FFEIT NEWSLETTER Vol. 1, Issue No. 4 March 2015 I feel inspired and humbled by what our scholars and alumni have achieved a few of whom are highlighted here. Unfortunately we are unable to tell the numerous inspiring stories in this brief newsletter. Our donor base has grown including new FFE alumni, individuals, and our corporate partners. FFE s Facilitators continue to support us in numerous ways, as do all our NGO and other partners. We are thankful to all of you for making FY 2014-15 the celebration of 20 years of FFE and its path to excellence a memorable one. Sudha Kidao, Managing Trustee, FFE India Trust Note from Managing Trustee, FFE India Trust: FFE and FFE India Trust has had an exciting journey in the last 12 months; while we reflect on our challenges and accomplishments, it is also a time to be excited about the future. I am proud that we have accomplished our goal of awarding 3200 scholarships this year including 1200 new students who have joined our fold. This amounts to almost Rs. 10 Crore disbursed in scholarships a new accomplishment for FFE! Since the last newsletter, there have been a host of activities in India including Open House events attended by FFE Founder Dr. Prabhu Goel, soft skills training sessions, workshops and mentor-mentee meetings. We have met several of you and are happy that the FFE family is growing and our lives are being enriched through these interactions. News & Events Open House Meetings Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Dhanbad A crucial element in connecting with our scholars, alumni and network of supporters, open house events are held in central cities across the country every year. It is a platform where all stakeholders gather together in support of FFE s cause and mission. At the Chennai Open House, 250 participants gathered to celebrate FFE s journey on 2 nd November 2014. Scholarships worth Rs. 23.55 lakhs were Open House in Kolkata (L-R): Guest of Honour Mr. Somnath awarded to eighty-five meritorious FFE scholars. Chatterjee (Vice-President of Capgemini, Energy and Utilities) Mr. R Seshasayee (Vice Chairman, Ashok awarding a scholarship cheque to an FFE scholar. Sushma Abburi, COO FFE India Trust addressing the audience. Leyland Limited) was the Guest of Honour at the event. 1
L-R: FFE Founder Dr. Prabhu Goel awarding a scholarship cheque to 1 st year MBBS student, Khaleda Khatoon, at the Open House in Kolkata. Dr. Sudhir K. Jain at the Open House in Ahmedabad on 15 th February. Two key events were held in Kolkata and Ahmedabad, the final events for FY 2014-15. FFE Founder Dr. Prabhu Goel graced both occasions which saw more than 500 participants gathered in solidarity. Scholarships amounting to more than Rs. 37 lakhs were awarded to 98 scholars in Kolkata while scholarships amounting to Rs. 34.7 lakhs were awarded to 90 scholars in Ahmedabad. Guests of Honour were Mr. Somnath Chatterjee (Vice-President of Capgemini, Energy and Utilities) in Kolkata on 1 st February and Dr. Sudhir K. Jain (Director & Professor, Civil Engineering, IIT-Gandhinagar) in Ahmedabad on 15th February, 2015. Ahmedabad on 15th February, 2015. A landmark event was organized by FFE in Dhanbad, the first official Open House to be held in in Jharkhand. Pioneered by FFE facilitator Mr. Rameshwar Prasad, more than 70 participants attended the program on 2 nd February held at ISM-Dhanbad. Community Outreach FFE Mentorship Program Responding to a long felt need for a structured mentoring program, FFE initiated a pilot program in partnership with MentorTogether (an NGO that empowers disadvantaged children through mentoring) for FFE scholars studying in Bangalore. The one-on-one mentoring program ensures that scholars get academic and career-related guidance which they may not have access to in their homes or colleges. After four months of pre-matching process including mentor-mentee selection and training, 116 FFE scholars from 12 engineering colleges in Bangalore signed up for the program. These scholars were matched with mentors from 7 corporates (Cisco, Robert Bosch, IBM, Google, Volvo, HP, Intel) with profiles ranging from Engineer to Vice-President. Over 400 mentor-mentee meetings across 81 mentorships were held till date. FFE Soft Skills Training Program In partnership with MSDF, FFE launched a soft-skills development program for MSDF-supported FFE scholars