When Zoho Corporation, one of the leading SaaS giants, started its rural office in Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu, in 2011, it had hardly 10 employees. Later, the company established its campus in an old fruit pulp factory which now has around 900 professionals working in a non-urban area. While the workforce keeps growing, Kottarakara, located around 80 km from Tenkasi, is all set to follow suit.
As part of efforts to promote ‘work near home’ (WNH) culture and create high-end technical jobs in rural areas and Tier III cities, the Kerala Startup Mission and Institute of Human Resources Development are setting up the State’s first campus industrial park and R&D centre at the College of Engineering, Kottarakara. Zoho Corporation will offer training in cutting-edge technologies, including AI and robotics at the centre that opens next week.
Rural IT parks
In April 2023 Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal had visited the Zoho office at Tenkasi to explore the possibilities of setting up rural IT parks in the State. “We need hubs dealing with advanced technologies to evolve into a knowledge economy. Kottarakara has an ideal ecosystem for the project as it’s is well connected to other densely populated hinterlands scattered across Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, and Pathanamthitta districts. The proximity with Tenkasi is another factor for opting for the location,” he says.
Zoho has successfully established hub and spoke offices across a string of rural locations, encouraging people to work near their roots. While the hub offices can employ over 1,000 persons, spoke offices engage around 100 employees. “In Tenkasi, we have inducted talents mostly from nearby areas and Tamil medium schools. The Kottarakara centre will be a solid industrial R&D facility focussing on AI and robotics,” says Jayaraj Poroor, principal researcher, Zoho Corporation.
Initially around 30 students will be hand-picked from the applicants for on-job training with stipend. Based on their performance and potential, the candidates will be inducted for permanent or temporary openings in future.
“Through this we are introducing the concept of campus industrial parks in Kerala. The idea is to find local talents and upskill them to handle hi-tech jobs. While we provide infrastructure with all technical specifications, Zoho will take care of the rest. It’s a huge challenge, but they have done it in Tenkasi,” says Kerala Startup Mission Chief Executive Officer Anoop Ambika.
