There?s a nonchalant confidence that rings in Deepa?s voice. The 16-year-old is studying hard for her board exams and is determined to pursue a Bachelors degree in future. There?s a lot at stake; a lot that she must prove; and education is her only hope. The daughter of a vegetable seller, she understands the importance of education better than most of her privileged counterparts. Her choice of career reflects her mind: ?I want to become a teacher.?
You can see the same flicker of hope in Rajni?s eyes when she shares her dream of becoming ?an airhostess.? Deepa?s classmate at Deepalaya, she sounds far more mature for her age. ?I wish my brother could also study. Unfortunately, he is disabled?,? her voice trails off.
Promise apart, Deepa and Rajni have another thing in common ? Oriflame. They are amongst 1,000 other girls that the Swedish beauty brand has decided to sponsor joining hands with Deepalaya, a non-profit organisation working for the socially and economically deprived sections of the society. Oriflame hopes to get these girls educated.
?We have had a special eye on India ever since we started here in 1995. On a global scale we co-founded World Childhood Foundation. It is a Sweden-based charity organisation focusing on women across the world. Here in India, we are doing a project with Deepalaya to educate 1,000 young women,? says Alexander af Jochnick, founder and board member, Oriflame Cosmetics.
?Oriflame was keen to focus on education as part of their corporate social responsibility, and our positive discrimination towards the girl child programme appealed to them,? says Sudha Parthasarathy, deputy director, marketing for Deepalaya. And while Oriflame is not the only corporate to support this NGO, ?its contribution is significant in its own right,? adds Parthasarathy.
The beauty brand is also working with Hand in Hand, a Tamil Nadu-based NGO working to make rural women literate, so that they can create income opportunities for themselves through microfinance. While Oriflame has committed Rs 2.7 crore for a three-year period to Deepalaya, it has decided to invest five million euros in the project with Hand in Hand.
Oriflame?s commitment doesn?t end merely with donating funds to the NGOs. It only begins there. ?We provide them access to computers? make sure that they get in touch with the right middlemen, guide them in their endeavour. The scope of the project is broad and there?s a lot to it,? he further adds.
Apart from education for the underprivileged, environment figures close on Jochnick?s priority list. He, in fact, personally has to his credit Serious Nature ? an organisation focusing on sustainability. Claiming to be one of the first companies to have said no to animal testing, Oriflame also has a commendable waste management process. ?As corporates we need to sit back and think how the world will look in 20 years. We need to develop a strategic approach to the issue,? says Jochnick. To that end, it is trying to educate small and medium-sized organisations in Sweden about the importance of environmental sustainability. We agree. It definitely is the direction corporates need to follow.