Touseef Ahmad is no ordinary trainer at Ambuja Foundation’s SEDI. An ambitious risk taker, he has helped facilitate the international placement of almost 30 students in jobs in Gulf countries, in the highly sought after trade of Refrigeration & Air Conditioning (RAC).

His journey saw him set his sights on an international job, when, on graduating from a 3-year Diploma in Electricals saddled with a Rs. 1.5 lakh student loan, he faced jobs with a meagre salary of just Rs. 8000. Keeping his international dream a secret from his family and community, Touseef enrolled with recruitment agencies in Delhi for placement in Saudi Arabia. An opportunity was quickly forthcoming, and he secured a job handling all the electricals for a new hospital being built in Saudi.

It was a big leap of faith for him, having heard horrifying stories of how jobs in Gulf countries have gone terribly wrong for other marginalised Indians. But being a risk taker, with big aspirations, he took the plunge and moved to Saudi.

Of course, it was no cakewalk. Language barriers, different food, and the harsh weather conditions in Saudi were a shock to the system. Here, however, he quickly learned that there was a dearth of workers with sought-after Refrigeration & Air Conditioning skills. 

He began to teach himself how to fix air conditioners – tinkering with units in his spare time – and learning from his Arabic friends and colleagues who happily shared what they knew.

Being 28 years of age, his family soon called him back to India, and, having paid out all his loans, he decided to kickstart his own business. But business was slow and in 2018 he got word that SEDI was looking for a Trainer for the Electricals course.

On joining SEDI he found that there was no course in RAC, and he shared the high demand in the sector with the team. “Introduce this course, and I will drive it for you!” he said. Today there is 100% enrolment in SEDI’s RAC course, and 500 trainees have been trained.

During training, SEDI conducts an ‘aspiration mapping’ exercise with students, and it is Touseef’s role to guide and motivate them – speaking to students and families. He helps connect graduates with consultants and his network of people in the Gulf continue to call him with requests in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi and Dubai, for well-trained workers.

So passionate is he, that he facilitates a WhatsApp group for international placements, and whenever students face a problem on the job and can’t fix something, they do a video call with Touseef, and he helps them fix it!