SAP Month of Service promotes community transformation and team building

BANGALORE, INDIA: SAP concluded the ‘Month of Service' (MoS), an initiative held through October each year, to promote community transformation, team building, and leadership development. Through MoS, one of the largest corporate volunteering efforts in India, 4200 of SAP's employees (over 60% percent of its workforce) contributed 17,000 volunteering hours to bring about a positive change in communities.

The 40 projects SAP employees worked on impacted thousands across the country. Activities included the SAP Entrepreneurship Summit, SAP-NGO Forum, highlighting SAP's Vision, Mission and Perspectives on CSR and roadmap for the future. These thought leadership initiatives along with other important events like TraFix-Traffic Management System, Food For Change, and Science Fair @ SAP Labs Campus have further shown the commitment and passion from SAP employees toward various social causes. Employees also interacted with youth and community to impart computer training, organize blood donation camps, spent a day in orphanages, old age homes and rehabilitation centers; conducted motivational sessions at juvenile homes; and painted the walls of a government school.

Said Anirban Dey, managing director, SAP Labs India:"At SAP our vision is to help the world run better and improve people's lives. Through our initiatives in furthering education and computer literacy, fostering entrepreneurship, and enabling communities through technology donation, we believe we can use our scale to be a catalyst for positive change."

The SAP Entrepreneurship Summit was organized with an aim to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. Various stakeholders from the entrepreneurship ecosystem including investors, venture capitalists, academicians, entrepreneurs and SAP senior leadership shared their perspectives. The round-table organized as a part of the event evoked enriching discussions among stakeholders on the role of the Government in enabling the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

SAP-NGO Forum was another thought leadership event organized to showcase SAP's perspectives, mission and vision in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and provided a platform for NGOs to come together. The NGO Forum featured Ian Correa, CEO, HOPE Foundation who highlighted the work done by SAP Labs India and HOPE Foundation to support flood affected children and youth in Uttarakhand. With SAP's support, HOPE Foundation raised over Rs.1 crore which went toward establishing a Skills Development Centre, a Computer Training Centre and Science Laboratory at Thatyur, in Tehri Garhwal District in addition to assistance immediately following the calamity.

'Food for Change', organized by Bangalore Cares put together an evening of gourmet food and entertainment to raise funds for 32 NGOs like Arunim, Enable India, etc., The event ran high on goodwill and over Rs.21 lakh was raised for organizations working for the differently-abled, women, animals, and education.

Science Fair was another important event which showcased interesting science experiments that have been conducted to teach students in government schools. Agastya International Foundation brought in a Mobile Science Van and HOPE foundation brought in 500 children, who were exposed to various practical science instruments and creative ways to learn science.

Through initiatives such as MoS, SAP strives to positively impact the lives of children and youth of underprivileged, marginalized and socio-economic weaker section of society.