Avtar announces winners of excellence in CSR and Male Ally Legacy Awards 2020 as part of its annual conference

Chennai: As part of its annual D&I Conference, Best of the Best 2020, Avtar and Working Mother today announced the winners of Excellence in CSR and Male Ally Legacy (MALA) awards. The award properties, under its Puthri Excellence for CSR category aims to honour CSR initiatives by companies towards the impact created for economically empowering underprivileged women and celebrate Male Allies at workplace who have spearheaded the change in mindsets, under its Male Ally Legacy Awards (MALA) category.

The Puthri Awards for Excellence in CSR was conferred upon Johnson & Johnson Pvt Ltd for their project ‘Strengthening the Healthcare Workforce: Capacity Building for Auxiliary Nurse Midwives’. The two-fold program aims to provide healthcare facilities to remote rural areas and enable employment opportunities for underprivileged girls who have limited options. The programs enable girls to complete a two-year residential course free of cost (which includes course fees, accommodation, food, uniforms and stationery), subsequently helping them get placed in village health programs.

Following this, the Male Ally Legacy Award (MALA) 2020 was conferred upon Deepak Iyer, MD & President of Mondelez India Pvt Ltd, as a Male Ally Champion, Deepak Iyer has been driving diversity efforts across the company, which is evident through the 50 percent diversity in the company’s marketing teams and entry talent. Further, he has driven focus on diversity beyond the head office, to include women in leadership in the sales and supply chain teams. Continuing to be an influential and inclusive leader, Deepak Iyer is also an advocate of equal pay, as a result of which Mondelez India has a zero gender pay gap.

Commenting on the occasion, Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President, Avtar,said, “It gives us immense satisfaction to bring forward these winners on one grand platform and celebrate their efforts in building a strong, diverse and inclusive community. The winners and learning about their dedicated efforts in the space of D&I is truly encouraging for us to further expand our horizon. We are confident that the winners of this year’s CSR and MALA awards will be role models for Corporate India and will steer impactful changes across communities.”

With the theme ‘Ignite Potential’, the 4th Edition of Best of the Best conference 2020 was hosted virtually. The two-day conference was inaugurated today and had power packed session addressed by D&I virtuosos from all across Corporate India. The second day of the conference is also set to host ground breaking discussions covering several dimensions of D&I.