this year. To identify training requirements, an initial needs survey was conducted among the students using a simple structured form. At the end of 2014, students were given the opportunity to appear for AMCAT (Aspiring Minds Computer Adaptive Test ), an employability assessment test to assess the aptitude, reasoning and technical skills of students and often used as a diagnostic tool to determine skill-gaps. By identifying these gaps, FFE hopes to develop targeted interventions for these students. Performance scores will be further analyzed with the help of another partner organization who will identify skilled trainers to deliver the required training programs. Based on the test scores of 130 students, location-specific training programs will be implemented. New Donors and Partners We are happy to introduce new donors and partners for this FY 2014-15. Our new corporate donors include Boeing International Corporation India Pvt. Ltd., Capgemini India Private Limited who expanded their existing partnership, DISA India Private Limited, Amdocs Development Centre India Private Limited and Sonus Networks. FFE entered into a partnership with the HANS Foundation to support engineering and medical students from Uttarakhand. FFE also received an endowment from S N Foundation to fund scholarships to engineering students. 2 2
Internships, Job Opportunities and Workshops with Corporates Our corporate partners often offer soft-skills and mentoring workshops to FFE scholars. A mentoring workshop was organized by CISCO on 15 th January where 15 mentees and 17 mentors in Bangalore spent a day of discussing various topics including the nuances of work place, making wise career decisions, work readiness, resume building and interview skills. CISCO is currently offering internship opportunities to 3 rd and final year engineering scholars while Caterpillar is offering job opportunities for IT/CS students. Over 50 students participated at an all-day technical training session on Data Structures and Algorithms held by Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore on 7 th March, 2015. The company also offered internship opportunities where 25 students are awaiting results after having completed the first round of online tests in 6 cities across the country. A Fun Engineering Session was organized by Boeing International Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. on February 25 in Bangalore. The event was attended by 18 students financially supported by the company. VOICE of SCHOLARS FFE-Capgemini Scholarship Launch Capgemini India Private Limited is sponsoring the education of 90 bright engineering and medical students from 9 cities across India starting this year. To commemorate this occasion, Capgemini India Pvt. Ltd. along with FFE hosted an event in Mumbai on 16 th March, 2015 where the selected scholars were awarded scholarship certificates. The event was attended by senior management officials from FFE (FFEIT Managing Trustee Dr. Sudha Kidao, FFEIT COO Sushma Abburi, Sr. Manager-Donor Services Prathima Venkatesh) and Capgemini along with 36 FFE Scholars and a few parents. Ms. Aruna Jayanthi, CEO, Capgemini India Private Ltd. graced the occasion as the Chief Guest while Mr BL Narayan (Corporate VP & Head Human Resource; Convener, India CSR Core Committee) and Mr Ashwin Yardi (Corporate Vice President) awarded certificates to all the students. The event concluded with a Vote of Thanks by Mr. Anurag Pratap, India CSR Leader, Capgemini. Nithin Kumar K Bangalore, Karnataka Current scholar Nithin Kumar is a second-year Civil Engineering student from Bangalore Institute of Technology. He lives with his mother and sister in Bangalore, Karnataka. Nithin's father passed away when he was 11, so his mother took up tailoring to support the family. Determined, Nithin has been working to support his own education since Grade 11. During holidays, he works part-time and tutors high school students. Although he scored 91% in Grade 10 and 12 with a CET rank of 7178, Nithin nearly dropped out of college due to financial hardship. In college, Nithin secured first class with distinction in his 3rd semester exams. 3 3
