Mining industries, industrial revolution, design principles of industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, and many new concepts were introduced to us which were all fresh topics. I now understand each of these in detail. I would like to thank the team for educating us on these and I look forward to attending similar interactive sessions in the future.” says Vaishnavi, about a session on Industry 4.0 led by Subhash Kumar, one of the ABB volunteers.
Vaishnavi is one amongst the 100 meritorious girls who have received the Lila Poonawalla Foundation (LPF) scholarship sponsored by ABB to support their dream of becoming a future leader in technology. Hailing from underprivileged background, these girls find it even harder to realize their full potential with financial constraints glaring at them. Working in an organization of repute and contributing to the society at large is a distant dream for them. What pushes them to strive though, is their determination and aptitude to make it happen.
With an aim to support such academically bright girls with a keen interest in science and technology, ABB India joined hands with LPF for a holistic need-cum-merit based scholarship and up-skilling program. Through this program, the selected girls get to pursue their undergraduate studies in Science and Technology, without getting pulled down by financial constraints.
Owing to lack of resources and role models around them, the girls from economically disadvantaged backgrounds do not only need financial aid, but also require a well-rounded development to be future ready. Which is why the program is uniquely designed to cater to the up-skilling, counselling, and training needs of these girls.
An engineering graduate’s academic knowledge has to be complemented with desirable skills that put them at advantage. With the diverse industries that ABB serves, we have an accomplished pool of Subject Matter Experts leading innovations in their respective domains. Through ABB’s volunteering program, our employees exchange their knowledge with the beneficiary students in structured two- hour sessions.” says Raman Kumar Singh, CHRO, ABB India.
ABB Volunteering initiative is an intrinsic part of the scholarship program, wherein the ABB employees volunteer to share their domain expertise and experience around topical topics with the students. In the past few months, nearly 50 hours of such training sessions have happened virtually, cumulatively benefiting around 600 girls.
The volunteers, who have willingly come forward to be a part of this program, prepare the content in conjunction with the academic requirement and conduct interactive sessions over weekends. The initiative has been garnering an excellent response from the beneficiaries who are getting a peek into the workplace, being able to visualize what it could be like to work as an engineer in a particular domain.
For the mentors at ABB, it is a rather fulfilling experience with them getting a chance to share their knowledge.
As a student, your knowledge shouldn’t be just limited to what the textbook contains. There’s so much more to learn, absorb and be curious about. Through these sessions we are trying to give back what we have learnt on the job, to help students become familiar with what lies ahead so that they can make informed choices and contribute in the domain that suits them best.” remarks Jinendra Gugaliya,one of the ABB volunteers who trained on Machine Learning and AI topic.
From cyber security to data analytics, quite a few enriching sessions have been conducted by our talented volunteers. Not only do the students learn about the subject, they also get answers to their curious questions.
Leena, pursuing Computer Engineering received a session on Cyber Security by Aishvarya Nair. This is what she had to say,
“Thank you to the whole team for helping me take the right direction for my career path with my first steppingstone. This is the right place to learn and understand the fundamentals of cyber security.”
Looking at the overwhelming response the program has received, ABB is also putting together a mentorship program to be run alongside, which will enable ABB employees to mentor these girls on an on-going basis and accelerate their learning curve.
With a strong foundation, the girls are being prepared to become future technology leaders. We believe with initiatives like these, we’d get to see more and more women taking the lead and setting examples for others to follow.
Besides the association with Lila Poonawalla Foundation, ABB is also running a host of such community development programs in the fields of its operations, aiming for an inclusive community development.
