Guide’S-ME Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd. (GCSPL) is a startup founded by retired professionals in Hyderabad. On 8th August 2022, this ‘old men’s club’ entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Technical Board of IIT Guwahati in a press conference.
Under this agreement, the Technical Board of IIT Guwahati will support GCSPL to develop SeniorExperts.in – India’s first discovery platform for retired seniors. It would help them bridge the gap for the growing need for services for retired seniors. It has 16,000 senior experts, and 500 SMEs are already on board to seek their services.
India has 158 million senior citizens. Various surveys have revealed that 85% of retirees can be productive even after retirement. The platform, Senior Experts, bridges the gap and connects retired senior experts who have the expertise, and are looking for engagement with companies. At the same time, many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) also need expert guidance, something they can’t generally afford. The services of these retired experts can be of much use to them.
“We provide a one-point solution to the industry,” said Prof. Chivukula V. Shastri on behalf of IIT Guwahati at the event. “We will deliver products with state-of-the-art technology. The cream of the Technical Board IIT-Guwahati from multi-disciplines will develop a futuristic and robust product. This is probably the first experiment where the student body of an educational institute is directly working with industry,” he added.
With this MoU, IIT students who look for exposure will get that required exposure by working on the project. “It is a win-win project for all”, said Prof. Chivukula V. Sastri.
Initially, the agreement is for three years which will be extended subsequently with mutual consent. The MoU was signed for developing state-of-the-art technological solutions and support to GCSPL for a robust discovery platform. Senior Experts has the potential to become the world’s largest aggregator of Senior (Retired) Experts. With the first mover advantage in the commercial business segment and with over 16,000 retired professionals currently available to assist them, it will cover over 70 industries.
The founders of the startup also saw a problem being faced by Small and Medium enterprises. They were looking for the right kind of expertise at affordable honorariums.
“It will be a platform to bridge the void of experience in new age organizations with the experience of retired professionals,” said Anil Kumar Siddu, one of the Co-Founders of the start-up. “This is a futurist product with a future full of promises,” he added.
By the year 2030, according to UN projections, the share of the elderly in the world population is likely to rise to 25 per cent. By 2030, every one in four in the world will be elderly.
India may be one of the youngest countries in the world today, but in a few years, it will have a large elderly population of retirement age. For many of them, crossing 60 doesn’t automatically guarantee retirement from work. Census 2011 data shows that for every five persons aged above 60 years, more than two are still working.
