Ameya Somany, son of Abhishek and Minal Somany

My family runs ‘Somany Ceramics ‘ one of the leading tile manufacturing companies in India. I am currently a class 12 student from The Shri Ram School in Delhi.

The need for education, especially amongst the under privileged of India, has moved me ever since I was young. This was mainly due to the influence of my grandmother, Anjana Somany, who sensitized us with her continuous philanthropic activities. Among her many activities, conducted through her Company, Mango Tree, I was most inspired by the annual month-long residential programs for training unemployed youth to become masons. In this program,skilled faculty is engaged to introduce, instruct and initiate participants in the related field. The aim is to teach a skill, which can help serve as a means of livelihood. We jointly planned a workshop, where languishing masonry techniques were taught. This skill enhancement initiative was an extension to the older skill development programs. We decided to introduce an additional training for laying of ceramic tiles alongside. The aim also was to open up alternate job opportunities for the masons.

Having achieved satisfactory results in the skill development initiatives conducted by my mentor, my grandmother and I went ahead and created this website as a way forward. The objective was to create a platform where I could reach out to many more people to hold similar training programs which would help the unemployed youth of our country get vocational training in the field of masonry thereby improving their economic status and being gainfully employed.

I have tied up with Somany Tile Master to take this skill up gradation objective forward. Somany Tile Master is a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility of Somany Ceramics for skill development of tile masons. To popularize this website and this concept I have also created a brochure which I have sent out to many developers, contractors and government bodies.