Being a leading retail destination mall in Mumbai, we have associated with ‘PANKH’- Wings of Destiny (a joint initiative of TRRAIN and Youth4Jobs Foundation) to begin a training centre, which will work towards shaping careers of Persons with Disabilities (PwD’s) within the premises of our mall.
Known as India’s first and only visually-impaired-friendly mall, we also passionately run a Viviana-XRCVC resource centre for visually-impaired people. The PANKH centre is our second initiative, and focuses on providing equal opportunities for persons with disabilities. We want to empower them by giving direction to their career.
‘PANKH’ is an initiative carried out jointly by TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers & Retail Associates of India) and Youth4Jobs Foundation, aiming to create an inclusive workforce in the retail sector that will further offer a sustainable livelihood for Persons with Disabilities (PwD).
We, at Viviana Mall, collaborated with ‘PANKH’ and inaugurated a dedicated training center that trains Persons with Disabilities (PwD) with skills required for retail jobs.
Commenting at the inauguration, MD of Viviana Mall, said, “ Viviana-XRCVC Centre has helped many visually impaired to become self-sufficient. It is our endeavour to empower these people and hence, we decided to go a step ahead in order to cater to the needs of differently-abled. With PANKH we saw the right opportunity to address the limited career opportunities most PwDs get. They will now have a chance to opt for a career in the growing retail sector.”
We are immensely gratified as 36 Speech and Hearing Impaired (SHI) candidates have already enrolled for the training centre on the inauguration day.
The founder of TRRAIN, BS Nagesh said, “PANKH has given wings to more than 3100 persons with disabilities but the population of persons with disabilities in India is more than 28 million. Collaborating with an organization like Viviana Mall who is so sensitive towards Persons with Disabilities of India, would help us to reach more PwDs and offer better career opportunities for them.”
In the past, PANKH has also enabled employment for the trained candidates in hypermarkets, supermarkets, departmental stores, quick service restaurants etc. They earn about Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,500 per month. We are aiming at training 30 PwDs per batch and enable them to enter the retail sector.
