Giving Back to Society

Serena Kallian

Maninder Singh Mann from Punjab is a 2nd year MBA student at IIM Indore and an Electronics Engineer. After a 42-month stint in IT and some experience in the nonprofit sector, Maninder wrote the CAT and joined IIM Indore. At the Institute, Maninder is keenly associated with Pragati, a social initiative which undertakes some consultancy assignments for NGOs and cooperatives and it was in association with this that he came up with the idea of, and initiated, his own social portal www.unite4action.com. U4A is an effort to harness technology for the service of society. It tries to bridge the resource gap in the social sector and caters to those professionals and students who feel like contributing to society, but don’t know how to start. Maninder’s endeavour seeks to bring such socially sensitive people and NGOs on one platform so that they can connect with each other. It also ensures privacy for those who don’t want to disclose their personal details and one doesn’t have to be a full time worker to be associated with it. One can contribute according to his own capacity, interest and limitation i.e. one can opt for any activity ranging from participating in forums to weekend consultancy to bearing water cannons, if one desires to do so. In an e-mail interview, Maninder shares his thoughts on his venture and his plans for the future.

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