The National Forum for Environment and Health, a regional non-profit NGO raising awareness for health, education and environmental issues, yesterday awarded Avanceon Limited as Best Education and Scholarship Initiative as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility Awards 2016.
The prestigious awards celebrate businesses who contribute to the social welfare of their employees and communities and the world’s leading automation and process control company has been recognised for outstanding philanthropic devotion throughout the company to the underprivileged by way of an inspiring educational scholarship.
Accepting the award at the event was Tanveer Karamat, COO, Junaid Paracha, GM of South Asia and Hussain Ahmad, Corporate Manager for Human Resources.
“The seeds of this initiative were planted early last year when our founder and CEO, Bakhtiar H Wain, was struck by the story of one of our employees who rose from humble beginnings years ago and who today is one of our lead engineers. He made this possible through his own determination and the support, both financially and professionally, that enabled him to educate himself and lift himself out of his previous life. Avanceon saw in this person the power of education to transform human lives and the need for our company, as a leading corporate citizen, to help those less well-off,” said Tanveer Karamat.
A core team at Avanceon worked tirelessly for months to create a sustainable framework that ensures the children of underprivileged staff had a quality education wherever they lived in Pakistan, with no detail was left out. The team selected an ideal school to partner with in Allied Schools from a shortlist after detailed site visits and interviews with teachers. Beneficiary children will have all school fees paid for including uniforms, equipment, stationery, transportation and home tutoring if required, and for the entirety of their academic journey.
“We are incredibly fortunate at Avanceon that the company is also a family. This initiative allows us to help those families not able to afford quality education to give a better future for their children. We are putting in place these scholarships for the long-term progress of these individuals towards a stronger Pakistan, by providing the tools for these children to enter the professional world at a higher level than would perhaps otherwise have been possible,” added Junaid Paracha.
Beyond the financial and logistical input from Avanceon, perhaps the greatest commitment comes from Avanceoners and their families who have volunteered to sponsor the children throughout their development. These individuals are devoting their energy and time to make sure the beneficiaries receive additional support as required, even attending parent and teacher meetings to monitor progress.
“It warms the heart of everyone associated with Avanceon to know we are able to put in place this kind of initiative. We really care about each and every employee here and we all work towards a common goal – delivering high quality seamless automation and process control solutions – whatever our department or rank. By educating today, we hope we will be able to employ the next generation of expert engineers tomorrow,” said Hussain Ahmad.
The annual awards recognize business leaders for their CSR initiatives across all areas, from social impact to employee engagement and are incorporated with NFEH’s 8th International Corporate Social Responsibility Summit 2016.
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