Jagriti Yatra | Day 7
The next stop on our north-bound journey now was Vizag, the ‘City of Destiny’ where we were hosted by the Akshaya Patra Foundation.
Akshaya Patra Foundation
Akshaya Patra was started to solve one simple problem : The kitchens hired on contract by governments for mid-day meals were not efficient and hygienic.
In 2000, it started with just 5 schools and 1500 children. Today, they serve hygienic and nutritious lunch to 1.7 Million children every day. This number is expected to go up to 5 million by 2025. They are the world’s not-for profit mid-day meal organization.
This change was brought about by the legendary vision of their founders, to stretch the efficiency of kitchens beyond excellent while maintaining the quality and hygiene of kitchen place. Their innovation in kitchen technology enables them to serve 1.7 Million+ meals per day with just 40 kitchens across India.
They were felicitated by PM Modi this year, when he personally visited and served food for children there.
No child should be deprived of education because of hunger.
Innovation Valley, Vizag
The mammoth of a building shown in the picture above is one of many incubation initiatives taken by Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. The building is almost the size of a stadium, and has only one purpose : Accelarating startup culture in India. The great initiative taken by government provides startups with office space, infrastructure, mentorship and other resources.
The sheer scale of the projects leaves you in admiration for the innovators of this project.
The centre was equipped with modern co-working spaces for startups, along with offices and cabins for mentors.
Later in the day, we were hosted by GITAM Univesity. The college is situated on the sealine of Bay of Bengal with a great view of ocean. Another interaction with female enterpreneurs was held in the auditoriam of GITAM, followed by excellent session by Swapnil Dixit, one of the founders of Yatra, on Design Thinking.
This was followed by an insightful talk by Praveen Dorna of StartupByte on Business Model Canvas 101.
PS : Schedule for the day :-
A busy day indeed. Off to Ganjam for tomorrow!
EDIT : Due to lack of free time on Yatra, this series had to be concluded with this post. Follow the links below to get more content made by my fellow Yatris :)
Travelling Paaji : Videos by Tanmay on Yatra 2018
An insightful talk by founder of Yatra, Shashank Mani
Thanks for reading!
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