The key pillars of sustainability strategy for businesses are Environmental, Social and Economic.
If these pillars are at the heart of strategic decision making of a business, then it is an integral part of the business process, runs on auto-pilot.
In other cases, there is an extended effort required to ensure ESE is looked at as an additional filter to decision making.
The other day while I was at the palladium mall, Mumbai, deciding where to have dinner, I saw this lovely restaurant named, Ishaara (Hindi word that means – sign/ signal). The intrigue of the name made me look inside an open, very wide entrance, warm and welcoming.
And I realised it’s USP was giving employment to the differently abled. (speech challenged)
I knew that Mirchi and Mime (M&M) does the same. So, I started asking the founding member about the inspiration of Ishaara. Was it M&M?
And it turned out that the founders of M&M were the same guys who have started Ishaara. So clear is their vision to create inclusivity that they started M&M with this principle at the core, and continued the same with Ishaara, after 5 years of M&M. The operational processes are customised to include them with no trouble to the customer.
A commitment that makes them recruit, train and employ these differently abled people who are otherwise not favourites in the job market. They recruit such employees to whom the job is valuable and it makes a difference financially to their family. Essentially, they are employed as servers, who take orders and serve, just by Ishaara and a heartfelt smile. Not just that, many of their other employees also have learnt to communicate in sign language. The restaurant ensures they have labels of every dish that is on the menu which the server takes along with the dish to the customers so they know which dish is being served.
Sipping a glass of wine, I looked at the lovely plants that adorn the restaurant, huge windows that allows interaction with nature and the servers who are silently bustling from table to table. And then there are the other managers who keep an affectionate eye on the servers just in case they need help.
Our server carefully notes our dinner order, serves us with dedication and ensures we have no trouble asking for anything. In the mean time there is a birthday celebration on the next table and the servers join in to shower their wishes, in their own way- by waving and moving their hands in unison.
It is indeed great to see such inclusive approach as well as it feels good to be participating in it as a customer. The power of a thought, a purpose can make a sustainable change in the eco system. A change for the better, a change for inclusivity, a change for social good and all woven so beautifully into business that it does not pinch any one.
More power to such thinkers and achievers. We celebrate them today so that they can be an inspiration to many more businesses that are planning their strategy, as we speak.
Akash Gosavi, our server beams while we thank him. It was absolutely photo worthy. So here it is. To my left is Harshdeep Pawar, one of the founding team members and to my right is Akash.
Harshdeep’s words will remain etched. “We hire them for their abilities and not their disabilities”.
Sets me thinking, well, all of us have our set of disabilities, only that it is not evident or apparent and sometimes not known…
