Petrofac employees provide support to Indian children’s charities

In 2016, our Mumbai and Chennai offices announced they were supporting the Smile Foundation and Bharat Lok Shiksha Parishad (BLSP) welfare programme as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives.

The Smile Foundation is a charity that improves the lives of underprivileged children living in urban poverty and marginalised communities in Mumbai and Chennai through education.

Three members of Mumbai’s CSR team and 23 employee volunteers recently visited the Smile Foundation to share some knowledge with the children.

Colleagues showed the older children how to use Microsoft Office, a vital skill in today’s digital workplace; and taught the younger children some basic scientific principles, such as how to prove that air has weight and how to harvest rainwater.

Dnyanesh Kamath, Head of HR, was one of the CSR team of volunteers: “Not everyone is privileged to have a better education and life like us. The best way to support less privileged children is through education.”

“It was so moving to see the hope and curiosity in their eyes, and the smiles on their faces. Just a few hours spent with these children has given us the immense satisfaction of working towards improving our society.”

The BLSP welfare programme provides education in rural areas of India. Petrofac’s sponsorship helps develop one-teacher schools which will provide children with a functional level of literacy.

In recognition of our support, a ceremony was recently organised at D.G.Vaishnav College in Chennai and was attended by General Manager P C Krishnan and Assistant General Manager T L Venkatesan.

“This initiative not only changes the lives of the students living in remote villages but also contributes immensely towards nation building activities through improving the quality of education,” said T L Venkatesan. “It’s important to make a positive impact in our society and to future generations.”