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 Social responsibility is a high priority with the 1500-plus software professionals, pushing the limits of innovation and excellence, at Aricent. A conducive and open environment and a free assimilation of ideas have seen Aricentians go beyond their sphere of work and achieve the insurmountable. The Aricent Mindsystem, the guiding philosophy behind everything at Aricent, is a triumph of the Aricent spirit, which believes in making greater things manifest through teamwork.
At Aricent we believe in the 3-M of corporate giving that is contributing in terms of Money, Material and Manpower to make a difference in the society. Aricent supports social change projects in children's education, health care, and environment as part of its commitment to give back to society. Additionally, Disaster relief and rehabilitation are causes where the employees' voluntary contributions are augmented by a matching corporate grant to provide the corpus to re-build, rejuvenate and rehabilitate.
- Aricent – Bridging the digital divide
- Pioneering InfoTech Education - The Aricent Commitment
- Aricent and Disaster Relief
- Employee Volunteering - Reach out
- Nurturing Young Talent - The Aricent Brand Ambassador
- Green Sheen at Aricent
Aricent – Bridging the digital divide
Aricent had launched the Outreach Program Aricent in April 2000 with the aim of pioneering InfoTech education for underprivileged children. The village school at nearby Carterpuri was part of this social initiative. Children, computer education and environment are the three priority areas for Aricent as a socially responsible corporate organization. The Carterpuri School has helped us realize the first two.
6th February 2003 saw the first batch of ninety students successfully completing the computer and vocational training programs. These young achievers were presented certificates by Amita Kumar and Vandana Aadesh.
Mathew Cherian, Director, Charities Aid Foundation, India, lauded the efforts by Aricent which have been instrumental in bridging the digital divide. Today, the Carterpuri School not only has good classrooms but also a state-of-the art vocational training institute and a computer lab.
The Outreach Program has seen active involvement by Aricent employees, enthusiastically volunteering to conduct vocational training classes for the students.
Pioneering InfoTech Education - The Aricent Commitment
Aricent launched its Outreach Program with the aim of pioneering Infotech education for underprivileged children in April 2000.
Extending a hand of friendship to the village school in neighboring Carterpuri, we helped build an Infotech Lab, donated computers and other resources to make the Lab functional. Additionally, Aricent has also helped build the primary wing of the school adding two more rooms to the facility. The program, which was launched by US Ambassador Richard Celeste, saw Aricent employees enthusiastically volunteering to conduct vocational training classes for the students.
Aricent and Disaster Relief
Aricent response to a Customer survey by IONA contributes more than $5K to UNICEF
Aricent participated in a customer feedback survey on IONA products and services, late last year. For each response to the survey, the company made a charitable donation to UNICEF towards a campaign focusing on mother-to-child HIV transmission in Africa. The response to the survey helped generate $5000.00 for UNICEF.
Aricent and The Kargil War Relief Fund
The Kargil War saw Aricent donate 17 Lakhs ($36,956) for rehabilitating the families of the deceased or disabled soldiers. The contribution to the Army Welfare Fund was handed over to the Union Minister for External Affairs, Mr. Jaswant Singh.
The Send H2O Campaign
Aricent mobilized funds to the tune of Rs.7 Lakhs ($15, 217) for parched Rajasthan in June 2000, which had been hit by one of the worst droughts of the decade. Apart from in-house contributions by the Aricent family and a matching amount from the Company, we used the corporate website www.aricent.com to direct contributions to this fund by committing Re 1 for every hit on the disaster relief page on the website.The funds collected were handed over to URMUL an NGO identified with the help of CAF India to promote rehabilitation and relief work in Rajasthan.
Later, our employee volunteers went and spent time boosting the morale of the affected people and helping them by having the artisans exhibit and sell their crafts at a number of Aricent employee events.
Employee Volunteering - Reach out
In its effort to reach out and do something for someone, who needed help, Aricentians formed Reach Out in the second half of the year 2000. "Work" started with a fun-trip to a home for children- Karm Marg. That sealed the bond and the members of Reach Out were committed to the cause.
After an active campaign for collection of winter clothing and gifts, the next "project" was a trip to a home for the mentally and physically retarded - Deep Ashram. This was a trip to a world different from the one everybody is used to, and takes for granted. A revelation in the true sense of the word!
