The philanthropic initiative of Mukesh Ambani led-Reliance Industries, Reliance Foundation has won the prestigious Porter Prize 2015 for its ‘outstanding contribution to society.’
Award given to Reliance Foundation
The prize distribution event saw many top industry leaders, experts and executives at Gurgaon. It was the fourth edition of Porter Prize India. The event was attended by a number of bigwigs from the government, media, and corporate sector.
The citation mentioned that the prize has been given to Reliance Foundation for its “outstanding contribution to the society to meet the basic human needs, establishing blocks that allow communities to sustain quality of life and creating conditions for individuals to reach their potential." Rohit Bansal, Group Head of Communications at Reliance Foundation received the award.
Reliance Foundation’s contribution
Nita Ambani, Chairperson of the Foundation,established the reputed organization in 2010. Reliance Foundation is committed to achieve development with its initiatives in 5 important areas. These are rural transformation, education, urban renewal, health, and art, culture and heritage. The foundation strives to bring about transformative changes in society by adopting a sector-centric diversified approach to all prevailing problems.
The Bharat-India Jodo program which aimed to bridge the gap between rural and urban India, initiated by the foundation is one such example. The foundation addresses many of the problems faced by poor farmers through the use of technological innovation. In the health sector, it has launched the Drishti program that assists the visually impaired. It is one of the biggest programs from the private sector that facilitates corneal transplant and helps to cure blindness. Reliance Foundation also rolled out the first registered Braille newspaper of India. The Hindi newspaper has become so popular that it is now distributed in around 18 countries. Apart from these initiatives, its hospital in Mumbai, Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital is reaching new heights in patient care.Technology is exploited to its fullest to provide a superior experience to the patients.
The largest private conglomerate and the parent company of Reliance Foundation, Reliance Industries is incidentally the highest spender on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In the Financial Year 2014, the company spent Rs. 712 crore on CSR.This was much higher than the mandatory 2% ordered by the government.
About Porter Prize
Porter Prize is named after a University Professor at Harvard Business School, Michael E. Porter. He is known as the father of the modern strategy field. He is an expert in the areas of competitive strategy and international competitiveness. Apart from winning many awards, he has been an advisor in many companies and government bodies in the United States. The award is aimed to motivate companies on the lines of value creation, strategy, and innovation.
Porter Prize was initiated to recognize and encourage Japanese companies in 2001. The Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University came up with the idea of Porter Prize to appreciate Porter’s humility and life-long dedication to the development of competitive strategy. It later spread to other countries like South Korea and India. It identifies the best corporates across varied segments. It also inspires them to become highly efficient, strategic and competitive.
Summary
Reliance Foundation received the Porter Prize 2015 for its ‘outstanding contribution to society.’