Why Potential Trumps Pedigree
- December 1, 2025
- Nibu Thomas
- 1 Responses
Beyond Pedigree
For eons, the corporate world has equated pedigree with potential. And often, it was ONLY pedigree that was equated with potential. Elite colleges, fancy degrees, and polished résumés have long been treated as passports to opportunity. But here’s what you should know already. Talent doesn’t follow privilege. Talent is hidden in small towns, overlooked villages, and among young people who carry resilience carved into their lives.
At Xcelevate, we believe potential trumps pedigree. With the right training, mentorship, and opportunity, just about anyone with determination can learn to code, design, analyze data, or lead. We ensure that it is those who need the opportunity most that get it. And when they do, they don’t just fill jobs. They rewrite the future. Their future. Their family’s future. And if we can provide enough opportunities, society’s future too.
Talent doesn’t discriminate by pin code, family income, or educational pedigree. Yet opportunity often does. But what happens when we bridge that gap? What happens when raw potential meets structured learning and genuine opportunity? The answer challenges everything we think we know about merit and capability. It challenges what it truly means to raise standards.
And when we say raise standards, it’s not their standards that need to be raised. It’s our standards. Our standards of thinking the way we have always thought.
At Xcelevate, we’ve discovered something remarkable. When we identify underprivileged young people (many without formal degrees or traditional qualifications) and provide them with intensive training in technology, something extraordinary unfolds. And this result is not simply charity cases or quota fillers. They are individuals with something many privileged candidates never develop. An unquenchable hunger to prove themselves. We have seen individuals clutch at these opportunities like someone who doesn’t know how to swim clutches at a buoy.
The Fire Within
There’s a fundamental difference between someone who has always had doors opened for them and someone who has spent their life watching those same doors close on their face and continue to remain firmly shut. The latter brings something irreplaceable to the table. A drive that has been forged in the crucible of necessity. A determination that has been tested to the brink and back, by rejection.
And that appreciation for opportunity is never just skin deep. We often say that Millenials are a very entitled bunch. We believe that entitlement is taught. Because we haven’t built in enough opportunities to be grateful. The rest of us are responsible for that.
Talk to our apprentices and you’ll realize that they only need ONE reason to be grateful.
And gratefulness opens doors.
When we put these candidates through a standard selection process (the same rigorous evaluation every applicant faces) we do not lower the bar. We raise it. Because suddenly we’re not just looking for technical competence; we’re witnessing resilience, adaptability, and a work ethic that transforms challenges into stepping stones. It’s not that these candidates will not take up a formal education, once they are satisfactorily employed. It’s that they will now be enabled to choose what they want to study, and more importantly – Why.
Beyond Degree
Traditional hiring often mistakes credentials for capability and degrees for drive. Organizations mistakenly assume that successful completion of a program can be extrapolated into performance as well.
But what if we looked deeper? What if we recognized that the young person who taught themselves coding on a borrowed laptop possesses a different kind of intelligence than someone who learned it in a comfortable classroom? A lot of what they learn is despite and in spite of something. And never because of it.
What if we understood that someone who has navigated complex family responsibilities while pursuing education has already demonstrated project management skills that no course could teach?
These individuals don’t just bring technical skills to our organization. They bring perspective, tenacity, and an infectious enthusiasm that elevates entire teams. They understand that opportunity is precious because they know what it’s like to live without it.
The Ripple Effect
When we invest in untapped potential, the returns multiply exponentially. These individuals don’t just succeed; they become catalysts for others. They mentor siblings, inspire communities, and prove to everyone around them that circumstances don’t define destiny. Their success stories become bridges for others to cross, creating pathways where none existed earlier.
More importantly, they force us to examine our own assumptions about talent and worth. They remind us that the most valuable qualities (creativity, perseverance, integrity) can’t be purchased with tuition fees or inherited through privilege.
Raising the Standard
By opening our doors to talent regardless of traditional markers, we haven’t compromised our standards. We’ve redefined them. We’ve moved beyond asking “What school did you attend?” to “What fires burn within you?” and “What are you out to prove?”
The result? A workforce that doesn’t just perform tasks but attacks challenges with the intensity of people who know that mediocrity isn’t an option. A team that doesn’t just show up for work but shows up to prove that given the chance, anyone can rise to meet the highest expectations.
