BIM's "Crescita 2005 - Kartavya" Held at Bangalore
First Day Report - November 5, 2005

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The Area Sales Manager for South India of Hindustan Lever Limited, Mr. Shaktivel, was the first speaker of the session. HLL’s rural marketing endeavour Project Shakti was the brainchild of Mr. Shaktivel. Starting off with an enthralling audio-visual presentation on the life story of a beneficiary - Rojamma - Mr. Shaktivel went on to paint a touching picture of the CSR efforts of HLL in reaching out to the downtrodden in India.
He said the primary focus of the company was on Rural India. The goals of this endeavour were to ensure income generation for women in rural areas and to educate and empower them. The dual objectives of the project were to be attained through multiple plans named Shakti, Shaktivani and iShakti. The ASM admitted that it was a win-win situation for both the company and the concerned people. While making a profit out of it, the company could also perpetuate social communication anchored on its brands resulting in a slew of benefits encompassing but not restricted to education and awareness creation amidst the target audience. He added that HLL also trains people as evangelist employees and cooperates with the World Health Organization and various state governments in this CSR undertaking. In a path-breaking development, HLL has made IT education of the rural masses a priority with a dedicated portal which has been developed in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services and Azim Premji Foundation. Finishing off the presentation, Mr. Shaktivel presented graphic evidence of how Project Shakti is making a difference in the lives of people who come under its purview.

Dr. Jayasankaran, the next speaker, made excellent contributions to the event by channelling the feast of reason and flow of thought. He read out the dictionary definitions of social responsibility and the text book definition of Corporate Social Responsibility. He quoted Nobel Laureate Freedman’s famous statement on Profit and the corporate. He constantly harped on the right of the corporate to dabble with the stakeholders investments in CSR activities. Dr. Jayasankaran also listed out a few topics which ideally could be debated upon during the course of the conference.

The author of this article found it a bit hard to follow and understand the chain of argument being reasoned out. But timely help was at hand in the form of Ms. ‘Sarojini’ Vidya alias Saro who enlightened those sitting beside her with a superb interpretation of the facts presented going on to outline the origin and history of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility. Ms. Saro’s invaluable contribution is immeasurably welcome considering the fact that she has recently won the TCS Smart Manager Case Contest.

Contributed by -
Zubin Somervell,
BIM News Agency,
BIM, Trichy.

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Contributed by -
Zubin Somervell,
PrCom,
BIM, Trichy.