Alumnus Gaurang Shah Gaurang works as a manager at NVIDIA Graphics Pvt Ltd, Pune. He will become an Adopt A Scholar (ASP) donor from April 2015 and has already referred two colleagues who adopted two scholars. I would like to share my story in a hope and belief that it will inspire you to start giving, and feel great about it if you are already doing so. We had a financially challenging life since early childhood when my father lost his job during the large-scale shut down of cotton weaving mills in Ahmedabad during 1989-90. I did well academically both in school and high school, so I got admission in B.E. in Information Technology at Nadiad, a town near Ahmedabad. I chose a college away from home just to get into IT discipline as it was booming during 1999, and I too wanted to ride that band wagon. The college didn't have a hostel, and I couldn't afford to rent a house. I could barely manage college fees and other costs with a loan from my uncle. I stayed in a local temple hostel which used to charge verysed nominal fees for needy students. I didn t do well in first year as I did not have access to good resources. I was not able to focus on my studies and wanted to quit after another semester, feeling demoralized. The only solution was to rent a house which required an extra Rs. 1000 every month. Introduced to FFE via an FFE alumnus by his school class teacher Mr. J. M. Shah, Gaurang applied for and received the FFE scholarship. In 2 nd year of college, his mother joined him in Nadiad when his father passed away. Both used to receive their meals from a local mess where his mother toiled daily. Gaurang received his engineering degree with First Class and Distinction grade. I have been supported by a few great people throughout my life to be able to complete my study, and FFE is one of the most influential in that list. I don't know whether I could have finished my B.E. successfully without timely help from FFE. I might have dropped out in between and I can't imagine my life if that would have indeed happened. I'll always remain indebted to FFE for their assistance. The efforts they are putting in to help needy students achieve their dreams are commendable. I will also continue doing whatever little I could for FFE so that someone else out there could also get an opportunity to realize their dreams. Thank you FFE. VOLUNTEER SPEAK Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Dhanbad, Jharkhand After graduating from Bihar University, Mr. Prasad worked in Associated Cement Co. for 20 years completing his stint as Sr. Mechanical Engineer. In 1989, he set up Engineering & Projects Services and worked as consultant in Industries for Heat Exchanger and Pollution Control. Associated with FFE as a facilitator for 14 years, he has devoted himself to social service for the past 15 years. Mr. Prasad is Founder & President of Prakash Foundation which promotes higher education of underpriviledged girls by providing scholarship and free education. He is actively involved with Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra working towards education, self-employment and organizing medical camps for tribals. A member of the Lions Club for 40 years, Mr. Prasad had also served as President, Lions Club of Dhanbad. 4 4
Employee Highlight FFE is happy to announce five new additions to the India team: Lt. Col. Mukesh B. Thapliyal (Field Director), Janas Mathew (Executive Alumni Outreach), Swati Honavar (Executive Donor & Student Relations), Shashikumar (Field Officer) and Gangadhariah K N (Office Assistant). Employee Feature Gayathri S, Administrative Assistant Gayatri supports the Scholarship Adminis- -tration Team. She focuses on allotting students to facilitators, communicating with both stakeholders regarding preliminary applications and scholarship application forms. She also assists in sending scholarship cheques to facilitators as required by the team. Gayatri has a Bachelors Degree in Arts and a Diploma in JOC Banking. GALLERY Awarding scholarship cheques (L-R): FFE Founder Dr. Prabhu Goel at the Open House in Ahmedabad and Mr. R. Seshasayee at the Open House in Chennai. CONTACT: For Donors Prathima prathima@ffe.org +91 98805 47390 For Alumni Apeksha apeksha@ffe.org +91 99025 04477 For Scholarships Shekhar Sastri shekharsastri@ffe.org +91 99000 76280 Editor Alyssa Laltlanmawii alyssa@ffe.org +91 81054 44220 CONNECT WITH US: Donate Foundation For Excellence India Trust, #840, MHT House, 1 st Floor, 5 th Main, Indiranagar 1 st Stage, Bengaluru 560 038, Phone: +91 80 2520 1925, www.ffe.org