Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Entertainment | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Making IT work for all

Suresh Kamath is a personification of the humane face of industry. He has employed over 150 disabled people in his company

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Suresh Kamath: `What is industry without its employees and what are employees who have no human values'

The renowned economist, the late Prof. Ashirvatham, said: "Every industry has two faces — one humane and another money." We have all seen the money face of the IT industry and are now getting to see the humane one with Bill Gates and other IT majors donating everything fromswivel chairs to the police training school to computers, scholarships, ambulances, endowment funds and mid-day meals as well as adopting and educating bright children in rural areas.

Amidst all this largesse, not many have spared a thought forthe physically challenged. Suresh Kamath, Chairman of the Chennai-based Lasersoft Infosystems, has set out to bring about a change. An IIT graduate, Kamath believes in showing the human face of the IT industry first. His company has employed over 150 physically challenged people and he feels they are highly motivated and wonderful people to work with.

Kamath asks: "What is industry without its employees and what are employees who have no human values?" His philosophy has stood him in good stead and today his company is making progress into the higher rungs of business.

Talking about what motivated him to take up the welfare of physically challenged people, Kamath says: "What could be more motivating than being able to support people who have lesser chances of survival in the high profile IT industry?They are not expected to do any physical work and the software production and other computer related work they can do without any hitch." While making the employees computer literate needed perseverance, it was easy Kamath as he was a good trainer and his colleagues made it happen with their hard work.

"When I said I wanted employ physically challenged people in my company, many sneered at me. They found my idea philosophical but impractical," Kamath says. "That was the image of IT industry in 1992 when I started the company. People looked at the industry with awe, they looked at it as a place where employees earned extraordinary salaries, and products carried fantastic price tags. All this created a halo around the industry and created a certain upsurge in the money and employment market. That halo has now started to disappear and the IT industry has started to realise that it has to merge with society and cannot remain in an ivory tower anymore."

Kamath shares his birthday with Bill Gates, got married on World Disabled day and started his company on May Day. Kamath says though he hasreceived many awards, his best moment was when he was given the Distinguished Alumnus Award for his entrepreneurial skills by IIT Chennai.

M. RAGHURAM

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail