IBM will support the first tribal theme park in Gujarat in Sasan Gir. As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),IBM has come up with the marketing plan for the theme park. It will be run and managed by the tribals of Sasan Gir,known as the Siddis. The community is an ethnic Indian group of African descent. The state Tribal Development Department (TDD) is developing the theme park,and IBM has tied up with different NGOs and Not-For-Profit organisations (NPO) to bring IBM professionals from different countries to India for the project. Mamtha Sharma,Manager,CSR and Community Affairs,IBM said: For the last one month,around nine IBM experts from various countries are in Ahmedabad working with different organisation to provide them with the business solutions. One of them worked with the Sasan Gir theme park. Our experts helped in developing the marketing strategy for the theme park. The state TDD will invest over Rs 10 crore for the park,the major chunk of which has come from the Government of India. Pallavi Shukla,advisor to TDD,said: Foreigners comprise about 2-3 per cent of the tourists to Sasan Gir. However,the tribals have never benefited out of it. This will be the first time that around 200 Siddis will get employment in the first phase. The theme park will be developed on the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis. Maruti Suzuki is providing driving lessons to the Siddis. The department is also looking for a partner in the hospitality sector. Experts from IBM also helped the NGO Ashoka to do a survey of the slum area to know the amount a slum dweller spends on home improvement. The survey of 1,100 slum households has been done. This will help us set up the home improvement centres and tie-up with private players to take up home improvement initiatives, said Vishnu Swaminathan,Change leader,director-housing for all initiative,Ahsoka. IBM has also prepared a sustainable business model for the low cost housing (Rs 3-6 lakh) for the NGO. Experts from IBM prepared a strategy to make this low cost housing sustainable, said Swaminathan. The NGO had earlier constructed around 6,000 units in the Vatva area of Ahmedabad. Ramesh Narasimhan,Director,General Business,India/South Asia,said: For the last two years we have been doing this CSR activity in India. It is not a one-time development. We will continue this process of helping the NGOs and the government everywhere in India.
