Many may agree that this is a publicity gimmick, even if it is so it should end up benefiting a few people. In today’s age, how many CEOs take the pain of thinking about employees at the tail end?
Recently, the company’s headquarters in Gurgaon played host to a very different bunch of guests. They were young lads and lass—daughters and sons of delivery men. Delivery men are like the foot soldiers, always out on the field, braving seasonal moods, ensuring quick delivery even at midnight.
Goyal, welcomed the children of Zomato’s delivery fleet in the Gurgaon office. Having a capacious cafeteria that can house upto 800 people, the premises that day was used to educate children.
Zomato founder, Deepinder Goyal started Zomato in 2008, since then the company has grown tremendously.
Today, it is dominating the way people eat food in more than 24 countries. Zomato provides information on restaurants, along with menus, pictures and reviews. One can also order food on the website and the mobile app, delivery is free.
The idea of holding classes was given birth by Goyal, apparently one day while talking to one of the delivery person. A father of two children (boy – 10, girl- 9) said that his children loved school, but he wishes for better education for them.
Every employees working at the grass root level harbours a desire to give his/her children a progressive education. With the economy opening up and globalisation changing the way we do business and engage with employees; a mammoth growth opportunity is visible to all.
Goyal was disappointed that these kids have never interacted with computers. Knowing that some of them are really bright, but don’t have either the exposure, or the opportunity to reach their full potential. He decided to convert the cafeteria space on the weekends to teach the delivery partners’ kids.
“My parents were both educators, and I know what it means, to have great and inspirational teachers who show you the path. It is also my true privilege to have been exposed to many great teachers through my life, many of whom continue to spark my curiosity and send me on new journeys of self-discovery,” says Goyal in his blog.
Believing that kids are like sponges and need inspiring people around them to believe that they can create a future that they choose for themselves, he set up a chat group with a few people at Zomato, and by the end of the day they had a handful of volunteers ready for the first cafeteria schooling session.
Last week, they hosted the first session of the Gurgaon Chapter for Zomato Paathshala.
The children could choose what they liked to learn and how they would learn. Zomato volunteers provided a bouquet of activities and exposed them to arts, science, technology and sports. Some wanted to sketch, some interacted with computers and a few wanted to know more about cricketer Virat Kohli.
The children enjoyed every bit of the time they spent there, and the volunteers took away a learning on how they can become more meaningful in dealing with children.