When Anchal Singh completed her school education from a government school in Delhi, she had dreams of pursuing her higher studies from a reputed college but was not sure if her family would be able to afford it. When she got into Delhi’s reputed Lady Shri Ram College, she enrolled for the BA (Honours) course there. However, with an annual fee of Rs. 16000 and considering that she had two siblings also in pursuit of higher education, Anchal was not sure if her father, (a driver by profession) would be able to afford to support the higher education of all three of his children. A scholarship was clearly what she required but Anchal was doubtful of whether she would get one and apprehensive of what she imagined would be along and complicated application process. “I had seen a number of my friends dropping their higher studies due to their financial inability to pay their fees. Most of my friends didn’t even try to apply for scholarships since they did not know how to do so and imagined the process would be painful, long and cumbersome,” she says. However, she did not give up hope. A search on Google yielded information on Buddy4Study and once she logged onto the website, there was no looking back for Anchal. She registered with the portal and was amazed at the simplicity and swiftness with which a scholarship fell into her lap. “Once I had registered with Buddy4Study, I started getting information on suitable scholarships, which would fit in with my requirements by email and SMS,” she says. “I soon got calls for two interviews- one over the phone and the other face-to face.  I received the Marubeni Indian Meritorious Scholarship 2016-2017 shortly after that.”  Anchal is now confident that she can pursue her dream of becoming a Hindi teacher in a reputed college.

Anchal is not the only one to have grabbed at the opportunity provided by Buddy4Study and reaped rich benefits from it. She is in the company of numerous others who have received support from willing donors through the network provided by the portal. Since its inception, the portal has brought scholarships worth 50 crores to more than 45,000 Indian students for pursuing their studies all over the world. What’s more, scholarships in excess of INR 18000 crores are available for students to apply for, through the platform of Buddy4Study.

So, what exactly is Buddy4Study? Says Manasvi Singh, Director & Co-CEO; “Buddy4Study an Indian scholarship portal aggregating the latest information on scholarship opportunities while providing application support with a vision to make quality education accessible to every student across India. Buddy4Study is working with various corporates under their CSR initiatives to promote education.”

With a stated mission of; To simplify scholarship accessibility for students and disbursement process for providers, the Noida headquartered, Buddy4 Study provides easy access scholarships with end-to-end application support to seekers and end-to-end management and monitoring of scholarship programs to providers. It lists Indian and international scholarships from school to PhD level, and gives applicants the opportunity to screen, choose, apply and track their applications through an online scholarship management system.

In listing available scholarships, Buddy4Study has taken care to reach out to all categories of deserving candidates with such sections as scholarships for the differently abled, scholarships for minorities and talent-based scholarships prominently visible as separate sections on their page, with the fitting headline; Find the Best Fit Scholarship. While the platform is a God-send for students seeking scholarships, it also gives interested corporates and trusts the opportunity to reach out to deserving students, (including those who live in small towns and rural areas), as part of their commitments to corporate social responsibility. Take the case of Vikash Mathur who resides in a village in Madhya Pradesh. “I read about Buddy4Study in the newspaper Daink Bhaskar,” he says. “I went onto the website and realized that this is the platform for me. I filled in my application and shortly after that I began to get emails and SMS messages from the organization. I attended an interview and soon after that I received a scholarship which was the perfect fit for me.”

With the prospect of reaching out to such deserving students and pumping in funds where they will bring about long-term change, a number of corporates have tied up with Buddy4Study as part of their corporate social responsibility. L’Oreal, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Capital First, Schindler, and Marubeni are amongst them.

Amongst a host of other accolades, it is easy to see why this young organization has been chosen as one of the Top 50 Most Innovative IT Product Companies of 2015 as per the NASSCOM Emerge 50 Awards. Not only does it bring to students detailed information on scholarships available in India and abroad, but it also plays the role of a true buddy by sorting out the scholarships for students and finding the best fit for each one. Says Nandini Bharthi, one of the recipients of the L’Oreal scholarships facilitated by the organization; “I lost my father during my school days. Buddy4Study helped me a lot. I pursued Engineering and Masters with scholarships I studied aerospace engineering from NTU Singapore. Now I have an opportunity to do my research from the University of Florida.”

Predictably the popularity of the portal has soared. Buddy4Study today has 57000+ followers and 500,000 registered users, but then that is to be expected. Appreciative recipients of scholarships are fulsome in their praise and recommend the portal widely to their friends. Says Burla Tejaswini, recipient of an HUL scholarship; “Thank you Buddy4Study for your generous Fair and Lovely scholarship. I plan to become a successful Doctor. I am currently in my third year of MBBS, and plan to graduate in the fall of 2021.  After graduation, I aspire to take up a PG specialization of my choice in a reputed institution. Thanks to you, I am one step closer to that goal. You have lightened my financial burden which allows me to focus more on the most important aspect of school-learning. Your generosity has inspired me to help others and give back to the community.  I hope one day I will be able to help students achieve their goals just as you have helped me.”

Impact-Story is a series on development and CSR interventions leading to some impacts on the ground. If you have a project, innovation or intervention that has changed the lives of a few people or a community, please share a brief note at csr@ngobox.org. Our Team will get back to you after validating the information for a detailed coverage.