry. And was drawn to the cause of innovation & incubation. After IIT, s then topped her class in one IIM. And then….. took her leap of faith. She didn’t sit for campus placement and went on setting up her own enterprise. Another boy I came to know through my current organization. He was gold medalist from IIMA. Instead of pursuing investment banking in some land of gold, he chose to work some start up social venture. There was one colleague of mine (in my younger days) who left the MNC job, started on his own with a small but excellent team in the technology space and after few years owned the part of the MNC where he started his career. And there is Mansukhbhai Prajapati, who is a serial entrepreneur from a very humble background, who creates extraordinary solutions from ordinary situations- for the masses, for the poor.

This piece is dedicated to the gen next. They (today’s youth) are most capable. Most gifted. But at the same time the bar is set very high for all of them. Competition is daunting. Atmosphere is intimidating sometimes. Choices are confusing. And fulfillment is something that appears remote and foggy. But we have so many examples- modern day examples, to demonstrate that things can be done in our way, upto our liking, as per our faith. There’s nothing to be intimidated or confused of. Not to hold back. Go all out and give the best. Burn the extra 1%. Chris Carmicheal- the coach of seven times Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong once said: “The last 1 percent most people keep in reserve is the extra percent champions have the courage to burn.” Live your dreams. Discover your talents. Play it full. Work is “to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit” (The Prophet). Don’t hesitate to take the plunge…to take the leap of faith. “Wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure” (sorry, again from Alchemist)