Shaktipreneur in Spotlight: Kudrat Dev (Founder, YCM)

“I have had a constant fascination to keep questioning and searching for answers in my journey from a law student to the founder of YCM,” says Kudrat Dev, Shaktipreneur in Spotlight and Founder of YCM.

YCM is India’s first and only organization building life skills for dispute prevention to dispute resolution for all youth and people dealing with them.

The inspiration behind the project

Kudrat practiced as an adversarial lawyer in various courts in India, including the Supreme Court.

“My failures as an adversarial lawyer turned into my learning and inspiration to establish YCM,” she says.

Her search for solutions took her to London as a Chevening Scholar to pursue a master’s in ADR and linguistics at SOAS. She qualified as a Conflict Coach and Mediator accredited by the UK Civil Mediation Council. 

She practiced mediation and conflict coaching in London for about a year and networked with experts in the field of mediation, including Brick Court Chambers, Wandsworth Mediation Service, and Southwark Mediation Centre. She got recognition as a next-generation leader for innovative ideas in the field of conflict management and data analytics at Siemens as an in-house counsel.

 Dev’s motivation comes from the students of Charter School & Bacons College London running the youth and peer mediation project, Melaine Bruce from Calm Mediation (an award-winning trainer and project director for various peer mediation projects), and her mother and sisters. 

“My mother and sisters are strong and resilient women who have faced struggles and conflicts calmly,” she adds. 

The idea behind the name

 YCM stands for Youth Conflict management & Mediation initiative.

 The name defines the organization’s purpose of building skills for collaborative dispute resolution and dispute prevention. 

Journey as an entrepreneur

When Kudrat started working towards YCM in the early days, her well-wishers advised her that mediation would not work in India.

“Sometimes you see things coming, but people around you don’t. I followed my instincts and decided to go ahead,” she says.

Kudrat believes her dedication to her organization augmented her spiritual growth.  

“I am 100% invested and present as if in meditation mode when I visualize the growth and future of YCM and my work,” she says passionately. 

Today, India has a mediation bill in the Parliament that intends to make mediation mandatory for all before filing any commercial or civil dispute case in a court. 

Work done by your organization

Kudrat believes that conflicts are unavoidable. It is advisable to learn skills to deal with them positively. The purpose of YCM is to impart intensive conflict management skills to prevent minor disagreements, arguments, and deadlocks from turning into full-blown disputes. They train people to get certified as conflict managers and mediators. 

The 3 programs under YCM are:

• Focus on co-management skills as essential for dispute prevention and resolution for empowering citizens, beginning with youth, to be skilled to deal with inevitable conflicts in day-to-day lives.
•  Train as youth conflict managers and youth mediators in Conflict management for joining a nationwide network for support, growth, and service for self and society at large.
• Collectivize the power of youth for building India’s first network of youth conflict managers and youth mediators for providing conflict management and community mediation services on educational campuses, organizations, and beyond through partnerships with local communities and authorities.

There are 3 YCM chapters at Jindal Global University Sonipat, Rajiv Gandhi National Law School Patiala, and IFIM law school Bangalore.

“We have one chapter in the works at Mumbai, and will announce it in the coming days. Anyone can join us to convert conflicts into growth spaces,” she says.

Impact of the organization

YCM is a growing organization with increasing impact.

• 770+ professionals and students trained
• 4 key international collaborations

( Warwick University, Calm Mediation, University of Salamanca, Spain & International Mediation Awareness Week Mediator Network, UK)

• 90+ internships
• 50+ expert-student connect
• 3 YCM chapters at universities
• 4 training centers

Future plans

“We have begun tying up with business and management schools and plan to set up YCM centers to ensure students become new-age professionals who can prevent disputes and more than that, convert conflicts into growth opportunities,” she says.

Advice to new entrepreneurs

Kudrat advises new entrepreneurs to enjoy their entrepreneurial journey and celebrate it.

She believes in honest and realistic goals. 

“For my team, I have learned to set high but achievable goals,” she says.

Another lesson she learned was not to get disappointed. Kudrat describes an incident when she got invited to do an online training during the pandemic for a government organization, and no one showed up.

“I was disheartened but went ahead with the presentation and showcased my new ideas to the organizing team. They were touched and inspired at the same time,” she reminisces.

She urges them to appreciate their supporters.

“Never forget to thank all those who helped along the way- especially your family and loved ones,” she adds.

Your journey as a Shaktipreneur

STEP was recommended to Kudrat by a Chevening scholar who was a part of an earlier cohort.

Kudrat feels a platform like STEP is vital for women entrepreneurs. She describes her experience in Shakti empowering her.

“STEP’s powerful team and the influential cohort gave me the support I sought,” she says.

Before joining STEP, she struggled with financial planning and projections, and the STEP program helped clear her doubts.

Her favorite Tuesday session was Impact measurement by Swati Shah.

“We all are working to create an impact, and it helped me assess my achievements as an entrepreneur,” she adds.

Kudrat is grateful to her mentor, Kriti Makhija, for guiding her.

“Kriti Makhija is a super woman. She added her energy to my super energy to the vision of YCM,” she says. 

Kudrat has a great rapport with her cohort.

“We collaborate on social media, and many of them come in as expert speakers to YCM events,” she adds.

Kudrat, the person

Kudrat is a spiritual person who ardently loves her family. Her favorite book is Seagull by Jonathan Livingston. She loves to have spicy and tangy food. 

Lake District England is her favorite holiday destination. The sun inspires her to deal with life’s challenges gracefully.  

A Quote that is the Mantra of her life is, “You Can Resolve It.”