Students providing pro bono consulting service

Vikay Narayen, Diageo-HKU Frontrunner 2013, learned from his experience solving a problem for a large NGO with fellow participants that students are capable of devising new solutions for other people. He capitalized on this after the course to produce change and provide learning experience for students.

In August 2013, Common Purpose HK ran the 3-day Frontrunner leadership course at the University of Hong Kong. Students from HKU had the opportunity to interact with leaders from the government, private sector and non-profit sector and to visit organizations in order to understand how they operate. During each visit, the students attempted to solve a real issue the organization was facing.

Vikay Narayen, along with 6 other individuals, visited a big non-profit and the team was allotted 2 hours to come up with recommendations. The team managed to come up with practical recommendations that the organization leaders had not thought of. This led Vikay to the realization that even non-profits with big budgets sometimes need outside help to solve their problems. Thus, the idea for Eureka Consulting Group (ECG) was conceived. While on exchange in Edinburgh, Vikay recruited Co-founders Suhail Bindra and Deborah Wong, among others, in order to establish ECG.

Since then, ECG has obtained s.88 tax-exempt status from the IRD and has provided over 4,000 hours of pro-bono consulting services while keeping students from 15+ countries and a diverse array of academic backgrounds in their employ. Selecting just 60 out of 310 student applicants over the current academic year, ECG attracts some of the brightest and best young minds at HKU to work as student consultants.

ECG now has 18 mentors from top-tier companies, such as Bain and McKinsey, to guide these student consultants through their projects, offering valuable career advice along the way. Having served 11 clients since inception and currently serving 5 clients, the future looks brighter than ever for the Eureka Consulting Group.

Please contact ECG at (vikay@ecg.hk) for:

• Pro bono consulting service - it is open to non-profits, social enterprises, startups and small businesses in Hong Kong.
• Mentoring - Professionals are invited to mentor consulting teams from start to completion of a client project.
• Donations - any amount will be gratefully accepted.