Creating Big Dreams, One Cup Of Coffee At A Time

Turning rural dreams into reality is what Gram Tarang’s Café Coffee Day programme is all about. Read on to know more…

- Triti Zalka

 

Poonam Kumari grew up drinking tea, as most Indians do. It was only when she enrolled in Gram Tarang’s Café Coffee Day programme at Centurion University of Technology and Management, Bhubaneswar, that she was introduced to her first cup of coffee. She fell in love with it immediately. Like most other youngsters who sign up, she was the first girl to move out of her village to attend the three-month residential training.

A little over a year later, with an Advanced Diploma in Hospitality Management under her belt, and a placement at a Café Coffee Day Lounge in Hyderabad, she entered the national level Women’s Brewmaster Championship, 2016 and won. As India’s champion, the bright youngster went to Mexico to take part in the All-Stars Female Barista Competition. Poonam is now working in Mumbai as a Trainer in CCD. For a girl who had never stepped out of her small village, Poonam dared to dream big—and succeeded.

Mass mobilisation in rural Odisha

“We’re training underprivileged youth from rural areas of Odisha, who’ve completed their 10th or 12th,” says Sreejaya Satpathy, Project Lead, CCD, Gram Tarang Employability Training Services Pvt. Ltd. Mobilizers from Gram Tarang visit the villages of Odisha, set up job fairs and spread the word about the fully industry-sponsored course. It has not been an easy journey since the programme launched in 2012. Convincing prospective trainees to move out of Odisha was a struggle and parents were sceptical. It took a few years to build faith and trust in these families, but now applications come rolling in.

Around 35 candidates are selected per batch. Stories like Poonam’s are creating awareness and acceptability about the need for education and employment. The programme seeks to skill rural youth to become employable, guaranteeing 100 percent placement at CCD outlets.