Avik Roy is at the front of the room, ready to begin a presentation. The 31-year-old is responsible for training existing and newly hired visually impaired employees at Vindhya E-Infomedia Pvt Ltd. After losing his sight due to a degenerative eye condition, Avik developed a keen ability to explain systems and user experiences to both sighted and visually impaired people. In his role, Avik teaches colleagues how to use essential software, then helps them become comfortable with screen-reading programs, keyboard shortcuts, and other techniques that help them do their work. He joined the company seven years ago as a customer support executive, learning the nuances of business operations. In the last four years alone, he was internally promoted as a process trainer and has since trained over 500 visually impaired employees. Vindhya believes in internal leadership growth, and Avik is a role model for many who wish to grow and climb the ladder. 

Avik is one of more than 1.3 billion people worldwide who live with a disability. According to the International Labour Organization, people with disabilities face discrimination, higher unemployment, and lower wages globally — if they participate in the labor market at all. Around the world, only three in ten do so. This threatens their ability to build secure economic futures for themselves and their families.

To find work, Avik pursued advanced computer training through a local NGO. “I felt that if I want to grow, I need to know computers very well. This is because the visually impaired can do two things. One is to learn computers, the other is to learn English. Those are the things I focused on, and almost at the end of my course, I got the opportunity at Vindhya,” he recalls.

“It has been more than seven and a half years [since I started]. In 2021, I got married. My wife, Keshavati, wanted to learn computers too, and in June 2023, she also joined the company. And my brother, Sauvik Roy, is also working for the same company,” he says. Keshavati is also visually impaired, and she and Sauvik both work as customer support executives who interact with customers, provide information, and create a positive experience on every call.

Good employment opportunities can be life-altering, as Avik, Keshavati, and Sauvik have experienced. For people with disabilities, employment is the gateway to living independently, achieving financial stability, and establishing a sense of community and belonging. Since 2006, Vindhya has been providing meaningful employment, low-cost accommodation, and a chance to achieve financial independence to people with disabilities or from marginalized communities, who together make up 70 percent of its workforce.  

Accion invested in Vindhya to help scale this important work. For over 20 years, Accion Emerge has founded, invested in, and helped operate some of the world’s leading microfinance institutions and innovative financial service providers. We have invested in over 40 companies to date, all innovating to deliver cheaper, more accessible, and customer-friendly solutions for underserved people globally.

As part of its impact-driven strategy, Vindhya has employed a range of digital tools, inclusive practices, and training to build an accessible and inclusive organization. Whether working in call centers, sales, or business process support, Vindhya’s employees deliver excellent work when they might otherwise not have had the opportunity. 

Avik worked hard through school, computer training, and the loss of his vision. He took a risk by moving away from home to pursue work. Finding stable, long-term work with Vindhya gave him the opportunities he had pursued and affirmed the philosophy he follows in his daily life.

“I like Swami Vivekananda’s ideology,” he shares. “He said that we should never accept defeat. You have to go to the front and face it, and you’ll get better results. I follow that teaching, and experience results in my own life.”