A company run by blind people is now a role model for many people!!
Someone who has good hands and feet will get a job. But to give employment to those who have any defect, one must have a good heart. This is also the idea of the founders of ‘Thank You Foods’. The journey that started with four people is now moving forward with thousands of people. This is the story.
Thank U Foods : Jinnah’s mother died when he was five years old. Before the flow of tears stopped, the boy lost his sight at the age of thirteen. I had to stop studying because of this. He thought, ‘If you don’t have eyes, you have graft.’ He wanted to win gold medal in studies by competing with ordinary students. Not to think that’s what he aimed for. He studied on his own. He founded the Indian Association for the Blind (IAB) in 1985 with four students like him. The mission of this organization is to show the world to the blind. What started in a small rented room in the suburbs of Madurai has now reached 30,000 people. Those who cannot study, those who need a job, those who need medical help.
Decades of service : This organization has been supporting the blind in many ways for three decades. At that time, the blind people working in the telephone booth were given employment in various fields depending on their educational qualification. Jinnah’s son Rahim also continued his father’s legacy. For that he gave up lakhs of salary in the IT sector. He gave jobs to two blind people in banks and IT companies as tele callers and voice leading departments. Instead of stopping there.. he wanted to start a business himself. He chose the field of flavors for that. Even though he didn’t know anything about that industry till then, he started trying with a good idea.
In 2018, he opened the first store of ‘Thank You Foods’. He took quality snacks to the corporate level. He hired blind people as employees for food processing. An IT company came to know about the stall run by Rahim in Madurai and contacted ‘Thank You Foods’. Asked to supply sweets and snacks for corporate events. So the business expanded from Madurai to Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai. Already opened seven outlets. It sells pizzas, cold drinks, ice cream, sweets and other bakery items in its Chennai and Coimbatore branches.
A Company run by Blind People : Rahim says his goal is to set up 50 outlets across the country by 2050. Thank You Foods services are also available online. 30 percent of sales are done online. Out of 70 people working in the company, 35 are disabled. Many people think that only professionals can do the job. Are we a job that even a blind person can do? Let’s think in that sense. If the job definitely requires eye sight even if it is eye sight we will give preference to those with any other disability. 85 percent of our team’s workforce is specially talented,’ says Rahim.
A working world : The dedication of the people working at Thank You Foods is heartening. They are immersed in responsibility as if it were a working world. We will not be given a chance anywhere else. Only here we can prove ourselves. That’s why we take care not to make any difference,” explains Laxman, an employee. To make snacks you have to work with fire. Any difference can be life-threatening. But the kitchen has been built here in a manner suitable for the visually impaired. There is no room for accidents. Intensification in professional training has also boosted self-confidence among staff.