The Path Forward
Every organization has the opportunity to tap into this reservoir of unrealized potential. It requires courage to look beyond conventional markers of success. It demands commitment to provide the training and support that levels the playing field. Most importantly, it needs wisdom to recognize that potential isn’t distributed according to privilege, unlike opportunity which often is.
When we align drive with opportunity, when we match hunger with training, when we give merit a chance to reveal itself regardless of background, we don’t just change individual lives. We transform what’s possible by redefining excellence itself.
The question isn’t whether talent exists in unexpected places. The question is whether we have the vision to find it and the commitment to nurture it. Because when we do, we discover that raising standards doesn’t mean raising barriers. Rather, it means enabling dreams. Because raising expectations should also be accompanied by providing the tools to meet them.
In the end, potential isn’t about where you start. It’s about how far you’re willing to go when someone believes in your journey.
Stories That Prove It
Bhagyashree Karale grew up in a slum where her parents mortgaged jewelry just to keep her in school. Today, she’s a backend developer at a global bank, promoted twice in two years, funding her brother’s education, and building a home for her family.
Anjali Tiwari lost her home in a natural disaster. Within months of joining Xcelevate’s skilling program, she became a full-time software developer without a degree. And in her free time, she teaches Java to the next wave of apprentices!
Ruksana Shaik, daughter of a tailor, felt like an outsider in tech despite a degree. Xcelevate gave her confidence and industry skills. Today she’s a software engineer supporting her family and inspiring girls back home.
These are not isolated exceptions. These are just a sample of the 83 students who have been placed in various organisations in the past 3 years. They are proof that brilliance exists in places where we aren’t looking, just waiting for an opportunity.
How can you help?
The children we select are usually from the poorest of the poor. We have to take care of all their needs so they do not have to worry about anything that they would have otherwise have to worry about. Their single focus needs to be only on their training. And this training isn’t cheap. The program is an intensive one year program that is fully residential. For it to be effective, we need that level of focus and commitment. What they are taught is not just how to code, but how to live. And you can help in three ways.
First, you can be a donor. It costs 1.5 Lakh to put each student through a year of focussed training. You can follow the progress of each student through their journey.
We want this initiative to be self-sustainable. Every student we take in is guaranteed to be placed with a minimum salary of 50K/month. And these children will pay it forward, once they are placed. Ensuring the next batch benefits too. But we need help to scale this as there are a many who could benefit from this initiative. You can sponsor a child (or a few children too) depending on the impact that you intend to make. And your contribution will continue to keep this learning lamp burning.
Because you are not just funding a child… You will be funding transformation. You will see how
- Shy learners grow into confident professionals.
- Families break out of generational poverty.
- New taxpayers strengthen India’s economy.
As one supporter shared:
“Supporting Xcelevate isn’t just about funding skills; it’s about standing beside someone as they discover their potential.” — Neeraj Goyal, Country Head, Northern Australian Bank
Your contribution doesn’t disappear into a system—it enables someone’s first paycheck, a family’s first home, and a community’s first role model.
Second, if your company has long-term hiring needs, this is your opportunity to disrupt your intake process. Don’t look for plug and play resources. Get creative. And believe. Give us your requirements. And some time. We will ensure that the deserving are given a fair shot at life.
Global organizations like NatWest Group and BNP Paribas are already hiring through Xcelevate, even revising their policies to remove requirements that do not really determine performance.
The results speak for themselves:
- 81 hires in 3 years (85% of them marginalized women).
- Average salary of ₹6 lakhs per annum within the first year.
Attrition of just 1 hire in three years – a retention rate most companies only dream of.
So if your organization has tech or non-tech requirements and you are willing to share these with us, we will ensure that you have a steady pool of competent freshers who you can try.
And once you are convinced, you can onboard them. (Our experience so far is that organizations don’t just absorb them. They ask for more!)
Third, you can also volunteer. Share your skills, mentor, and change lives. It’s very fulfilling.
If you need more information on any of these initiatives, write to (hi@xcelevate.org)
Pedigree may open doors, but potential keeps them open. In a world where technology evolves faster than ever, the ability to learn, adapt, and persist matters more than any degree.
Allow us to show you how when you bet on potential, you raise your standards. Let’s create a future where brilliance isn’t wasted for lack of opportunity. And together, we can ensure India’s hidden talent becomes its greatest strength.
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