Press releases

Infostretch Opens Vocational Center in Pune to Provide Education and Employment Opportunities to Women and Girls

In partnership with a leading NGO, the Swadhar Institute for Development of Women and Children

PUNE, India – December 2, 2021  Infostretch announced that it has opened a new vocational center in Pune, India, as part of its Ahaan movement, which provides underprivileged communities with varied educational opportunities. Infostretch partnered with the Swadhar Institute for Development of Women and Children (IDWC) to launch the Ahaan Vocational Center. It will provide training to more than 100 girls from low-income communities to develop key skills to help them gain employment, specifically in the widely accessible beauty and bakery industries.

The Pune center is the latest in Infostretch’s national network of eight Ahaan Learning Centers. From the launch of the first in Ahmedabad, the Ahaan movement has helped over 500 people throughout the country. For the opening of the new center in Pune, Infostretch collaborated with the leading NGO, Swadhar IDWC, which aims to empower women and support underprivileged or marginalized children.

Drawing on Swadhar IDWC’s extensive experience helping women to become independent, the center in Pune will focus specifically on training young women and girls with the vocational skills they need to advance in the beauty and baking industries. Initially, the recipients will receive extensive training in both the professions with courses comprising of a mixture of practical experience, business education, on-the-job experience, field visits, opportunities to meet employers and soft skills training.

“For the women and girls embarking on their path to education and employment, the Pune Ahaan Vocational Center marks the beginning of their journey to a self-reliant, dignified life,” commented Anjali Bapat, President of Swadhar IDWC. “Our goal at Swadhar IDWC is to support underprivileged communities and no tool is more powerful in achieving this aim than the empowerment of women. To date, we’ve directly helped 1,800 women and girls, and impacted the lives of many more in those communities.”

“As a company, empowering change is deeply ingrained in our values. The vocational center in Pune will help women and girls develop the skills and contacts to succeed professionally. We’ve seen first-hand the transformative effect training and education opportunities provide not just to individuals, but to whole communities,” commented Rutesh Shah, CEO and Founder, Infostretch. “I firmly believe that business success is only sustainable if the communities it serves share in that success, which is why I could not be prouder of the work of the Infostretch team in Pune.”

Infostretch established the national network of Ahaan Learning Centers as part of Infostretch Ignite, the company’s commitment to corporate social responsibility. Giving back to the community has been a guiding ethos at Infostretch from its inception, as demonstrated by the Ahaan Learning Centers and other causes that Infostretch supports. The company recently signed up to the 1% pledge: the company commits 1% of staff time, products, profits and equity to community and charitable causes.

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About Infostretch

Infostretch is a pure-play digital engineering services firm focused on helping companies accelerate their digital initiatives from strategy and planning through execution. We leverage deep technical expertise, Agile methodologies and data-driven intelligence to modernize systems of engagement and simplify human/tech interaction. We deliver custom solutions that meet customers’ technology needs wherever they are in their digital lifecycle. Backed by the Private Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Everstone Capital, Infostretch works with both large enterprises and emerging innovators — putting digital to work to enable new products and business models, engage with customers in new ways, and create sustainable competitive differentiation.

About Swadhar, Institute for Development of Women & Children

Swadhar was founded in Mumbai, India, in 1995 with the aim of empowering women in underprivileged communities.  After twelve years of successfully working in Mumbai, Swadhar opened a center in Pune, the Swadhar Institute for Development of Women & Children. The new organization had an expanded mission: to work on developing not just underprivileged women but also children too. It was founded and has been developed over the years by a team of professionally qualified women volunteers. Its main aims are empowering women, providing support to children in need of protection and the overall development of children.