Vani N, a visually challenged woman, gushes with excitement about her job at the Business Processing Unit (BPO) at the Indian Association for the Blind (IAB) where she makes calls to clients on a daily basis, telling them about offers and schemes that her client’s company offers.
“I wake up everyday preparing myself for the challenge of speaking to customers and convincing them over the phone. Everyday is different and I never get bored of work” she says.
For the 40 odd visually challenged employees working at the BPO, the place has provided them with a stable employment.
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The BPO, which was set up jointly by the IAB and the Amway Opportunity Foundation at the IAB campus was formally inaugurated by Judge D. Stanley David on Tuesday.
“While we were providing vocational training to our students here, we realized that the skills imparted weren’t helpful in getting them employed. Analysing the current industry trends, we decided to set up a BPO” said Abdul Raheem, Chief Executive Officer of the IAB.
The project which was piloted in 2011 with 15 people can now accommodate as many as sixty people. “Out of the 2 lakh visually challenged people across all age groups in the State, only 8,000 visually challenged people have been employed in the public and private sector. Creating more employment opportunities is the need of the hour” said Anitha Rao, Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility for the Southern region for Amway.
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The BPO which has been functioning with 40 employees handles outbound calls for clients that include Vodafone and Sun Direct.“For now, the BPO is handling outbound calls since the process of receiving calls requires more navigation across different software which will be tough. But we hope to expand the BPO to accommodate more people in the future and expect more clients as well” says Mr Raheem.
S.M.A.Jinnah, Founder & Secretary General, IAB and Dr.C.Ramasubramaniam, President, IAB were present at the inauguration.