Know About The Story Of Nilay Parikh Balancing Passion & Profession To Impact The Society.
Our country is a land of 664,369 villages with 908,804,812 people living in our rural India. India is progressing at lightning speed and is one of the fastest growing countries in the world.
Those living in Urban India, who have the benefits of better infrastructure and technology etc, should make it their duty to help bridge this gap between the urban and rural.
Creating the bridge
One such gentle, sensitive and compassionate man, living in the city, took a decision to reach out and help create this bridge.
Nilay Parikh, earns in the city, spends in the villages, win-win situation. Setting an example by shifting his path, realigning his goals and listening to his calling and bringing in change where it is actually required.
Learning allows us to make sense of the world around us, the world inside of us, and where we fit within the world.
Nilay’s journey started in Pune, Maharashtra. After completing his schooling and graduation, he went on to do his MBA in marketing. BMX Bicycle Stunt Cycling Sport and being outdoors gave him immense pleasure. Doing something out of the box, finding new avenues to reach out to people was his forte. Normal traditional Bhartiy family pathways were followed and he worked with FMCG companies and Media and took his career forward covering Bharat, South East Asia, UAE, Singapore, Europe apart from others.
During his days abroad, he realized how much he missed living in own Bharat. The value of something when you don’t have it with you, increases tenfold. In Bharat, wherever you travel, it becomes a part of you. He kept thinking about what we can do for our country. He came from a small village and he felt fortunate that he had the base of education which gave him the advantage to learn, experience new things and travel to many more countries and have a better life. He worked in various corporations, FMCG and media companies, utilizing skills, creating strategies for marketing, brand building for the growth of the organizations. Nilay wondered often, that if he can bring such development for commercial organizations in other countries, why not do it in his own country and focus on motivating the youth, who are the future of our country. He searched for solutions which will help to bring transformation and education is a base.
As Gandhiji said, “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people”
The Return Journey
Nilay decided to return back, and during his return journey, the process of transformation took roots. December 2016, he started traveling and exploring life to live and explored ideas how to give back to society and community.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”– Dr. Seuss
He realized that ultimately, we are born, we work to earn money to survive and one day we die , leaving it all behind. Whatever we do, our struggles, our efforts, our pains and joys, our ambitions and our goals, our relationships and bonds, all have to be left behind one day. Life becomes, ‘ Good for Nothing’ !
What do we do to make our life more worthwhile and leave some legacy behind.
And this was the foundation of the Start up – Good 4 Nothing Humanity.
Giving is wonderful, but to give, one must have. And to have, one must earn. Hence he started this startup with a revenue model which would help him to achieve his goal.
He once saw a young girl, who used to walk 14 kms just to reach a school and back, plus contribute in house work and on the farm. Such stories pushed him to focus on rural education. What we saw on social media was different from what he saw in reality. Today’s situation is better where digital literacy has been given a lot of empetus. Skilling is a priority where a youth should be trained to earn also apart from getting his degrees. Being skilled gives him that added advantage.
Nilay says, “ Every child has his own potential, own capacity to learn and excel.They just need to be channelised so that they can be successful in the field they choose.”
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His experience while working in many different countries, opened up many new doors and fresh ideas on how to impact rural education.
‘Good 4 Nothing Humanity’ was born as an education start-up. Not an NGO. Because we needed to have revenue so that we could ‘give’. Skills, passion and usefulness combined together to live for something good and die 4 nothing, was his philosophy. I am here cause We are Together. Becoming Ubuntu.
An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. – Benjamin Franklin
Good 4 Nothing runs as a Marketing startup agency to provide solutions from Digital & Social Media, Branding, Printing, Media, Merchandising end 2 end supplies to corporates, colleges and schools. Main percentage of the revenue goes towards supporting rural schools and community development. As Sevak founder of Good 4 Nothing, Pune, Nilay along with his team, selflessly serves the community through knowledge, skills, experience, education, digital social media, teaching, videography, photography, content creation, teacher training, social awareness, environmental projects, sustainable living, women’s empowerment, girl’s education, and theater in the interior villages.
Digital literacy and E learning was the main focus initially so they started sharing E learning content with schools around Pune.
They covered over 500 schools till date. Once they shared the content, then they held Clean Workshops to create awareness.
They partnered with Adar Poonawalla City initiative and encouraged the school children to keep their city clean and support maintaining a cleaner environment.
In collaboration with Himalayan Volunteer tourism project, they have adopted 7 village schools from Kashmir, Spiti, Ladakh, Kargil, Himachal and Uttarakhand for education, skills, sustainability, environment, women empowerment projects. successfully initiated libraries in remotest of Himalayan regions and also helped collaborate with other local Ngos for awareness programs.
Nilay explains, “We are generating revenues from Urban schools, colleges, corporate from Pune and helping Village school for their library, stationary, tools, etc. requirements from our end.”
Nilay has successfully initiated libraries in remotest of Himalayan regions and also helped collaborate with other local Ngos for awareness programs.
Save Soil on ground activities were conducted. They also supported the local villagers in training for Desi Cowbased farming and improved yield and productivity. Organic and natural Framing is what they propagated.
Mud house construction is the need of the hour activity which Nilay encouraged across his travels. Tree plantation drives were part of their awareness workshops and over 4500 trees have been planted till date. They further went to create 50,000 seed pencils which were distributed in schools and children planted the pencil butts as it contained the seeds for a better planet. 4000 seed balls were used for a better tomorrow.
Nilay regularly participated in The JCI world congress meets where over 3000 young and global active citizens who are leaders , entrepreneurs, partners and stakeholders.
Nilay and his team visit villages, stay there for weeks to understand the requirements and then work towards finding solutions. They are the pure volunteers who not only support rural initiatives, schools and local skilling centers but also find solutions to local problems and help to resolve them too. Full cycle is completed and results are obvious.
Nilay believes that,” We all have one life to live and it can be done best by contributing to the society and doing something good as a Motto rather than dying, and regretting in a space of 6×3 where everyone’s journey will end.
Your own GPS guiding principle of the soul will show you the way.”
Restarting life touching 40 is not so easy. Yet, Nilay is always positive.
Challenges
When asked about the obstacles while starting Good4Nothing, he said, “Life is like the river Ganga with its twists and turns , bumps and swirls. One must just enjoy the ride.” His ideas about stability and success is” Life itself is phenomenal. Till you are breathing you are stable. The journey is more important rather than destination”
The Road Ahead
His vision about volunteering- It is an art of seva. Volunteering means being more useful and bringing joy in others lives.
About family support , he says- “Family was always supportive thus was able to stand here today with values, principal and integrity. I am playing role of Krishna 😁😊😃”
His future plans – Cover pan Bharat and spread wings internationally to connect, inspire and impact our future generations.
Message to tomorrow’s youth – One life to Live with all awareness, consciousness till we are here on this Planet Earth 🌎
Nilay is deeply influenced by Gaur Gopal Das who said that – “work or business, do it based on your passion. Next, try to turn your passion into your profession Thirdly, add value to someone’s life and make that your purpose. So Passion , profession and purpose are three pillars of NIlays Life mantra.
His plan is to scale his initiative to the remotest parts of India, provide stationery, arrange volunteer teachers and support the youth to explore their hidden talents.
Live for something good. And die for Nothing- that’s what Good 4 Nothing is all about.
People like Nilay Parikh are the true grassroots changemakers who are silently working to impact development and raise hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Nilay Parikh
Good 4 Nothing
+91 8390735665
Writen
by Mahima Gir Mehra
written for www.nomadlawyer.org
#salamatraho Initiative.
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