Where the hell in Kgp?
Sarabjeet Singh a.k.a Surd (of the ‘Where the hell in Kgp’ fame) left a
lucrative job option at ZS Associates and is now working full time for Ethos, a start-up in the social sector. In an interview with TSA, Surd discusses the reasons for his choice.
TSA-What made you leave a lucrative job option at ZS Associates and join
Ethos? How is the work culture there different from a stereotypical corporate company?
Surd- I met Ethos through E4SI (Engineers for Social Impact), an innovative
fellowship program, which connects students from top Indian engineering
schools to social enterprises. After being offered a full-time position at
Ethos, I had to face the dilemma of choosing between the two. Did I want to
be one of the several “Technology Associates” in a big MNC where I hardly
have any clue about the bigger picture or should I make strategy decisions in a firm where I define my work and boundaries. I chose the latter. Working in a start-up in the social sector though involves working for long hours and has a steep learning curve attached to it. From making strategic decisions on how the product or service will shape up to attending phone calls to cooking tea for the team, you do everything along the way. You often face the challenge of keeping your spirits high and maintaining discipline and self-motivation, in spite of long work hours. Contrary to popular opinion, the remuneration is decent. Ethos also allows me to explore my own ideas and devote a few hours a week toward them, much like Google. During these “few hours”, I am working on launching an incubator competition for early stage social entrepreneurs in India.
TSA-Could you elaborate a bit more on Ethos and the nature of your work there?
Surd-Ethos Philanthropy was started about an year back by Priya Naik, a social entrepreneur, who has been associated with the likes of MIT, Yale and the University of Michigan and has worked at the IFC and Grameen Bank. The
idea behind the initiative was to revolutionize ‘giving’ in India by creating a state-of-the-art portal to facilitate interaction between thousands of credible NGOs across the country and potential donors and investors. Innumerable brain-storming sessions that we have every day coupled with calling up non-profit organisations and trying to understand the challenges they face are on the daily menu. *There is just one program which we are officially running right now, called I-Support Fellowship and this is being handled by Parth Sethi (KGP Class of 2009 and McKinsey hiree)
who is currently an intern at Ethos. The program connects to professionals, who are willing to volunteer to credible NGOs who need support.*
