A lesson from Mr. Ambani
GRANULARITY. It was the first time I had heard this word.
And that too from no less than Mr. Mukesh Ambani. In person. This was 2002, Reliance was still one, and the Sensex was touching new highs to reach the 3000 mark! Mr. Ambani was on the board of Pratham India Education Initiative (PIEI), an industry body that - among other things - sponsored professionals to work for Pratham. I happened to be one such professional, and soon after joining, found myself in the board room of Reliance in Mumbai where the AGM of PIEI was being held. Other than Mr. Ambani, Mr. N. Vaghul (the then chairperson of ICICI) and Mr. Ajay Piramal were in attendance. I was, obviously, in awe.
My seniors at Pratham made their presentations to the board about the work the NGO had done over the past year. Future plans were presented. Large numbers were bandied. The need to spread Pratham's work in every corner of the country was expressed. While all this was going on, Mr. Ambani appeared preoccupied in running his company - making some notes, looking at his laptop screen, talking to his secretary a few times. He hardly seemed to glance at the power point slides being flashed in front of him.
The presentation over, we looked towards Mr. Ambani, not sure what to expect. He did not disappoint - no sir, not one bit! In the next 10 minutes or so, he came up with an eloquent perspective on what he thought Pratham should be aiming at. The one point that I most clearly remember was this: that at the heart of the large numbers and the big picture lies that one child whom Pratham seeks to benefit. This child could be anybody, she could be anywhere. And unless the Pratham team ensures that the focus remains on her - that she does not get lost somewhere in the big picture - all the numbers, and the plans to scale, were meaningless. That child, as per Mr. Ambani, represented granularity - that single unit that makes up the whole. This is at least what I, as a greenhorn in the development sector then, had managed to fathom.
Over these years of my journey in this sector, this understanding has only grown deeper. I think one of the biggest challenges that the sector faces today is to strike a balance between the scale and the grain - so far, this balance is shamelessly tipped towards scale. True, attaining a certain scale in a development program is critical to creating impact and ensuring replication; however, this cannot be at the cost of the grain. This thought, admittedly profound, happens to be the fount of Edulever's vision: to substantially improve learning in every classroom, one at a time!
And that too from no less than Mr. Mukesh Ambani. In person. This was 2002, Reliance was still one, and the Sensex was touching new highs to reach the 3000 mark! Mr. Ambani was on the board of Pratham India Education Initiative (PIEI), an industry body that - among other things - sponsored professionals to work for Pratham. I happened to be one such professional, and soon after joining, found myself in the board room of Reliance in Mumbai where the AGM of PIEI was being held. Other than Mr. Ambani, Mr. N. Vaghul (the then chairperson of ICICI) and Mr. Ajay Piramal were in attendance. I was, obviously, in awe.
My seniors at Pratham made their presentations to the board about the work the NGO had done over the past year. Future plans were presented. Large numbers were bandied. The need to spread Pratham's work in every corner of the country was expressed. While all this was going on, Mr. Ambani appeared preoccupied in running his company - making some notes, looking at his laptop screen, talking to his secretary a few times. He hardly seemed to glance at the power point slides being flashed in front of him.
The presentation over, we looked towards Mr. Ambani, not sure what to expect. He did not disappoint - no sir, not one bit! In the next 10 minutes or so, he came up with an eloquent perspective on what he thought Pratham should be aiming at. The one point that I most clearly remember was this: that at the heart of the large numbers and the big picture lies that one child whom Pratham seeks to benefit. This child could be anybody, she could be anywhere. And unless the Pratham team ensures that the focus remains on her - that she does not get lost somewhere in the big picture - all the numbers, and the plans to scale, were meaningless. That child, as per Mr. Ambani, represented granularity - that single unit that makes up the whole. This is at least what I, as a greenhorn in the development sector then, had managed to fathom.
Over these years of my journey in this sector, this understanding has only grown deeper. I think one of the biggest challenges that the sector faces today is to strike a balance between the scale and the grain - so far, this balance is shamelessly tipped towards scale. True, attaining a certain scale in a development program is critical to creating impact and ensuring replication; however, this cannot be at the cost of the grain. This thought, admittedly profound, happens to be the fount of Edulever's vision: to substantially improve learning in every classroom, one at a time!
and for each and every child.
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