SANTOSH NARAYANAN
PROJECT COORDINATOR, FOOD INDIA
Information & Communication Technologies Specialist
Santosh's journey into Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) and entrepreneurship started in 1994 while he was in his second year of college when he helped grow an electronic bulletin board service in Chennai catering to non-profits, educational and research institutions.
In 1995 he joined FOOD India to concentrate on the organisation's activities involving the use of ICTs for socio-economic development. In addition to specialising in ICTs he possesses multidisciplinary exposure in social development projects such as community owned enterprise development, micro-credits etc.
In 1998 Santosh established a social enterprise within FOOD India called 'EasyLink' which trains youth in ICTs and also provides employment to them in the Information Technology sector.
Santosh has been responsible for delivering training programmes to stakeholders for utilizing ICTs for micro-enterprise development, E-commerce as well as Internet and email skills for NGOs.
Santosh has been certified by Hewlett-Packard (HP) as a master trainer and he has conducted several Training of Trainers workshops for HP all over India. He has been involved actively in promoting HP's Learning Intiative for Entrepreneurs (LIFE) program in Tamil Nadu and he has contributed to HP's LIFE curriculum by authoring a topic on social media marketing.
His services have been utilized by several international organizations and government departments such as IDRC Canada, Pan Asia Networking, UNDP/APDIP, World Bank, Government of Tamil Nadu, Government of Sri Lanka, LIONS International, Singapore Housing & Development Board, etc. Projects managed by him have won international awards like Ericsson Internet Community Awards, Stockholm Challenge Awards, UNDP Best Practice and Global Knowledge Conference Best Practice.
Highlights
| 1996 | Featured in London's Mail on Sunday newspaper's article about email to post services initiated by FOOD to provide email access to remote areas via postal mail. |
| 1997 | Travelled to Sri Lanka to implement a turnkey assignment and setup an Internet-based blood donor database electronic network for LIONS International and the Government of Sri Lanka. |
| 1998 | Setup Internet access hubs in several locations across South India including Madurai, Erode, Coimbatore, Trivandrum and Vizag. |
| 1999 | Headed the R&D team at FOOD that setup "remote area networking stations" using wireless packet radios that allowed non-profit organizations working in remote rural areas to access Internet e-mall. |
| 2001 | Participated in Pan Asia Networking's E-commerce Workshop held in Singapore to share experiences with other participants on the use of E-commerce as a tool for small and medium-sized business. |
| 2001 | Setup an e-commerce website that marketed products made by rural artisans. This project was selected as a Best Practice by UNDP. |
| 2003 | Featured in Business Today's article about utilizing e-commerce for promoting products made by rural artisans. |
| 2004 | Headed the team at FOOD that established district-wide e-governance services in the districts of Kanchipuram, Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi that was inaugrated by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. |
| 2008 | Travelled to Bangkok to participate in a Global Summit organized by HP on the role of I.T in assisting micro-entrepreneurs. |
| 2009 | Travelled to Singapore to providing consulting services to the Singapore Government's Housing & Development Board. |
| 2010- | Conducting Training of Trainers and Master Training of Trainers workshops for HP's LIFE program. |