VR'S 'CONFIDENCE' AMONGST TOP 10 ATMANIRBHAR FIRMS

   

March 1, 2024 by Ramesh Jowar

Asst: DDIP-Batch 19-Week 1

Back in the Scorching heat of April'22 , a Marketing professional from a ordinary B-School dreamt of doing something out of the Box. Not that he wanted to think OUT OF THE BOX or  be out of the  RAT RACE(which all of us are at some point in life would be ) but only as he thought that this was the right time for a new chapter in his life to begin & CONFIDENCE was born

Vishwas Rai(VR) had quickly  realised the growing importance & demand of MENTAL HEALTH as a stream / subject which was proposed to be taught as a compulsory subject across schools & institutes. No of Student Suicides in India peaked at 12500 in 2020. Reasons could be many but VR realised that in most cases it was impulsive where students felt helpless & could not not see the light at the end of tunnel. It was the lack of Confidence & self belief to look at Opportunities outside their comfort areas. Most had become horses running in a race with a single minded approach of winning the race with anxious parents adding further to the misery.

CONFIDENCE opened its first branch in J.P Nagar, Bangalore with VR as the Founding director of the Company & 3 Counsellors.  CONFIDENCE offered  tailor made Confidence buidling & Personality Develoment Courses for students across age categories.  15 Schools/ colleges of South Bangalore were identified for a pilot project with no fees for students enrolling from these schools for the first three months. Students were classified under three categories

1) Students Depressed after facing failures.

2) Students Confused after Facing failures.

3) Students Yet to face failures

This was the first kind of an Institute which focussed on Confidence & self belief more than merit and academics. Detailed assesment of the students was done  through questionaires filled by their parents & friends, helped the Counsellors & VR to design tailor made courses for all categories. First batch of June '20 only had 10 students & looking at their success & overall improvement scores CONFIDENCE now was the go to center for most. Classes would now start with meditation, followed with ice breakers and then would end with sports sessions. 

By 2022, Confidence had spread across having 25 branches across Karnataka. VR & his team now were foussed at innovating the Courses and schedules accordingly. By the end of 2022 CONFIDENCE was awarded the "FICCI CSR Award for Skill Development and Livelihood"  by the Govt of India & VR was now regarded as  widely the MENTAL GURU across the industry.  With continous focus & desire to improve, CONFIDENCE opened its first branch in Kerala & TN in June'22. By the end of 2023 CONFIDENCE now had opened 55 branches across South India with a strength of  300 Counsellors & a free Hotline service in 4 Languages . Hotline was connected with a dedicated contact center having 24*7 operations to help students in distress specially during , before & after exams.  

2024 was a ladmark year  for  CONFIDENCE opening 20 branches in the FY & its first branch in West in Mumbai-Bandra(E). Despite having 70 plus branches across South & West, core philospohy of CONFIDENCE remains to help and empower students in distress & showcase them their inner abilities. More than 10000 students have  taken up multiple courses in CONFIDENCE & what makes it special is the uniform curiculum. VR strongly believes that " Success only boosts your ego , it is failure that teaches you everything". Hence the first questions that is asked to students wanting to enroll at CONFIDENCE is "How many times you have failed" & not their scores or  acad performances". 

VR now is Guest Speaker across  leading institutes in India speaking about importance of Self belief  & Confidence for students. He was conferred with AATMANIRBHAR BHARATH award by the Educational Ministry for his immense contribution in showcasing the importance of  regonsing Mental Health as a  Subject through his chain of  CONFIDENCE institiutes. 

DISCLAIMER: This article has been published as part of the Assignement under DDIP batch 19.