upGrad’s workforce donates their Annual Gifting Budget towards a Scholarship Fund this Festive Season
Mumbai : Adding to the festivities of the year, upGrad, Asia’s largest Higher Edtech company saw its workforce make a sizable donation by creating a Scholarship Fund towards higher education and LifeLongLearning of the less-privileged individuals. The Scholarship Fund comes from repurposing the annual employees gifting budget of INR 2.4 crores and will be utilized for skilling deserving learners across non-metros and rural India.
upGrad’s Co-founders Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, and Phalgun Kompalli announced the Scholarship Fund at their recently held hybrid “One upGrad” Townhall, which was simulcasted live across 32 locations in India and globally.
“The pandemic hasn’t been kind to everybody. Being on the privileged boat, most of us could sail through these tough times, however, there is a section of the society who had to fight for their basic fundamental rights – education being the key one. And so, with an ambition of giving the less-privileged an opportunity to pursue higher education and build their careers, the upGrad Family has decided to contribute towards the Cause. We are delighted and feel proud to see the response of our colleagues. It is important we convert our business results into meaningful investments for giving it back to our society and create impact at scale,” said Mayank Kumar, Co-founder & MD, while addressing the 7500+ colleagues during the Townhall.
The initiative is led by upGrad Foundation, the not-for-profit arm of upGrad and the high-quality programs will be delivered by another 100% subsidiary, upGrad TalentEdge’s online higher education vertical.
The announcement comes at a time when festivities are at their peak for employees across India Inc and companies are involved in planning interesting gifts and bonuses for the year. Speaking about this unique initiative, Saurabh Deep Singla, CHRO at upGrad said, “We have always bolstered about how we want to use the power of education for driving career outcomes and this is a perfect example. Our goal of building the lives of several young Indians who desire to pursue a career but may get restricted by several other means to achieve it is shaping up and it feels surreal to see our workforce supporting it. We take extreme pride to see how upGradians have stayed connected as One upGrad Family, thereby strengthening our inclusive cultural ecosystem.”