Photo provided by Ravish Vasan

When you look at people working for the marginalized sector, you notice the passion they hold to make a difference in the lives of the underprivileged. The rewarding feeling of making an impact in people’s lives gives you a sense of purpose that drives you to do more. 

“You can choose how you want to leave your mark in this world, all you need to do is pause and think.”, says Ravish.

Ravish found his calling when he started working with his friends to generate a revenue of 25 Cr. for more than 10,000 farmers of South Bihar and improve their livelihood. 

“I was yearning to be a role model to inspire the next generation of leaders. My conscience revealed the privileges I had and my experience from the corporate sector that prepared me to make the switch to the social-sector”, said Ravish

Ravish completed his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, and was working in strategy roles with big corporate firms. But when he got the opportunity to work on the social-sector project with his friends he quit his job.

“I impulsively chose to quit my corporate job and started working with my friends on their developmental project. This might not work for everyone. I would advise you to do your own research and make your decision”, said Ravish.

During his time working and forming a social-sector organization, Ravish faced a lot of challenges. Here’s a list of his learnings. You need to consider this before you make the decision to plunge yourself into the sector.

1. Clear resolution: Be clear about your choice. Pay cuts are a part of the work and can cause a difficult situation between you and your loved ones. To smoothly transition into it, it’s better to choose volunteering or pro-bono work to get a lay of the land before you dive right into it.
2. Realistic expectations: Set the right expectations for yourself and your family. Social-development work can be very disorganized and it is possible that you are putting out fires as they come up. Setting the right expectations can keep you prepared for any difficult situation that comes your way and keeps you from being overwhelmed.
3. Research and learn: It is essential to know what you can do best and build on it. Try to research topics that inspire you to do something new, and learn new skills. Also, research current social-sector interventions that might pique your interest. You can subscribe to free articles from idr.org or enroll in courses from acumenacademy.org and many others.
4. Try before you commit: It is best to try before you take up more than you can chew. You can try doing bite-sized work like pro-bono work and helping a friend in the development sector. This will help you to get hands-on experience on what the work feels like. You can also participate in hackathons to make solutions for issues that you relate to the most.
5. Volunteering: Try corporate volunteering and take up CSR roles. If you can volunteer and directly contribute to the CSR unit of your company, it will greatly help you get an idea of how organizations work. You can continue working as a volunteer without having to make the switch to corporate.
6. Invest monetarily: Look through the current projects of your preferred sectors and invest capital in them wholeheartedly. Money is equivalent to the work you’d put into a developmental organization and it’s okay to support any cause monetarily if you can’t contribute your time and efforts.

Photo clicked at the Acumen India Community Gathering 2022

The journey of the shift from corporate to social-sector can make you feel like you are in this on your own. It is an emotional roller coaster where you are always finding solutions on the go. The best way to deal with this is to get the support of like-minded people so that you know you are not alone in this. 

Acumen is one such support. Just like Acumen India Fellowship helped Ravish; by giving in the tools to manage and work with the youth while also balancing the polarities in his role at PAN-IIT Alumni Foundation; you can find the guidance and community support you’d need through your social-sector journey.

“Though the journey seemed very lonely in my early years, I was blessed to be part of Acumen India Fellowship which is a space of well-wishers & like-minded changemakers.”,  says Ravish

“If you are in your 20’s and 30’s,  you are going to have about 1600-1700 weeks of active life ahead of you. You can either choose to start your week and wait for it to end so that you can enjoy your weekends, or you can choose to pick a career where you look forward to working every day to change lives.”, says Ravish.

All you need to do is make an informed choice and Acumen will help you with the necessary tools to get you started. You can also enroll for specific courses at Acumen Academy and learn more about the sector and how to find solutions for your problems.