Kimochi: a Career Guidance and Mentorship Network for Rural Underprivileged Kids

In a rapidly evolving world, every child should have the opportunity to dream and, more importantly, the tools to achieve those dreams. India, with its diverse educational landscape, faces a substantial gap in providing career guidance and mentorship to rural students. In the current scenario, while the rest of India is flourishing in the education sector, its hinterland is critically facing a gap in effective career guidance and mentorship. Numerous factors contribute to this, like financial constraints and even limited exposure to global market needs. To fill this unequal gap, we propose “Kimochi” an innovative edtech platform from a unique collaboration among Suzuki Motor Corporation, Suzuki Innovation Centre, and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad. The methodology followed combines Agile and Design thinking with rapid prototyping and co-design. Our platform serves students in grades 8 to 12 in rural India who aspire to excel in their careers through practical guidance from mentors from premier education institutes like IIT.