For spreading emotional intelligence and life-skills education to children in India

Co-founder of Betawinds Learning Solutions ǀ Hosur, India

Not long after finishing her Bachelor’s in engineering in 2017, Yazhinidevi Devarajan felt worried because she was so unclear what she wanted to do in life. After mulling over this question alone, she turned to her husband about her conundrum, which he, too, shared about his own professional life. The more the couple spoke to friends and relatives about people’s interests versus their professions, the more they found that most people they knew were working in jobs that had nothing to do with their passions in life.

Yazhinidevi kept wondering how to solve this problem: People felt a disconnect between their passion and profession. “[My husband and I] wanted to help the future generations. We really don't want them to face the same as we are facing,” Yazhinidevi recalls.

By late 2021, the couple uncovered a solution, one which solved their own personal-professional puzzles and seeks to equip other Indian young people from ending up in the same boat post-graduation. The two founded Betawinds Learning Solutions (BETA stands for Beliefs, Emotions, Thoughts, and Actions) to provide emotional intelligence and life-skills curricula to children and young adults in their community. Their guiding principle: “Have the courage to do what you feel is right,” Yazhinidevi says.

Betawinds Learning Solutions has provided lessons to NGOs, government, and private clients for the past three years, and Yazhinidevi has big dreams for expansion into nation-wide educational systems. The company’s “low-cost, high-impact model” makes it simple for Yazhinidevi to trial and point out successes to potential customers, highlighting its child-focused courses in “developmental psychology, behavioral sciences, and 21 different skills that one would need beyond their academic learnings to explore their excellence.”

The organization’s mission and Yazhinidevi’s leadership, have caught the attention of funders. Yazhinidevi has so far won multiple start-up contests in India, including one that awarded her 1 million rupees (just shy of $12,000 USD).

Eventually, Yazhinidevi hopes to wield educational influence at a policy level, so that Indian students across the country can learn the life-skills tools for self-awareness that she believes so essential to success in life and work.