"My first day to work I was very nervous" Shakthi recalls. Shakthi having grown up in an Indian rural set up managed to get a Bachelor's in Computer Application (BCA) degree which portrayed her as an ambitious dreamer.

Her family had struggled to support her education because they understood that through education she could achieve much more in life. This is not the case in most families. A girl's education is sometimes, if not always, considered 'not so important' in most of the villages in India.

A stable job for Shakthi meant financial independence and being able to support her family. She needed a platform to demonstrate her capabilities and fulfill her ambitions. When she joined it was noticed that she followed phenomenal work ethics such as punctuality, respect to policies and procedures, and demonstrated a high degree of professionalism.

If you've been raised up in a humble background, you definitely understand that you have to work hard to get the life you've always dreamt of. Most of our employees are from very poor backgrounds but we believe that through empowerment they can reach their peaks.

"Working with DesiCrew taught me how to be responsible and how to handle my finances.I learnt how to interact with co-workers and work with different types of clients, " says Shakthi. DesiCrew recalls her as a team leader who handled some of the most critical processes in the company. She manage to transition 2 processes from Bangalore and was responsible for her team's performance in the client location.

She says she has learnt real life skills working with us for 7 years. Her professionalism and work quality has been appreciated and commended by our clients. Shakthi has evolved to become a confident individual and she is grateful to DesiCrew for shaping her career into a meaningful successful and an enjoyable experience.

The worst affected group when it comes to poverty is women. This is one of the reasons why DesiCrew chose to align their company goals to goal number 1 of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs): to end poverty in all its forms, everywhere. Poverty eradication ensures a sustainable and inclusive growth of the economy and society in general.

Poverty is relative. It involves not being able to access basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing as well as basic services such as education. It can also lead to social discrimination, exclusion and lack of participation in key decision making especially in countries that experience class stratification.

Shakthi is one of the lucky people to have benefited from DesiCrew's impact sourcing model of taking jobs to the people in the rural areas. She broke the norm that a woman cannot make it especially if she comes from a rural set up. Many ladies that worked with her perceived her as a role model to look up to.

DesiCrew fraternity continues to relish every step of her growth story and as she takes on to the next step in her life which is her marriage next month, we would like to wish her the very best. I strongly believe that to forge ahead in this fight against poverty we need to economically empower the women in our communities.

The Author of this article is Ben-Bella Kambarage, SITA intern with DesiCrew

working on aligning DesiCrew to the UNSDGs