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At Pentahome, it's a woman's world

Raja Simhan T.E.

Bharat Kumar

CHENNAI, Jan. 4

IN times of tight purse strings, how do you induce employees to have a sense of belonging in your company? What's better than an employee stock option plan now that the ESOP has been weakened by an even weaker bourse atmosphere? Simple. Just get the empl oyee's spouse to become an associate of the company's venture and you have a family, leave alone a single employee, committed to your company.

Pentasoft Technologies Ltd has attempted to do just this. It says it is adopting a different strategy to retain people, by involving the employee's family, through a women-only initiative called Pentahome.

To be launched soon, Pentahome, a feel-at-home business proposition for housewives, will train housewives to become instructors in the field of computing. Pentasoft will invest in the hardware, software and training, while the housewife will invest in th e real estate required to house the training centre.

The idea for this endeavour came from the employees themselves when asked for suggestions that will make their lives better, let them earn more and elicit a commitment to the company, said the company's Director and CEO, Mr D. Kannan.

According to Mr Kannan, ``We hope to get eight per cent of our estimated Rs 200-crore training revenues from the Pentahome project.''

Planned as an `only-women enterprise', Pentahome has been getting around 200 enquiries every day, mostly from the spouses of staff members. The course is aimed at three categories -- elders (including retired persons), housewives and school children, he said.

In the first phase of the course for housewives, the subjects include basic computer knowledge, MS office (Word, Excel and Powerpoint) and the Internet. Phase II would include Web designing, while the Phase III will be on ways to generate business income even while at home.

The course fee would range between Rs 2,000 and Rs 6,000. Mr V. Sridhar, General Manager, Education and Training at Pentasoft, said, ``With five computers, 10 students and access to the Internet, the centre can fetch up to Rs 2.1 lakh per month (if there is 100 per cent utilisation from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m.). Even assuming a modest 30 per cent capacity utilisation, a centre can fetch around Rs 70,000 per month,'' he said.

For children, the course includes school subjects (CBSE, Matriculation, State and Anglo-Indian syllabi), weekend training on etiquette, moral and culture, software with illustrations on real life problems and solutions and seminars and group discussions. The course closely follows the school syllabus.

Mr Sridhar added that the school syllabus would be taught using music, audio and video. Local teachers would also be called in as faculty, he said.

For the elders, the course includes basic computer skills and knowledge and internet browsing skills. The course price ranges from Rs 1,000 to Rs 6,000, he said.

Pentahome is part of the company's education and training (E&T) division, which generated 13 per cent revenue of the total turnover during the last fiscal year. The enterprise division contributed 70 per cent, while engineering contributed 17 per cent.

To become a Pentahome franchisee, the minimum requirement is a 500 sq.ft, fully air-conditioned and furnished space in a residential area. The minimum investment required is Rs 50,000.

Pentasoft would provide the hardware, software and the server (five nodes with NT server). The company plans 500 franchisees in three to four months. The profits will be split equally between the housewife and Pentasoft.