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Meera Shenoy: The Social Entrepreneur Transforming Lives Through Inclusive Employment
Meera Shenoy is founder of Youth4Jobs. She works on policy, both with central and state governments, and has implemented projects in scale. As a pioneer in job-linked skilling of rural, tribal and young people with disabilities from underprivileged families, Meera Shenoy has dedicated her life to creating an inclusive workforce and breaking down barriers that prevent differently-abled youth from accessing meaningful employment opportunities.
Early Life and Formative Influences
Meera Shenoy was born to a middle-class family in Chennai. Her mother has been an inspiration. One of the first women to get a seat in Vellore Medical College, she had to give up her education to marry an eligible only son. Meera’s mother learnt the intricacies of the stock market in the 70s, and grew her small inheritance to ensure little niceties which the three daughters wanted were always given.
Growing up in a joint family, she was influenced by her grandfather, a district medical officer in the British rule India, who lived simply but donated generously to the needy. She was born in Chennai and grew up in an upper middle class family and her father was an ophthalmologist. The family led a value based life and helped those in need.
Building Foundation at EGMM
Meera Shenoy began her work in skilling as executive director of EGMM (Employment Generation & Marketing Mission). For the first time, her work made companies realize rural youth can be placed in entry-level jobs when short-term customized training is given. When she left after six years, it had trained 2, 20,000 youth with 70% placements.
Before founding Youth4Jobs, Meera helped to establish EGMM, an employment company. She proved to businesses that there was untapped potential in the rural youth of India, who, when given tailored training, could thrive in entry levels jobs. Highlighted in the Wall Street Journal and Knowledge@Wharton, Meera trained over two million young people before leaving the role to work at the World Bank.
Founding Youth4Jobs: A Revolutionary Approach
Youth4Jobs was created in 2012, when its founder Meera Shenoy saw an opportunity to provide the necessary skills to the disabled youth and make them employment-ready. “Hire these youth as it helps your business. Not out of sympathy or pity” is Shenoy’s mantra for her organization.
In just 8 years, Youth4Jobs has become the largest organization in this space and is a recognized System Changer. Y4J skills both youth with disabilities with less education from rural areas and educated youth in colleges. And makes the last mile connect to jobs. It has a presence in 28 states of India and works with a network of over 500 companies.
Comprehensive Skill Development and Employment Model
The project started with one training center in Hyderabad, and soon after set up 18 more centers in other states. The project provides a 45-day vocational training and job-linked skill development program with training centers tailored for different kinds of disabilities. The training caters to young men and women with speech, hearing and vision disabilities between the ages of 18 and 20 living in rural areas.
The training is inclusive of accommodation, and includes specially designed English, computers, life, soft skills and industry-specific curriculum followed by on-the-job training. Youth4Jobs has successfully demonstrated that linking one disabled youth in a family to a job can sustainably take the entire family out of poverty.
Transforming Corporate Mindsets
Most Indian companies do not understand disability and are not comfortable with the idea of employing a disabled worker. In order to overcome this challenge, Youth4Jobs launched its company connect program to educate communities and organizations on supporting and including a disabled workforce.
“Most companies were in disbelief that these individuals could carry out normal jobs. They were reluctant to hire youth with disabilities and had negative notions regarding the youth. We persisted to understand the gaps by designing solutions like fun-filled interactive workshops for all managerial levels,” Shenoy said.
Scale and Impact
This work has touched 9.3 million households with the message of “ability in disability”. It works with 1100+ companies to begin or strengthen their inclusion journey. The work has transformed about 4 million lives of youth with disabilities by counselling, training and linking them to sustainable livelihoods.
With 11,000 people with disability trained and rehabilitated, Youth4Jobs is empowering disabled youth in India and slowly introducing them into the mainstream. Operating across 14 Indian states, Youth4Jobs received the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in 2017 and was named the Best Placement Agency.
Recognition and Global Impact
Winner of Access Livelihoods Asia 2015 Award. Youth4Jobs also included into the Access Livelihoods Asia Case Study Compendium. Youth4Jobs was invited to present their case study of best practices at the UN Office in Vienna, Austria at the prestigious Zero Project Conference in 2016 and 2017.
She is the only person from India to be inducted in November 2015 into Happiness Hall of Fame, USA, which recognizes special people that have advanced the cause of happiness throughout the world. She was one of the few Indians to be invited to speak at the prestigious TEDxBerkeley.
Expanding Beyond Employment
Following the organisation’s vast influence, Meera founded Not Just Art, a digital platform for disabled artists to share their work with the world. This expansion demonstrates her holistic approach to inclusion, recognizing that differently-abled individuals have talents that extend far beyond traditional job categories.
Meera Shenoy’s book of inspirational stories associated with disability supported by Fetzer Institute, was launched at the Jaipur Literary Festival, the largest literary festival in the world. It is in its second edition and a Hindi version has just been published.
Continuing Legacy in Skill Development
Meera Shenoy is on the Governing Council of the recently formed SCPwD (Sector council for Persons with disabilities) and the CII Committee on Special Abilities. Her recent assignment was Senior Advisor UNDP, Skilling & Employment and supporting Mr. Subramaniam Ramadorai, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Skilling, in his capacity as chairman, NSDA.
Youth4Jobs Foundation has been awarded the ‘Best Service Provider of the Year’ in Web & Mobile App Development, demonstrating how the organization continues to innovate in creating employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
Meera Shenoy’s pioneering work in jobs for differently abled youth has created a sustainable model for inclusive employment that continues to transform lives and change corporate mindsets across India, establishing her as a leading voice in skill development and employment for disabled youth.
