PATH TO PURPOSE- How Businesses can be More Inclusive with Alina Alam, the founder and CEO of MITTI Cafe.

FLO organized interactive session with Alina Alam, the founder and CEO of MITTI Cafe, which provides experiential training to persons with disabilities and a space to be productive and showcase their potential on October 28, 2022 at FICCI.

The objective of this session titled ‘PATH TO PURPOSE- How Businesses can be More Inclusive’ was to inspire everyone to bring about a change in mindsets, resulting in a shift in individuals, businesses and organizations.

The Mitti Café chain started by a 28 year old Alina Alam in Hubli and Bangalore in the year 2017 with the goal of empowering and providing opportunities to persons with disabilities. Since then, Mitti Cafe’s roots have extended far and wide across numerous regions of the country. Mitti is a chain of cafes that is entirely managed by specially-abled people who originate from low-income households and struggle with physical, intellectual, and psychological problems

The Mitti cafe currently has roughly 23 locations spread throughout several Indian cities, including Hubli, Bangalore, Calcutta, and Hyderabad. There are close to 18 cafes only in Bangalore.

Alina said, “Through the medium of food, I wanted to do two things: One is generating livelihood for people with disabilities because all our cafes are run by people with physical, intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. More importantly, I felt they are a cohort with very high potential and a lot was needed to be done in this aspect. I have had relatives and friends with this. And all that I could see in them were abilities whether they run a wheelchair, or were on crutches, whether they have some intellectual or psychiatric disabilities, but there was so much more to them as a person in terms of their talents in terms of their personal relationships. In terms of the way I looked at the world and the way the world views disabilities was a big disconnect that I wanted to personally really, contribute to change.”

“The Mitti Cafe Team has served over 8 million meals and beverages till now. Alina said that through this they have been “able to really help”, and “create awareness about disability inclusion. With healthy vegetarian food from across the world and mom’s magic recipes, dining at Mitti Cafe is a unique experience. The cafe’s warmly lit ambience and the staff greeting with cheerful smiles will instantly put you at ease.” Said Ms Alam.

“Team Has Served Over 3 Million Meals For Economically Vulnerable People In addition to providing meals at their cafés, these extraordinary individuals have also donated food to orphanages, senior citizens’ homes, and struggling towns. Over 3 million meals have been provided by the staff to various customers. It gives us immense pride to say that we have vertical compassion meals or Karuna meals where apart from the food that’s served at our cafes, we serve food to people who cannot afford it buy it. Food is cooked and served by our people with disabilities to the economically vulnerable,” she said.

Alina began her business by establishing food stands in collaboration with organisations, corporations, colleges, hospitals, and business parks. “We had no money in the bank, no sales, and numerous rejections.

“People managing the Cafe’s day-to-day operations have various disabilities, ranging from visual and hearing impaired to Asperger’s and Down’s syndrome. This dynamic young lady Alina Alam is empowering the specially abled to earn with dignity. The cafe’s outreach programs strive to raise awareness regarding disability rights and inclusion. People with disability face significant obstacles to equal opportunities in the world of work, ranging from attitudinal and physical to informational barriers. “ said Ms Jyanati Dalmia, President, FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO)

“Though there has been shift in inclusivity, awareness and change in the last few decades, society is still the biggest barrier for people with disabilities. Stereotyping, stigma, and discrimination – these are all enduring challenges that have resulted in underemployment, inadequate job quality and marginalization. There are approximately 2.68 crores Differently Abled Persons in India. Keep them away from the economy means loss of potential and opportunities for the nation. “Ms Dalmia said.

“With an objective facilitate their inclusion in Aatmanirbhar Bharat’s growth story and to remove barriers to inclusion and address key challenges FLO as an exclusive National Initiative this year- the FLO Differently Abled Cell. The objective of this cell is to work collectively to encourage the especially abled into the economic ecosystem.” She added.

Bela Badhalia, GB Member was the Day Chai for the session.