Latest news with #UnitedWayMumbai
Hospitality Net
09-05-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
IHCL Strengthens Waste Management Efforts through Partnership with United Way Mumbai
Mumbai - Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), India's leading hospitality company, continues to drive impactful change in waste management through Paathya, its ESG+ framework, in collaboration with United Way Mumbai. Guided by our industry leading ESG+ framework of Paathya, we are moving beyond conventional waste management to create lasting, scalable solutions that actively engage communities and drive positive environmental impact. The collaboration with United Way Mumbai exemplifies this approach by combining innovation, education, and grassroots participation, making waste management a community-driven effort. It is through such partnerships and initiatives that we can address the challenges of today while paving the way for a sustainable future for generations to come. Mr. Gaurav Pokhariyal, Executive Vice President – Human Resources, IHCL Waste management impacts public health, livelihoods, and the sustainability of our cities. Lasting change comes from systemic solutions that address waste at every stage, from generation to disposal. At United Way Mumbai, we work to strengthen local waste management systems, raise awareness, and empower communities to take ownership of their surroundings. Our partnership with IHCL builds on this vision by combining resources with on-ground action through public-private partnership, ensuring that responsible waste management becomes a sustained practice. Mr. George Aikara, Chief Executive Officer, United Way Mumbai In its ongoing efforts to minimize waste, IHCL has been complementing municipal initiatives by deploying Safai Sathis for daily beach clean-ups and waste management activities at Mahim Reti Bunder and Mahim Causeway in Mumbai. The collected waste is cleaned, segregated, and sent to a Material Recovery Centre (MRC) for recycling and co-processing, reducing the burden on landfills. In six months, from October 2024 to March 2025, the project has collected 1,12,097.37 kgs of waste which is systematically processed at the MRC. In addition to waste management, the initiative emphasizes community awareness and engagement by sensitizing local residents through beach clean-up drives and educational activities, including shore walks with students, women from self-help groups, sanitation workers, youth and community leaders. This initiative is in line with Paathya 2030 goals, prioritizing circular economy solutions and responsible waste management across IHCL's operations. About United Way Mumbai United Way Mumbai is a part of the 130+ year-old United Way movement spanning 41 countries across the world. Our mission is to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities to advance the common good. We work closely with a network of 500+ NGOs and a large number of corporates for their CSR programmes, workplace giving campaigns and other events. This includes designing of CSR policy and strategies, due diligence of NGO partners, programme implementation, employee volunteering, impact assessments and financial and programmatic reporting. Over the past two decades, we have partnered with over 300 companies and over 1,00,000 individual donors investing close to INR 1150 crore for community development projects. Our expertise lies in identifying, designing and implementing high-impact projects in the areas of Education, Health, Income, Environment, Public Safety & Social Inclusion in both urban as well as rural communities across the country. About The Indian Hotels Company Limited The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) and its subsidiaries bring together a group of brands and businesses that offer a fusion of warm Indian hospitality and world-class service. These include Taj – the iconic brand for the most discerning travellers and ranked as World's Strongest Hotel Brand 2024 and India's Strongest Brand 2024 as per Brand Finance; SeleQtions, a named collection of hotels; Tree of Life, private escapes in tranquil settings; Vivanta, sophisticated upscale hotels; Gateway, full-service hotels designed to be your gateway to exceptional destinations and Ginger, which is revolutionising the lean luxe segment. Incorporated by the founder of the Tata Group, Jamsetji Tata, the Company opened its first hotel - The Taj Mahal Palace, in Bombay in 1903. IHCL has a portfolio of 360 hotels including 123 under development globally across 4 continents, 13 countries and in over 150+ locations. The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) is India's largest hospitality company by market capitalization. It is listed on the BSE and NSE. Please visit: IHCL; Taj; SeleQtions; Tree of Life; Vivanta; Gateway; Ginger View source
Hindustan Times
07-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Empowering women entrepreneurs to lead economic transformation
