Our Founder
Founder's Message
I wanted to create an organization that could serve as a source of help and inspiration in rural communities. As a result, we have created the Elysium Foundation! A tangible organization through which anyone can donate and know their contribution is making an immediate difference at the grass-roots level.
Sundaresh Kamaraj
Founder, Elysium Foundation
In 2011, I founded Elysium Education. The beginning of the Elysium Foundation story is simple. I wanted to do something that makes others happy, and I want to enhancing the lives of rural communities.I strongly believe that we uplift society only through vocational skills. Through Elysium Foundation, we reach out to deserving peoples from backward parts of the country, and deliver them with opportunities to not only provide the skills but also transform into confident, competent and socially responsible individuals. I am confident that the beneficiaries of Elysium Foundation, whom we nurture today, will soon become the much-needed catalysts to bring about the positive transformation in their families, communities and society at large. I am so excited about our foundation future. We have a unique opportunity to create dreams and inspire knowledge excellence in our peoples. We will continue to evolve and have happiness while we create and inspire!
Behind the Story of Elysium Foundation
I grew up in Virudhunagar in a lower-middle-class family. From my childhood, I was living a life full of struggles. There is no person in my life to motivate me in my hard times. So, I choose to help the needy people, who face hardships in their day to day life.
I aimed to work on the alleviation of poverty. After spending a considerable amount of time interacting with people living in slums, I tend to identify unemployment and underemployment as a significant social challenge. So I had another plan. Having been out and seen the possibilities, I wanted to bring a positive change in the lives of the people of my home state Tamilnadu. “I knew it was only achievable if I began at the grassroots”. The beginning point for a world without poverty and hunger is the rural world. An estimated 3 billion people – around 40 per cent of the global population – live in the rural areas of developing countries. Hunger, poverty, youth unemployment has deep roots in rural areas. I always hope that the change in my state was only possible by improving the lives of backward peoples. Then I decided to train rural peoples to maximize their livelihoods and teach them to make more profits.
As an initial step to improve their lives, I created the Elysium foundation. The Elysium Foundation provides vocational skill training courses to the poor and unemployed youth, with another aim to nudge and nurture top talent to solve India’s most important problems. Since the inception of Elysium Foundation, I have been striving to better the lives of the people by guiding them towards self-dependence. Now Elysium Foundation helps over 2000 rural peoples in India to learn the skills necessary to earn in today’s competitive market.