They were starting to receive larger contracts as they built more trust and relationships in the industry. Alex said the main part of business came through word of mouth. The business was growing.

As you know, one of the very special things we do in Buy1GIVE1 is to take a lot of care to match businesses with Worthy Causes that resonate with the customers of the business. So not surprisingly, when we heard the name ‘Blinds Couture’ the first thing that flashed in our mind (as we always focus on creative match-making) was to match it with an organization that supported blind people.

And then we asked Alex more questions. He told us that his company’s mission was really to provide comfortable environment to people. As he put it, “I’d like to make sure that people who are receiving the privilege of the great environment we create with our products can contribute to someone else’s comfort and joy. We got it. But we hadn’t solved the match yet.

But it didn’t take long. We remembered connecting earlier on with a very passionate man, Anand Bhatia, in Bangalore. One day, he took us to his workshop and showed us all the pictures of children he and his company are supporting through his social enterprise. They have established a non-profit trust to support thousands of children through their business.

The business pumps the profit and labour (all his staff volunteer on their time off!) to make the contribution more effective (in fact, by volunteering the Worthy Cause has ZERO admin cost!). And what precisely do they do?

Well, believe it or not, Anand and his band of volunteers install lighting into village schools. It’s weird; when the Government builds the schools, they have the power grid and lines right there but they don’t make the connection! And why? Because it adds another US$450 to the cost of the school.

So enter Anand and his team. They simply get it done. And how about this: when it’s done, the power is provided for free by the Government.

What’s ALWAYS so powerful (no pun intended) though is the impact something small like this has.

So that we could see that impact firsthand, Anand took us to one of the schools they supported and we met the children. As they were studying, Anand asked the teacher for permission to turn off the light.

All of a sudden, the room was so dark that we could hardly read the textbook they were using (yet this was the middle of the day!). The windows were very small and facing the darker side as to keep the rooms cool in summer. He explained that this was how it used to be a year ago at this school.

We could not believe how dark the room was… But no child complains about it because they don’t know anything better. Schools do not have light…that’s it. That’s their paradigm.

But once they can REALLY see, the learning gets much easier and more fun. Those smiling faces gave us a warm feeling as we left. The light the children now had lit up our hearts.

We introduced the cause to Alex and he really did resonate with the project. It was a perfect match. And as a result, Alex’s Blinds Couture is already making a massive difference. The lighting for one classroom shares the joy with more than 25 children today and it will continue to provide light for many more years to come, giving the joy of learning to literally thousands of children. One household or office receiving a service from Blinds Couture experiences a massive joy of giving. A ‘Blind’ company giving light to children and lighting up its customers' hearts too.

There are still so many schools with no light – thousands of them in Karnataka State on its own. So do let us know if this is a cause you’d feel great about too.

Check out Blinding Couture site