Rural BPOs are investing in inclusize and accountable companies for sustainable development in India. This has greatly helped in creating meaningful opportunities that create better and sustainable lives. Even though the focus is on providing high quality outsourced solutions to the clients, the companies also work towards larger social scenarios and thereby creating a positive socio-economic impact.

Some Rural BPOs have laid out programmes that specifically focus on women empowerment. This is because some women may not have the opportunities to move to cities compared to the men. Some Rural BPOs also focus on the disadvantaged individuals in the community, the minorities and the people with disabilities.

Every year on the 15th of October, the United Nations calls on all of us to celebrate the international day of rural women. Can the roads be equal for everybody where everyone gets the opportunity to be leaders accompanied with similar benefits?

By digitizing villages, rural women and girls can expand their horizons and connect with the rest of the world. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals present an opportunity for business-led solutions and technologies to be developed and implemented to address the world's biggest sustainable development challenges.

I thought of how a digital village can look like. Listed are the resources that need to be present to digitize a village to benefit rural women.

Gender inequality persists worldwide, depriving women and girls of their basic rights and opportunities. We know that women and girls are a powerful force for change since many of them are well educated and should be rewarded based on merit.

We need to create an environment where women feel it is through their merit that they have risen. When we uplift women and girls, we can break the cycle of poverty. We can help them delay their marriages, choose the timing and spacing of their pregnancies, access needed services and information, complete their education, and gain the knowledge and skills they need to participate in the global economy and in their country's development. 

The following pie chart illustrates the comparison between internet users in Urban India and Rural India based on gender.

Source

There are opportunities for all of us to reflect upon the gains we have made and envision ways in which we can further work towards  the entrenchment of sustainable development goal number 5 of gender equality within our organizations and companies.

We have the opportunity to make the world more stable, secure and resilient. Rural women need to be economically empowered by creating formal employment in their villages. Digitizing the villages is one way that can create opportunities for them. Companies should be building issues of gender into their work-plans and supply chains.

Women should not just be treated as consumers of products and services but as part of the workforce. Women are symbols of hope and can contribute to thriving economies. Rural women can make extraordinary transformational change not just a dream but a reality. When we put women and girls at the center of development, we can see a positive ripple effect across their families, communities and nations.

The Author of this article is Susan Rujema. She is a Rwandan citizen who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and a Master of Science degree in Procurement and Logistics. She is currently a SITA intern with DesiCrew Solutions working on aligning DesiCrew to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. She earlier worked in monitoring and evaluation in Kenya and communications in Rwanda. Her interest lies in entrepreneurship, peace building, gender development, children's advocacy, climate action and human rights.

How would you feel if you were given an opportunity to work in a village? For Arthi Varatharajan, it was a dream come true scenario. She is thrilled to be part of the Kollumangudi team of DesiCrew Solutions Limited. Kollumangudi is the first center that DesiCrew Solutions opened when they started in the year 2007 in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.

I was thrilled when I was told that I will have the opportunity to visit one of DesiCrews BPO centers in the villages. The day was set; 30th of October, 2017. It was a road trip to a centre in Tamil Nadu State. Apparently, on that day, there was a heavy downpour that made the ride bumpy. After six hours on the road, we finally arrived at Kollumangudi Centre where I met Arthi Varatharajan.

Arthi has worked with DesiCrew for four years having started out in July, 2013 immediately after her graduation. Two years after joining DesiCrew, she was promoted to be the digital operations team leader. Arthi is a perfect example of a lady that has been able to identify opportunities that reinforce her competence within the rural set-up.

Arthi and her colleagues in a video about Women Empowerment

She has been enjoying the benefits of working in a rural setting such as the low cost of living which enables her to save a good percentage of her salary. She has also improved her skills and increased her confidence by sticking to the bottom line of making the clients happy based on quality performance. Every day, she strives to learn as much as possible and to share her ideas with her teammates. This can include setting performance goals for everyone and working towards the achievement of the same.

Her face lights up when I ask her how working at DesiCrew has changed her life. At 25 years of age, she gets to go home everyday to her parents' house. Her father is a rice farmer, while her mother is a home-maker. Arthi comes from a family of one boy and one girl. Her brother works in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates as a Diesel engine Mechanic.

Arthi is the only child keeping her parents company and she really treasures these moments. She enjoys cooking southern Indian dishes and sharing meals with her family. She also gets to view the beautiful scenery and breathe the fresh air thanks to the many trees surrounding her environment.

DesiCrew is aligning itself with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) by contributing to SDG goal number 1,5,8 and 9 through its model of taking the jobs to the rural areas with a focus on gender equality. 

The SDGs are integrated with social, economic and environment issues at its core with clearly defined goals and targets. According to Arthi, the future is bright in terms of rural technology since rural India is growing ten-fold in internet usage. 

I believe that companies should be consistently measuring their performance as they put more effort towards continuous improvement by meeting all the customer requirements.

How do we cope with a digitally advanced future where many young people are disinterested in agri-business? DesiCrew Solutions Private Limited Company may not have all the answers but they have devised one way to sustain people in the villages of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states of India through creation of non-agricultural jobs in their centers which makes me optimistic about what the future holds. Offering job opportunities to rural women in India helps to reduce the number of girls getting married early. 

This year Arthi participated in the International Day of Women thus contributing to the conversation of women-relevance and women-impact. As a team leader, she has noted that both men and women are able to produce excellent results at the work place.

Arthi is currently single and intends to get married once the right spouse is identified with the blessing of her parents. Until then, she is focussing on building her career with DesiCrew Solutions who are giving her the opportunity to work in her village.

Arthi is what I would call a successful team leader. I believe the ability to lead a successful team requires one to be well informed and to make strategic decisions by promoting learning, reducing errors, making customers happy, getting things done faster and engaging people in understanding and improving the processes and procedures done.

The Author of this article is Susan Rujema. She is a Rwandan citizen who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and a Master of Science degree in Procurement and Logistics. She is currently a SITA intern with DesiCrew Solutions working on aligning DesiCrew to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. She earlier worked in monitoring and evaluation in Kenya and communications in Rwanda. Her interest lies in entrepreneurship, peace building, gender development, children's advocacy, climate action and human rights.