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AMit Sarda
Entrepreneur by spirit, romantic by nature http://www.soulflower.biz

Soulflower Leadership Program #AttractWithLove #LeadersOfTomorrow

I am in conversation with myself these days and had a realization that I am more adept to using trending keywords and hashtags. Part of me lives a hundred percent in the digital space and now I have fallen in love with hashtags! But back in 2006, there were no hashtags.

It’s a day of reflection today, and I want to reflect back on The Soulflower Project. 8 years, 180 successful graduates, recruits from IIT, IIM, IMT, NITIE and the likes, 30 plus projects, 3 Metros, 1 great country

2007 was a year of births. While the idea was brewing due to paucity of good talent within our growth spurt, our energies were focused on competing with the mightiest. There in lay our problem. We were looking for new talent to take on the new trends of the world especially with the IT boom where the best talent was being recruited by IT companies such as Infosys, Wipro and the rest. We decided to divert this traffic of talent in India to engage with a brand of love and happiness i.e. Soulflower.

How did we start? Well, we sat down to think about the dream of a college graduate. 1. Either he/she wants a good job in a great company or 2. He wants to start his own business but the lack of guts are stopping him from taking the plunge.

So we decided to hire people from great institutions and give them the platform to be an entrepreneur for two months. We gave them budgets, projects and ownership and equipped them with the exclusive hiring and firing powers.

At first we approached IIT Kanpur as it was an entrepreneurship driven institution. While we expected 5–10 candidates to apply, more than 100 candidates applied. We interviewed 100 and selected our first 2 entrepreneurs.

The project given to these two intelligent folks was to start our first e-commerce portal. From design, concept, vendor selection to product placement, the whole nine yards. The new bosses hired 3 more people to make a team of designers and photographers and outsourced the coding to another company of their selection. Day 59, soulflower.bizwent live.

That was our first brush with the Leadership Program. Six months later, our second batch opened up and we had an astonishing 1000 applications! Presently, we get 12,000 applications from all across Universities in India and we have extended the program for 5 months for special projects like the Soapies, digital initiatives, reach to 1000 towns, redefining processes and SCM.

The trending keywords in our minds are #Leadership, #Entrepreneur, #Opportunity, #Love.

1. Why do students aspire to be part of Soulflower Leadership Program?

#Ownership #Experience #TheRealDeal #BeTheBoss

2. How do we select which programs are to be implemented?

#TheFutureNeedsOfSoulflower #SoulflowerLeadershipProgram

3. What is the thread of the Soulflower Leadership Program?

#FutureLeaders

4. Do these leaders work for Soulflower fulltime?

#NoGutsNoGlory #TheAnswerIsYes

5. How do we select our leaders?

#MyInterestsLieIn #ThisIsMyPassion #ItsAllAboutMe #SoulflowerValues

6.What is more important? Vision or Strength? 
#PerformOrPeris

7. Have any products been defined thanks to our students?

#BeardAndMoustacheRollOn #PMSRollOn #FeelSexyRollOn #JetLagRollOn

8. What did the students get rewarded with?

#ShadowTheLeaders #ManagingDirector #ShopperStop #GetToMeetThem

9. What do I get out of this?

#TalentedIndians #HRBranding #CorporateCulture #AttractWithLove #GivingBackToSociety

Great entrepreneurs bring in social revolution and value to our future generations. I believe in helping entrepreneurs grow. That’s my personal take on the Soulflower Leadership Program. As an entrepreneur and looking out for new ideas and young talent, we want the best talent to work for us. We train them. We get them ready and their mindset becomes #PerformanceDriven. These students are ready to jump into the real world and we ensure they are #PlugAndPlay. Soulflower touches the lives of many hungry hearts and we are grateful to all our students for their diligence and perseverance as well as their trust in us. In my vision. In me.

In a nutshell, if I were to describe how enriched I am for those students who believe in us, I would say they have given birth to the inner Guru in me. And perhaps this is an apt platform for me to thank each one of those applicants for it. It’s due to them that I keep humming this hashtag in my heart. #FortunateToTeach.

If you are interested in The Soulflower Leadership Program, please contact us at slp@soulflower.biz