This woman entrepreneur has built a virtual platform for social change

When Neenu Rathin started volunteering with NGOs, she wanted to get in touch with different people who worked in the social impact segment. However, she could not find a platform that could connect her with others.

This realisation sowed a seed of an idea in Rathin’s mind, which eventually led her to start Social Town in 2020.

The Kochi-based NGO is a multi-stakeholder virtual platform that enables and empowers changemakers with connections, opportunities, and information for fostering social development.

“The central idea of the platform is to connect and involve all stakeholders in the social impact sector to amplify the impact by providing them the opportunities to meet, network, exchange ideas, share resources, create and engage in a vast field of socially conscious activities,” Rathin tells SocialStory.

Tryst with destiny

After completing her Engineering in Electronics and Communications in 2008, Rathin was offered a job in an MNC. However, due to recession, the company postponed her joining date.

In the meantime, she began working as a lecturer in a college in Thrissur, Kerala. A year later, she realised that she no longer wanted to work in the technology sector, but was also unsure about her next move.

After getting married in 2009, Rathin spent five years in Coimbatore and Chennai, and then came back to Kerala in 2013 to do something on the work front.

Rathin says that she was not sure about her skills and potential so she started volunteering for different organisations like the Art of Living Foundation, OISCA, Compassionate Keralam, and Chekutty. She also worked at Good Karma Foundation as a project consultant for more than a year.

“While I was working with the Art of Living Foundation, Kerala Chapter, I realised that there was a lot to explore on their impact side,” she says.

Rathin suggested the foundation to start a Green Project Programme wherein they plant five trees each in ten schools. She adds that in around three months, they had planted about 5,000 trees with the help of school students in more than 30 schools.

She also says she worked virtually as a volunteer during the 2018 Kerala floods.

“My work was to categorise the SOS calls we were getting into a set format and connect with the people on ground accordingly. We also helped in the rehabilitation process,” she explains.

During the 2019 floods, she actively participated in the rehabilitation of people affected by the disaster, particularly focusing on tribal settlements in Attapadi, Nilambur, and Wayanad.

“The satisfaction I received from doing this work was enough to keep me going,” she adds.

In 2020, she decided to execute the idea she had long thought about.

“It was a project for me and I had not once thought of becoming an entrepreneur. After it was incubated at NSRCEL, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, I realised this initiative has more potential than what I saw,” she says.

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Building a community of changemakers

Starting with about 500 people, the Social Town has engaged more than 6,000 people working in the social impact segment. These include NGOs, corporates, changemakers, volunteers, and social entrepreneurs.

Rathin explains that they primarily use WhatsApp groups and emails for interactions. They also dissipate important information about policy changes, incubation programmes, and more with their members through these groups. She adds that the organisation provides learning programmes and conferences on design thinking, sustainability, AI for social good and more.

“We don’t offer any membership. Instead, we invite the community to participate in various programs such as learning programs, boot camps, and conferences. We continue to engage with them even after these activities, as we are focused on building a community that is involved in all our initiatives. Therefore, there are no subscription fees or charges involved,” she adds.

She further explains that Social Town partners with organisations that wish to get involved in social development work through programs or courses, and connects them with the appropriate organisations within the group.

It also helps volunteers connect with organisations and participate in various programs to kickstart their careers in the field. Additionally, they help amplify the work of their member organisations by partnering with them.

“The support we offer to the people is based on their needs,” she adds.

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Pramod VR, from Kerala, has been associated with the community for three years now. He works for Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission. To provide education and skill development to tribal children the organisation decided to set up two skill development centres in Kerala’s tribal areas, for which they required computers.

“We dropped the request on the group and through the platform, a Mumbai-based NGO named Apni Pathshala helped us by providing 20 computers,” he adds.

Pramod, who also works for Abhyudhya, an NGO, recalls that during a landslide in Kerala’s Kottayam district, he and his team connected with other organisations and individuals through Social Town, which helped in supplying groceries and necessary utensils to over 100 displaced people.

Additionally, Social Town also conducts a virtual talk show that brings different individuals and organisations working for social missions together to share their journey and initiatives. It is conducting another program–Project Neemosphere—wherein it conducts workshops on plant a sapling/seed and seed-ball making.

So far, it has planted over 5,000 trees in Kerala, has created five nano fruit forests, and distributed over 30,000 seed balls among students for planting in their neighbourhoods in Ernakulam, Kollam , Thiruvananthapuram, and more.

Last year, Rathin was conferred with the India Responsible Leader Award by India CSR Network.

Sheikh Ali Mujeeb, who works for Cultural Educational and Environmental Organisation (CEEO), an NGO, recalls being associated with the Social Town since its inception.

Appreciating the initiative, he says that his organisation has been working with 3,000 Kashmiri women who are Pashmina artisans. Through Social Town, they have got in touch with Excel Arts Inc which purchases their shawls for exporting.

“Through the platform, we get leads which have helped us in generating livelihood for these women,” he adds.

Rathin plans to revamp the tech platform into an application for changemakers. The app will have separate profiles for organisations and changemakers. She also aims to onboard one lakh changemakers by the end of 2024.

“I believe this platform will be easier to access and will enhance the participation of diverse individuals. Moreover, through individual profiles, people can easily learn and interact with each other,” she adds.