Lenovo and YUWA strike the right chord with young Indian minds through 'Pitch to Her'

Lenovo, the world’s largest PC maker and YUWA a Jharkhand-based non-profit organization has set a new benchmark for Indian brands in cause marketing with ‘Pitch to Her’, a unique campaign that was flagged off on Independence Day and went on for two months.

As a part of this initiative, Lenovo had called out India’s brightest young minds to pitch interesting ideas to the YUWA girls – a bunch of talented football-playing girls who represented India in the 2014 USA Cup, a dream backed by Lenovo.  As a result of this, ‘Pitch To Her’ has reached nearly 40 million people on digital and been acknowledged by eminent organizations and movements like the UN for Women, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women and Girls Not Brides.

During the course of the campaign, Lenovo set up a computer lab at YUWA and did a host of fun, interactive and  educational activities with the girls – from putting Hutup on Wikipedia and Google Street View to making music with Makey Makey  and coding with MIT’s Scratch program. The YUWA girls also learnt to use cool camera techniques for light painting and experimented with GoPro cams. On Independence Day they harnessed solar power to illuminate their village. These unique experiments not only allowed the girls to bring out their zeal for science and technology but also helped them obtain remarkable results.

Nearly 1340 pitches that were high on enthusiasm and rich in imagination, poured in from all parts of the country. Eventually 3 pitches stood out for the girls and Franz Gastler, Founder-Director of YUWA. Three amazing ideas in the field of technology and sanitation that would not only transform the lives of these girls in a far-flung Indian village but also empowered them in the true sense of the term.

Franz Gastler, who has worked actively in the Indian social sector for nearly a decade, said: “This is a great opportunity for people to be a part of driving change in one of the most disadvantaged parts of the country. People know the YUWA girls for football, but off the field they're every bit as impressive. They're changing their own lives and the lives of girls in their communities. We're thrilled to partner with Lenovo to empower girls to connect them to a wider community. Society teaches girls to fit in while YUWA coaches them to stand out."

Here’s a film chronicling the journey of Pitch to Her from an ambitious idea to a glorious output.

Speaking about this one-of-a-kind campaign, Bhaskar Choudhuri, Director, Marketing, Lenovo India, said, “We are proud of our association with the YUWA girls. Despite hailing from a small town like Hutup in Jharkhand, they have the firepower and understand that technology gives them the required platform to achieve their dreams. With ‘Pitch to Her’ campaign we have established that Digital India goes beyond ‘free basics’ on phones and Wi-Fi hotspots at railway stations.”

On winning the internship Kailashram Ramalingam said “The passion and confidence with which the YUWA Girls go after their goals is truly inspiring. The extent to which these girls have overcome their challenges and their focus on leveraging technology to address their daily problems is an example to us all. I look forward to engaging and learning from them.”


While most of rural India is just about waking up to the joys of the internet, Lenovo and YUWA have successfully tech-empowered Hutup village.


The YUWA girls view this internship as a valuable tool providing them with practical, hands-on knowledge that could help them expand their world-view, and enhance employability. It has also made them realize that technology can give them a powerful and positive means to enrich education.

The winners begin their internships with the YUWA girls at Hutup.

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