Khusi Girls
Khusi (pronounced khu-shee) means happiness and joy in Bengali. The nickname of our founder’s mother, it reflects the feeling that is experienced when we feel fully content in our lives - in and outside of work. Through our work at idealis., we know that feelings of deep and lasting contentment arise when we are valued, feel valued and are adding value to impact the lives and experiences of others.
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Khusi doesn’t just represent a feeling of happiness and joy. It represents the extraordinary power of empowered women, and the peace, joy and happiness they can spread in the world when given the chance.
Our founders’ mother, Khusi, is in many ways, the origin of the belief that idealis brings to the world - that high performance and high humanity can co-exist. For her girls, Khusi always maintained high standards with high levels of support, encouraging them to try their best in all that they do and standing beside them as they crafted their own paths in life. Her own strength and resilience has been tested in her life story - a story that is marked by strong female characters - from her mother who escaped a war-torn city in India with an infant child, to her sister who immigrated to the U.S. and gave her the opportunity to come as well, to her colleagues who supported her as a working mom throughout her career. As a mom of two girls, no task was too hard. No skill could not be learned. In the land of opportunity, Khusi and her husband Bhabani made sure their girls had every opportunity possible to make it in the world. It is this mindset that the Khusi girls program is designed to perpetuate.
Khusi's life journey includes a community of extraordinary women from all over the world. Khusi is a tribute to the joy and opportunity that empowered women bring to the world when given a chance.
Objective
The skill gap that exists between those who can and those who cannot make it in today’s world is broad and far reaching. Geography - where we are from, where we have been able to go - is often our destiny.
But in an era of hyperconnection, where boundaries are broken physically and digitally - it doesn’t have to be.
We have worked with hundreds of leaders who have broken through their own boundaries and barriers - and they point to two factors that have enabled them to stay strong in their core:
Inner values which kept them centered in times of challenge, and an outer support system that held them up when they needed it most.
Despite over $300B spent in learning and development in the corporate world, we continue to see a gap in the availability and access of skill building experiences for those who need it most. We know that skill building isn’t just about accelerating in one’s career - it can be a life-saving, life-enhancing experience that increases confidence, drives a sense of community, and enables financial independence for women to make choices for themselves and their families. Having the right skills is empowering, providing young women with a heightened sense of self-worth and value, and offering opportunities for this critical cohort of future leaders to add value to local communities and economies.
As President Barack Obama once said, "You can judge a nation, and how successful it will be, based on how it treats its women and girls." The gap is still wide in the development of skills for women and girls around the world, and we believe there is a little something we can do to close the gap.
Our team at idealis. is proud to launch Khusi: An Empowerment Program for Girls. Through this effort, we will support young girls, from around the world, who will benefit from focused and intensive development of personal and professional skills to thrive in the world today.
Starting in 2025, idealis. will sponsor 100 girls through the Santineketan Youth Empowerment Society, to gain life and entrepreneurial skills in their local communities in India. Through this program, these girls will be given a chance to learn the needed skills to start a business that can support themselves and their families.
Bolpur, West Bengal, India, Santiniketan Society for Youth Empowerment (SSYE)
SSYE is a non-profit and non-governmental organization that comprises a team of experts from various backgrounds, such as Management, Academics, Technicians and Cultural professionals to guide the various programmes taken up for implementation.
Sri Robin Ghosh, the president of SSYE, his mission, is to create young, competent, progressive female leaders that contribute to transformative change in India. Part of the SSYE, is the Purabi Centre for Leadership for Women. As an initiative of empowerment, the Purabi Centre for Leadership for Women supports the next generation of female leaders in diverse fields.
The objective is to formulate creative and innovative solutions to India’s transformation. The centre is embedded in the value that young women have a priceless contribution in delivering change.
The Centre envisions the formation of a network for resource support, and for creating a pool of mentors for future participants and fellows.
The project is structured in a way that keeps in mind the local needs and demand, besides making use of the expertise and experience of our partner, SSYE.
Impact
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said: "There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women."
At idealis, we aim to deploy our tools for development at scale - to empower people around the world to achieve their fullest potential. One human being at a time.
