Startup hires specially-abled staff for cricket fan awards

New Delhi (IANS): Delhi-based digital startup Arrive Socially on Wednesday announced that it has hired almost 50 per cent of its 8-member staff from a group of specially-abled students from Delhi Universitys College of Arts.

Arrive Socially is the digital partner for Global Sports Fan Awards to held in Manchester on June 14. All the design work being shipped from India to the UK for the Global Sports Fan Awards - from badges, vinyl art works to trophies, certificates and fan merchandise - has been done by the specially-abled employees.

The Global Sports Fan Awards 2019 is being held two days prior to the India-Pakistan cricket match in Manchester during ongoing ICC World Cup 2019.

"Earlier I thought it would be difficult for me to get hired, with my speech and voice impairment. But I've found that I can give voice to my emotions through my work -- be it creating GIFs or JPEGS on a M.S. Dhoni catch or a Virat Kohli six," said Pratik Rastogi, a graduate of Delhi College of Art.

A page in the certificate to be awarded to the awardees, who are select five greatest fans from around the world, is especially dedicated to the specially-abled employees. The awardees include Sachin's biggest fan Sudhir Kumar, Virat Kohli's greatest fan Sugumar, Bangladesh's super cricket fan Shoyab Ali Bukhari, Pakistan's oldest fan Chacha Cricket aka Abdul Jalil and Sri Lanka's biggest fan Gayan Senanayake.

All the awardees shall be awarded with a gold medal and the certificate on June 14 at Eccles Town Hall, Manchester, UK.

"I love the startup environment, the team, and feel that I have achieved the first step of entering into the professional world through my work," said Vibha Gupta, another design graduate from Delhi College of Art. Other employees who are working with the startup during World Cup 2019 are Sakshi Arora and Sanjana Nagpal.

Incorporated last year, the startup has been the digital partner for India's largest sports fan community, Indian Sports Fan, which has covered the Asian Games, Para Asian Games, FIFA World Cup 2018, T20 cricket on social media, providing live updates to fans across the world.

"Hiring the graduates has been a learning experience for us. I have personally realised that there are other ways of human communication, including expressions, written word and sign language. I have also started to learn a bit of sign-language," said Hari Julka, Co-founder and Asia-Pacific head of ArriveSocially.com.