Greetings from the Corporate Chameleon Team! Creating a better world requires teamwork, partnerships, and collaboration, as we need an entire army of companies to work together to build a better world within the next few decades. This means corporations must embrace the benefits of cooperating with one another.
– Simon Mainwaring
This is the thought that inspired the Corporate Chameleon Story Project. And today, it is no longer a “good to have” but a complete necessity to find spaces for collaboration if we are to address the myriad problems facing the world. And at the Season 1 Stoffees, we heard some wonderful stories of transformation, of innovation, of compassion and commitment to creating a more sustainable and just world. And while the sharing has already begun, I wanted to tell you about a wonderful collaboration which has come out of this initiative.
Akshara Centre was one of the organisations that participated and shared their stories of working with gender justice and empowering the dreams of young girls by helping them to access higher education. As a part of the ‘Empowering dreams program’, they decided to build a mentoring element. There were around 150 girls who needed mentoring as a part of this initiative. So we sent out a request to the organisations who had registered for the Corporate Chameleon Story project.
And the response was overwhelming. Within just a few weeks, we had over 170 women from across companies and spaces who had registered. These included volunteers over 50 organisations including Microsoft, TCS, CRISIL, HDFC, Piramal, Afcons, ICE, OYO rooms, Airtel, Morgan Stanley, Dentsu to name just a few.
Isnt it amazing that these under-privileged girls will now have the opportunity to be mentored by the best across domains? Also, while we were holding an orientation on the 13th and 14th of October, the mentors have actually expressed a wish to connect with each other, so they can learn from each other’s experiences and share their expertise with each other. This is what collaboration is all about. When we start collaborating for a higher good, we move beyond ourselves and find purpose in life and today in the uncertain times we live in, this is so important at all levels.
Hats off to all the mentors who are going to spend the next 4 months making a difference! A big thank you to all the Corporate Chameleons who have joined us on this journey!