SARITA KANUNGO, Mentor, Bhubaneswar

Sarita Kanungo is from Bhubaneswar, Odisha and has a marvellous academic history. She graduated with a degree in Sociology and has two diplomas in Elect & Tele Comm Engineering and in e-Commerce. She also completed her Post Graduation in Public administration and got herself a degree in executive MBA. She joined the Center for Modernizing Government Initiative in 2010. Prior to that, Sarita was actively involved in several social sector activities. She worked as a trainer in NGOs like the Centre of Youth and Social Development and the Centre of Advocacy and Research.

Sarita has been sincerely working towards social development and has been discussing government-initiated schemes through various training and awareness programs. Her primary aim is to spread awareness in the marginalised communities about the Right to Information act. Her expertise in administration helps her in getting involved in activities which include imparting training to government officials and PRIs, university, college and school students. She helps them learn how to build awareness campaigns, develop IEC materials, amongst other administrative processes to bring change.

It was in 2012, that Sarita joined BYST and has been involved as a mentor since then. She has also been playing the role of a resource person in the organisation. She has been extremely enthusiastic and actively participates in every event organised by BYST. She believes BYST is an appropriate platform for her to get a chance to reach as many people as possible and to explore her mentoring ability to help the beneficiaries.

One of Sarita’s mentees is Mrs. Chinupriya Acharaya, who manages a supermarket and is the mother of a 2-month-old child. Juggling between her work and her child was extremely difficult. Sarita advised Chinu to build a special cabin in the mart itself, so that she could carry her child to work and keep a close eye. Sarita suggested dealing with different customers in unique ways and also helped Chinu in building out strategies and curating various ranges of products to attract a larger number of regular customers. All these steps recommended by Sarita led to Chinu leading a stress-free life as a mother as well as a business-woman.

Sarita makes sure to treat all her mentees differently based on their special needs. This leads to a very personalised experience for each of the aspiring entrepreneurs resulting in a healthy and prosperous rapport between the two parties, and that is definitely Sarita’s forte!