Hi.  This is Raghu Patri, founder of TripThrill, a homestay curation, marketing and management company. Our major presence is in South India and our markets are Goa, Coorg and Chikamagalur in Karnataka.

Chikamagalur, the largest coffee growing area in Karnataka, faces the eternal problem of labour.  Coffee cultivation, being a labour intensive process, needs skilled labour. The coffee plantation owners hire and train the local youth to help grow coffee in their estates.  Over the years, the price at which coffee is sold by the plantation owners, has not increased while inflation has grown multifold. The labour force have increasing demands for daily wages which the plantation owners are not able to meet. This has led to unemployment in the area over the years.  These youth have resort to wastrel ways like deforestation and wildlife poaching to help make their ends meet.

Chikamagalur, in the recent past, has become a tourist destination where the urban crowd like to experience a coffee estate stay.  This has led to a number of the coffee estate owners to convert part of their palatial bungalows into home stays for the growing tourist traffic.  While they are able to attract the tourists, they are not able to get trained staff to help take care of their guests.

Our aim is to fulfil that gap.  We are looking at setting up a training program for the youth of Chikamagalur which will train them in the basics of spoken English, basics of hospitality and the basics of home cooking to cater to the guest needs.

We look forward to your contributions to help make this happen.  The contribution will be used to hire skilled trainers who can train the youth in Chikamagalur in the basics of hospitality.  This will empower them to go and look for jobs in the numerous home stays which are sprouting up in the region on a regular basis.  Being employed will give them the self respect they deserve to earn their own livelihood and stop them from destroying nature for their personal needs.