The Akshaya Patra Foundation was invited to Rabat, Morocco to attend an International Congress entitled ‘Rural Woman, Partner of the Development Process’, held from 8-10 March 2013.  The invitation was extended by The National Union of Women of Morocco, an association of public utility presided by Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meriem.  The Union works towards education, literacy, vocational training, health and personal status of women.

The three day conference was attended by invited representatives from 63 countries.  Akshaya Patra represented India, along with two Indian journalists.  At the sessions, Akshaya Patra contributed to the discussions and several recommendations made were adopted for action.

A 16 member group from Web Mission 2013 recently visited Akshaya Patra’s kitchen in Bangalore. The group also interacted with the Akshaya Patra representatives. They highly appreciated the entire programme. Here is a brief of the visit from their perspective.

“Want to take your business to the next level?  We suggest you start by learning the tactics used by humble school-lunch kitchen, Akshaya Patra. This social enterprise has scaled from providing lunch for three schools in Bangalore to now serving 1.3 million children every day throughout India.

Akshaya Patra is a foundation that’s become a case study for those studying business at Harvard University. The idea is that if schools provide children with meals, then parents will send their children to school, instead of making them work in the fields, streets or family businesses to earn enough money to pay for their own meal.  Since launching in 2000, Akshaya Patra has helped to increase student enrolment by 28% and give more people the chance to take a whole family out of poverty by using the education to get a job, or even start one for their own business.

Click here watch the video that will provide an insight in how these kitchens are run and what’s allowed them to grow at a super-fast rate.

After spending the morning in one of Akshaya Patra’s Bangalore kitchens, we visited a TechCrunch, India event and met tons of infectiously enthusiastic entrepreneurs bursting with new business ideas.”

Source: http://www.smarta.com/blog/2013/2/web-mission-2013-looking-to-grow-your-business-a-kitchen-in-india-can-show-you-how