We often discuss India's economic trajectory through numbers and milestones—Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, infrastructure investments, workforce projections. But a recent conversation brought home a truth I have long believed--spreadsheets track progress, but people define it. Women entrepreneurs (representational image)(Pixabay) I was reminded of this when I recently read about Gauri from UP's Shravasti district. Her story captures the quiet revolution powering India toward the Viksit Bharat vision. Like millions of women in rural India, Gauri's life was a cycle of survival. With a family to support and her husband's daily wage stretched thin, her sewing talent remained untapped. In 2022, she enrolled in Empowering Women Entrepreneurs (EWE) programme, a three-year partnership between Visa and United Way Mumbai, that equipped her with a sewing machine and offered her training in the basics of business and overall financial literacy. Today, she runs a sewing collective, mentoring village girls to stitch garments and steward them to better futures. Gauri's journey is one of 11,000 such underserved women entrepreneurs that EWE has connected with across over 360 villages in UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Assam. Last month, when I visited a program centre in Mumbai's suburbs, I met one of them, Smita, who has turned ₹ 50 beauty tutorials into a thriving parlour. Her monthly income of ₹ 25,000 is not just a number—it is her children's education, her parents' health care, and her community's roadmap to financial independence. India's economic narrative is shifting - women now drive 41.7% of the workforce and lead 20% of MSMEs, employing over 25 million. Beneath these milestones lies a reality often overlooked: struggle and progress coexist. Take the story of Revati from Assam's Muduki village. When her husband's health failed, financial survival fell on her shoulders. Her answer came through goat rearing—a skill she honed with training in livestock management and financial literacy from EWE. Today, her herd has grown, inching her closer to becoming a Lakhpati Kisan, with an annual income of ₹ 1 lakh. Her journey underscores a larger truth - when women prosper, communities thrive. Bain & Company estimates India needs 400 million working women to realise its economic potential but faces a 145-million shortfall. The hurdles? Limited credit access, fractured market linkages, lack of financial know-how, and entrenched stigma. The EWE programme addresses this through peer-led financial literacy training, seed funding for Self-Help Groups (SHGs), and startup (Saksham) kits that turn skills into sustainable businesses. This creates self-sustaining ecosystems where skills translate into sustainable livelihoods. The stories of Gauri, Smita, and Revati highlight that financial literacy alone is not enough. It requires dismantling systemic barriers and democratising access to digital tools for budgeting and formal banking, bridging the $158 billion credit gap with financing models attuned to informal incomes, and linking grassroots entrepreneurs to markets through e-commerce and government schemes. The success of such social-impact programmes lies in their multiplier effects. Smita's parlour now employs three women from her neighbourhood, while Gauri's sewing collective has doubled school enrolment for girls in her village. These micro-impacts, when scaled, become macro-solutions fostering growth and sustained progress. Empowerment cannot be a checkbox--it demands consistent commitment to nurturing skills, expanding credit access, and amplifying market opportunities. Time and again, public-private partnerships demonstrate how collaborative approaches create sustainable models for women's empowerment. The data is clear--investing in women entrepreneurs could create 150-170 million jobs by 2030, adding $700 billion to global GDP. Beyond numbers, it is the human stories that resonate and transform societies. When Revati speaks of her goats as family, or Smita shares how her income restored her father's pride, we are reminded that economic empowerment is deeply personal. Gauri's training centre, Smita's parlour, and Revati's livestock—each adding another thread in India's ongoing progress. As we stride onward to 2047, the question is not whether we can afford to invest in women, it is whether we can afford not to. This article is authored by Sandeep Ghosh, group country Manage, Visa India & South.
Business Standard
23-04-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
CSK Players Meet "Let's READ" beneficiaries with FedEx Cares
VMPL New Delhi [India], April 23: FedEx: Federal Express Corporation is the world's largest express transportation company, providing fast and reliable delivery to more than 220 countries and territories. Federal Express Corporation uses a global air-and-ground network to speed delivery of time-sensitive shipments by a definite time and date. Les's READ: United Way Mumbai's Let's READ programme promotes reading among children from marginalized communities by improving access to age-appropriate, culturally relevant books in local languages. Aligned with India's National Education Policy (2020), the initiative fosters cognitive development, imagination, and communication skills through joyful reading. Key interventions include: * Setting up mini libraries with 130 curated books
