My name is Suhail, I’m a junior in ILR. This past summer I was an intern at the Vivekananda Institute of Leadership and Development, the for-profit arm of SVYM. SVYM is one of the largest non-profit organizations in Southern India, whose initiatives affect over 2 million rural Indians at the grassroots level. I was a Product and market research intern at V-LEAD. As an intern, my responsibilities included creating an updated product Manuel (detailing the firm’s initiatives and future) and a product portfolio. In order to do this, I conducted a feature, advantages, and benefit analysis in a product t matrix to analyze the effectiveness of select products for future offerings. In addition, I worked alongside the director of the firm, Ramesh Venkataraman, focusing on 2 of the 4 sectors V-LEAD operates in: NGO/ Civil Society Organizations and MSME (startups/ social impact sector).
After conducting research and targeting two problems, I worked on designing two new products as well as their respective go-to-market strategies. The products included a virtual course offering targeting individuals interested in the growing social impact or startup sector in India. Participants would be able to attend seminars and receive one on one attention with experienced individuals to guide them throughout the industry. In addition, there would be networking opportunities as part of the product offering. The second product I worked on was an internship program aimed at mitigating opportunity gaps faced by rural students in their career pursuits. Essentially, they would participate in a 12-week internship program that would develop soft skills and further cultivate their technical skills, making them more exposed to professional experiences and open more opportunities for future employment. While working under Mr. Venkataraman, I was given the freedom to explore different outlets and had a very creative ideation process for the products I helped design.
Slides for my final project presentation.
