Amway India, the country’s largest FMCG Direct Selling company, today facilitated an Investor Education & Financial planning workshop for its NGO partner Indian Association of Blind (IAB) in Chennai. The workshop saw active participation from more than 50 Visually Impaired (VI) students from IAB and Loyala College at the Loyala College campus in Chennai. Securities and Market Regulator- Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI), conducted this workshop as part of its drive to create awareness on Financial planning & savings among VI community and thus increase their participation in securities market. 

On this unique initiative, Rajat Banerji, National Head, Corporate Affairs, Amway India said, “We have been working incessantly working towards the welfare of the visually impaired since 1996 with the aim to facilitate education and economic independence for them Our endeavour has been to bring some meaningful difference in the lives  of the VI people and today’s workshop on Investor education & financial planning is one such step in that direction. We applaud and appreciate the efforts undertaken by SEBI for expanding its outreach to people with disabilities and empowering them with knowledge to secure their economic independence.” 

He further added, “Indian Association for the Blind (NAB) has been working relentlessly towards efficiently engaging the visually impaired people across the state of Tamil Nadu. Partnering with IAB in TN is one of the best ways to channelize the efforts of SEBI to educate them on basics of investments & savings through securities markets, which is crucial to secure their financial future. At Amway, we are committed to provide all the support to IAB to access this special financial education workshop and thus maximize its benefit for visually impaired people in TN”

SEBI’s extensive awarenessprogramme is targeted at different participants starting from college students to government employees, private sector employees, self-employed, retirees, women and so on. The 3 hours long workshop was conducted by Mr. Rahul Kelapure, SEBI’s first Visually impaired Grade B legal officer, who covered details around the importance of financial security and planning along with basics of securities market. He further delved deeper into the information on various investment avenues such as shares, mutual funds among other investment options. In addition to these, the workshop also covered the roles and responsibilities of SEBI as a regulator and highlighted the grievance redressal mechanism set up for investors’ complaints.

Commenting on the workshop, Rahul Kelapure, Legal Officer, SEBI, said,"The purpose of the workshop is to make the visually challenged participants aware about investment opportunities available in the securities market and equip them with the right kind of knowledge. Through this, they can start investing in the securities market which will help them become independent in making their investment choices and become responsible in the money matters."  

Commenting on the workshop experience, Ms. Roshan Fatima, General Secretary, IAB said, “We are glad that the Indian securities market regulator, SEBI has zoomed its focus on persons with disabilities and launched an extensive investor education and financial planning program specially devised for them. We are thankful to Amway for supporting us on this initiative. Our first workshop in Chennai received a great response and was quite insightful to understand the basics of investment and opportunities available in the securities market for investments. While VI persons are progressing by gaining knowledge and education which serves as a base for securing economic independence, I am sure, further knowledge on investments and market will prove to be beneficial to secure their financial future.” 

About Amway India CSR initiatives 

● Amway India’s CSR initiatives are based on the belief that social responsibility is much more than the incurrence of a cost or a resource or a charitable/ philanthropic act of social benefit. It is an opportunity to bring in social innovation and change. This belief is articulated in Amway’s vision of helping people live better lives. When it comes to commitment to corporate citizenship, Amway India makes a serious and concentrated effort to reach out and help people improve their lives. 

● Amway India supports a comprehensive CSR programme covering a gamut of initiatives including a water conservation project to improve the ground water level in 7 villages in the Dindigul district located around the manufacturing plant. Amway supports a village health program targeted at 26 villages in the Dindigul district, to provide quality healthcare to the underprivileged. The treatment includes general health check-up, select pathological tests and medicines at zero cost to the beneficiaries. In a span of over 20 months over 240 free health camps have been organised benefitting more than 50,000 people from local communities. 

● Amway India set up two telemedicine center in the Dindigul district to ensure a consistent healthcare support to the villagers. This program has eliminated distance barriers and improved access to medical services in distant rural communities. The center aims at providing free medical treatment to over 15,000 patients in a year.

● Last year Amway India launched a Community Health & Entrepreneurship Program in the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to offer livelihood training in Entrepreneurship skills and business fundamentals with the objective to promote self-employment among women and to create awareness on affordable health and hygiene practices. 

● Recently Amway India has launched the community-based nutrition education program to improve the nutritional status among children (below 5 years) in the select slum areas of West Delhi.  The program focuses on prevention, early detection and improved access to care in line with the National Nutrition Mission, Govt. of India.

● As a key focus area, Amway has taken various initiatives to support the cause of visually impaired. Amway also supports underprivileged children in education, health and hygiene under a project titled ‘Sunrise’. Under this project, Amway currently supports more than 15 NGOs across the country.

● Amway India has been conferred with the ‘CSR Leadership Summit & Award’ in the category of ‘Promoting Employment for Specially-abled’. 

● Amway India was also recently awarded with the ‘Best Corporate’ award in the ‘Specially-abled’ category at the prestigious National CSR Summit & Awards 2018 for its invaluable contribution towards the welfare of visually impaired by CSR Times.