The Ecole Solitaire Press Conference

"Quality Circle Excellence Centre (QCEC) has tied up with Ecole Solitaire to conduct a series of unique programmes and workshops for people of all ages and from all walks of life" announced Mr Firoz Poonawalla, Chairperson Emeritus, QCFI. "The objective of such a tie up is to combine the experiences and expertise of both QCEC and Ecole Solitaire, and offer it to the citizens of Pune in order to enhance the quality of their personal lives. Quality of life is far superior than quality of product service. That is our belief." he elaborated.

Mr Firoz Poonawalla was of the firm opinion that unless citizens made a conscious effort to improve themselves, there was no way India could progress and hope to be one of the top line nations in the world. According to him the need of the hour is a change in attitude to life and an attempt to improve its quality. One of the frontline missions of the world today, he stressed, is 'Quality People'. This, he feels, should take priority over all the other factors. QCEC was set up with this in mind, and the need for 'Quality' was foreseen half a decade ago.

Commenting on the need for the tie-up, he said,"All of us are beautiful people like an uncut diamond. As we cut a diamond and polish it to increase its beauty, the same has to be done for a human being, to make him live a better quality of life."

On the occasion of the tie up between QCEC and Ecole Solitaire, Mr Vasant R Rathi, Chairperson QCFI said, "QCFI advocates the concept of participation of all people in totality, in solving problems and contributing not only towards self-improvement, but also improving the organisation and environment in which they live. So we felt that a tie-up such as this would lead to the achievement of our goals."

Minocher Patel, Founder Director, Ecole Solitaire, said "In today's competitive world where one has only 15 seconds to create the right first impression, etiquette, manners, personal grooming and customer service, etc, are increasingly playing an important role for opening the right doors." According to him, the potential that individuals have needs to be tapped to help people groom themselves. He feels it's a shame that schools and colleges do not emphasise on etiquette and basic manners. As one moves into a service based global arena, it is essential to be groomed to be able to compete in the global market.

When asked by reporters, if the current recessionary trend in the industry and cut in budgets there of had any impact on his training workshops, Mr Patel answered that most of the progressive companies were not cutting training budgets. In fact, he feels that during a recessionary period, one must train for better times. A number of companies he avers, fail due to the fact that they cut training budget. He stressed the fact that training was crucial to the service sector in a global scenario.

Text: Rahul Surkund
Photo Courtesy: Perfect Relations