"Deep Ashram" is a home run by the Missionaries of Charity, for the physically and mentally disabled. Run under the able guidance of Brother Benedict and Brother John, these home houses nearly fifty children, a majority of them in the age group of 7-15 years.
The children of Deep Ashram are well cared for. What they need though is affection- they need to see new faces, friendly faces. They also need to be taught to take care of themselves - and this requires a different kind of training and specialization. There are many doctors and therapists, specially trained to handle mentally disabled children. Work is on, to help provide a stable means of income for these children.
India Literacy Project program
Aricentians realize the importance of a sound education and how that has enabled them to be where they are - at the cutting edge of communication technology. To provide the benefits of education to the underprivileged in India, Aricentians collaborate with India Literacy Project, a US based Literacy focused funding organization. While ILP volunteers at Hughes Network Systems (HNS), the parent organization of Aricent, help in raising funds and keeping the donors informed of the progress of projects, Aricentians visit the site areas to do audits and assessments for the suitability, sustainability and authenticity of projects. The much needed human touch and support to the projects is provided when Aricentians go to remote villages in Ajmer (SWERA project). We motivate villagers to send the girl-child to the education centers. Slum students in Patpargunj (GODHULI project) have participated in intramural competitions organized at Aricent, where they not only compete with Aricentians but also beat them and walk away with the first prize!
Members of the Reach Out Club also actively update and manage www.dryindia.org, a disaster relief website, hosted by Charities Aid Foundation-India.
Reaching out at Karm Marg
Karm-Marg a destitute children's home, which the Reach out-group frequents, resonates with joy and squeals of laughter on every visit. Reach out volunteers has been contributing not only money but also time to bring back the lost childhood for many of these children. One of the many events organized is the Reach out week in the Aricent campus showcasing the arts handiwork and the dance and dramatics talents of these children.
Nurturing Young Talent - The Aricent Brand Ambassador
Sponsorship of Brand Ambassador Tania Sachdev
Aricent announced its decision to sponsor Chess Prodigy Tania Sachdev as its Brand ambassador in 2000. Tania has been bringing laurels to India with her wins in both National and International Chess Championships across the Globe. Showing early promise with sensational wins at the British chess championship in 1994, Tania has won five titles in the Under 8, Under 9 and Under 10 competitions, becoming the first girl to win these titles since the tournament began in 1904.
By taking Tania under its wings, Aricent finds a brand ambassador who embodies the youthfulness, energy and problem solving ability of the young software professionals taking the company on the path of rapid growth. On the other hand, Tania, with support from Aricent, has been able to concentrate on the game.
At Aricent a stimulating, creative and open environment has helped us go beyond business and adopt people development causes. By helping people in their time of need, by enriching lives through learning, we believe we can change, rejuvenate, renew and make a difference. Making a difference at every step, Citizen Aricent endeavors to imbibe these values in every Aricentian and serve as a role model.
Green Sheen at Aricent
Aricent is committed to creating and sustaining value for its employees, customers and communities by providing a safe and healthy workplace, protecting the environment and conserving natural and energy resources. Aricent not only works towards changing paradigms in communication technology but also places value on environment conservation and community relationships.
We have initiated the following projects within Aricent:
Conserve Paper Drive - Reduce, Recycle, Reuse
At Aricent we believe in identifying and incorporating environmental conservation measures within our core activities. The conserve paper drive is an effort at reducing inordinate paper consumption, reusing and recycling material, purchasing recycled material and saving trees. As a part of this activity a massive recycle paper drive has been launched within the Aricent campus.
Environment Week at Aricent
July 30 to Aug 3, 2001 was celebrated as the Environment Week at Aricent . The event included activities, like the recycle waste paper drive and the save power drive. In an effort to promote Eco-friendly products several NGO stalls were put up. The aim of the activity was to participate in efforts to improve environmental protection and understanding and share appropriate and responsible use of energy and natural resources.
The Aricent Green Belt
Aricent's new green belt program at Gurgaon involves building an environmentally sensitive design that blends into extensive landscaping and plantation for a cleaner and greener work environment. The green belt is Aricent's effort at recreating a natural landscape.
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