“Give me just 10 days and I will improve the employability of the students in engineering colleges,” promises Dr.Vijayalakshmi Stephen, an Information Technology entrepreneur. She trains rural engineering college students in software development and also offers them free training to clear online examinations conducted by Microsoft. And helps them find placements in multi national companies. Besides, she also motivates people and guides them to become an entrepreneur in IT field.
Vijayalakshmi found that engineering students who cleared initial levels of screening tests conducted by MNCs faltered at the final hurdle. “For a short period of time I was a human resource professional for a MNC and I was surprised to see even brilliant students lacking the necessary skills,” says this Indian Institute of Science post graduate.
That propelled her to design a need-based curriculum that equips students to understand the nuances of software development. The course period is 10 days and demands 120 hours in the classroom. “Microsoft has certified the syllabus for this workshop. Our main objective is to see students develop software in at least one language at the end of the workshop,” explains Vijayalaskhmi who is the Asia convenor for Microsoft programmes. After successful completion, students get an international certification by Microsoft. “They are placed at a global level. Even those students who have arrears can take up this course and they also stand a good chance to get placed in MNCs,” she says. The focus of this workshop is only rural based engineering colleges.
Need based“Students of engineering colleges in rural areas cannot afford to pay a huge amount for technical training in private training centres. Our training wing visits rural engineering colleges and trains them. We want industries also to spell out their needs so that it would be easy for us to design industry-specific curriculum,” she says.
“Software development is highly creative. Once you understand it, you will enjoy creating new programmes. Of course, stress is a big menace in this industry. This is because of strict deadlines. But you have to learn to work within time limits. Once this is done, then it becomes your stress buster,” says Vijayalakshmi.
Vijayalakshmi is one of the earliest to offer software solutions in Madurai. But she had to struggle to get where she is. She lost her husband quite early when both her sons were still toddlers. But she established Vijailakshmi Hitech Solutions India (VHS) two decades ago with Hyderabad as its base. It is an offshoot of Vijailakshmi Computers started in the city by her husband T. Stephen D. Raj. “When we started our company as a small scale industry, there was absolutely no support because nobody understood our product. When we went for bank loans they asked for something concrete and it was difficult to convince them that software development is a product,” she recounts.
Helping handVijayalakshmi also started the Society for Education, Enhancement and Development (SEED) Trust to help women and children. The Trust provides free counselling, entrepreneurship guidance, technical training in various trades, education, leadership programmes and also medical camps and children’s camps.
“My main targets are families affected by drunken husbands. I choose women and children from these families and support them,” she says. “We also provide support in children’s education, marriage and legal issues,” she adds. Of the 392 employees in her company in Hyderabad, 212 are women.
Eager to help people to find government jobs, she started an information technology institute offering Central Government certified programmes. She also runs Date Entry Operator courses, a three-month computer course certified by the Department of Employment and Training, Government of Tamil Nadu and another six-month computer faculty training course. “Once you finish these short-term courses, you get placed in government schools as computer teachers,” she says.
More than 3000 of her students are placed in organisations. Many of her students are also in gulf countries. “Students trained in my institute are now placed in government departments including Customs and Central Excise and banks,” she beams. Her free training programmes are a big hit in the city attracting people from neighbouring towns too. Many of the former students return to the institute to take classes for the new entrants.
Vijayalakshmi is also planning to conduct a one-day workshop in August for the plus two students aspiring to pursue engineering courses. “I am just following my husband’s vision of doing service. The seed sowed by him has now grown into a big banyan tree as we have successfully launched globally in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Singapore,” she says. For free software development workshop, the management or principal of rural engineering colleges can contact md@vijailakshmi.com and maduraiviji@gmail.com or 9842174800.
Factfile
Dr.Vijayalakshmi has more than dozen degrees to her credit. She is also a trained classical dancer and veena player. She has won many awards that include the Government of Tamil Nadu’s Best Woman Entrepreneur award. Recently she was adjudged ‘Woman of the year (2014)’ by the International Software Consultants’ Association. She has published 43 books and developed 69 registered software.
