Uber Announces ‘uberSCHOLAR’ for 570 Children on Children’s Day

Uber, the world’s largest on demand ridesharing company, announced a nationwide initiative, uberSCHOLAR, on Children’s Day 2017. This aims to encourage and enable children of Driver Partners to educate themselves and create a brighter future for themselves. On Children’s Day and leading up to November 14th 2017 Uber has awarded scholarships totalling 50 lakhs to over 570 children across the country in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Kochi.

Driver Partners are an integral part of the Uber family and the brand is focused towards enabling ways in which driver partners can create a sustainable life for themselves and their families -  uberSCHOLAR is one such initiative.

Pradeep Parameswaran, Head -Central Operations, Uber India and South Asia, said, “We constantly aim to engage holistically with our driver partners and are cognisant of the special responsibility we have towards them. Through our uberSAMAAJ and other feedback channels we are aware that education for their children is an important aspiration for our driver partners. We are happy to be able contribute to this through the UberSCHOLAR initiative and enable educational opportunities for our driver partners’ children”

Along with this initiative, Uber is also distributing coloring books and hosting engaging events at their Driver Partner support centres for their children. Uber is committed to touch all aspects of its driver partners’ lives, benefiting not just their business, but their families too. From providing free accidental insurance to eye check ups and introducing a ‘pause button’ so they can grab lunch or take a quick break, the organisation aims to scale initiatives that will positively impact their lives.

Mritunjay Singh Resigns as ED & President from Persistent Systems

Persistent Systems has announced that Mritunjay (Munjay) Singh has resigned from his position as Executive Director and President – Services. The Company has accepted his resignation and Friday, November 24, 2017 will be his last day with the Company. An interim leadership structure for Services, effective immediately, is focused on continuity in business operations and a smooth transition of his management responsibilities.

Dr. Anand Deshpande, Chairman and Managing Director, Persistent Systems: “Mritunjay Singh or Munjay as he is popularly known, joined us more than four years back and has been an integral part of the growth of the Company over these years. On behalf of the board and all employees, I would like to thank him for his contribution and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.” 

Persistent Systems builds software that drives the business of our customers; serving software product companies and enterprises with software at the core of their digital transformation. 

SAP India Code Week Reaffirms Commitment to Upskilling Indian Youth

Reaffirming its commitment to empower youth and students with technical proficiency, SAP SE organized Code Week, an initiative to upskill and instill creative thinking abilities in more than 50,500 youth from 390 centers across India. Code Week was executed under the aegis of Code Unnati, India’s first Corporate to Citizen, multi-year, collaborative digital literacy and software skills development initiative launched by SAP earlier this year, in association with ITC and Larsen & Toubro Public Charitable Trust.

“Digital literacy is the key to creating meaningful and new employment opportunities and bridging the digital divide among rural youth.” said Deb Deep Sengupta, President and Managing Director, SAP Indian subcontinent. “We made a humble beginning with Code Unnati earlier this year collaborating with several like-minded partners. The Code Week is an aim to continue this initiative by empowering students and young citizens to contribute by creating new tools and skilling opportunities that can be a catalyst in our digital transformation agenda.”

Code Week consists of technological training for students to impart programming skills that can enable them to develop apps on their own. The week-long activity which culminated in an intensive 24-hour multi-city hackathon on creating apps, was aimed towards economic development. For undertaking the sessions, close to 300 computer instructors were tutored by 60 master trainers.

An extensive curriculum for this training included programming techniques such as SAP BUILD & Graphical programming, algorithm and flow-chart development, creative constructions along with problem solving skills. In addition to this, students were trained in programming language, concepts & applications.

Online Doctor Consultation Platforms like Lybrate Provide Respite to Diabetics and Sugar-Concerned people

India is touted as the ‘Diabetes Capital of the World’ with over 70 million diabetics in the country. According to the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), the number of diabetics in the country is projected to grow to 120 million in the next 20 years.

What compounds the fact is that a majority of those with the condition is not aware about it, preventing them from visiting a specialist on time and manage the condition. Those living with diabetes must constantly monitor their diet, lifestyle, and glucose levels. The simple bottleneck sometimes is to even go to a doctor for a check-up or consultation, because of the time constraint in metro cities or because of unavailability of quality doctors in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Online doctor consultation platforms like Lybrate are fixing the gap by allowing people to consult doctors online from anywhere, anytime. With Lybrate people have found a medium to consult over 1500 Endocrinologists, General Physicians specializing in Diabetes, and diabetologists available on the platform. As Lybrate is trying to push preventive mindset, the platform also facilitates lab tests. People can opt for at-home lab tests through Lybrate Lab+, a service directly linked to the mobile app. This has enabled people to get lab tests done for diabetes, get their reports online and consult doctors on the platform.

“When it comes to diabetes, Lybrate is pushing people to take their health seriously. The platform is using technology to make quality healthcare accessible to people in the country. Shortage of time or unavailability of good doctors can’t become a bottleneck in taking a timely action when it comes to health. Diabetes is a most common health issue in the country. And Lybrate helps people to consult doctors online, get lab tests done with a sample pickup and consult doctors online to take informed decisions and control diabetes or health issues related to sugar levels effectively,” said Saurabh Arora, Founder & CEO, Lybrate.

Over 70,000 interactions on Diabetes happen monthly on the Lybrate platform. Lybrate’s unique Health Feed, consisting of health tips from doctors themselves and questions that are being discussed on the platform, provides opportunity to any user to stay aware and updated about issues related to Diabetes and take corrective measures.

*Interactions are defined by cumulative sum of searches for doctors, lab tests booked, health queries sought, patient-doctor communication and appointments booked.

Cuemath Gamifies Math Education by Unveiling ‘Mathematical Universe’

This Children’s day, Cuemath, India's leading home-based, after-school learning program for math, launched a first-of-its kind ‘Mathematical Universe’ for students across K-8 to engage them better in order to strengthen their foundation in the subject. All Cuemath’s 20,000 students will be able to experience this form of learning through stories on the Cueapp across 2500+ Cuemath centers starting today.

These stories have been broadly divided into three levels – Class K-2, Class 3-5, and Class 6-8. This has been done after carefully analyzing the students’ responses to content across media like storybooks, puzzles, games, apps and televised programs. Each story would be released periodically over a series of classes, incentivizing students to consistently attend and perform well. The objective behind this is to engage the students to strengthen their problem-solving ability and increase their affinity for Math.

“This is one of the most extensive gamification exercises ever undertaken in education. We have created all the characters and the fictional universe they belong to with immense detail, keeping in mind the triggers for children across different age groups,” said Manan Khurma, Cuemath’s founder, and CEO. “We truly believe that students can understand mathematics better by themselves, simply by following their heroes on thrilling feats and escapades that pique their curiosity into the underlying scientific processes. With this type of learning we want to help remove the fear of mathematics in children and bring them closer to strengthening this life skill,” he added.

Within each of these categories, Cuemath has developed a set of characters who embark on Math-based adventures in stories that enable the student to tangibly interact with the infinite possibilities of the Mathematical universe:

·  Class K-2: Thomas Tallman and Friends - These are stories that focus on the wonders of math and logic in the natural world, and in the immediate world that the younger children live and play in. Thomas Tallman is the newest kid in the odd little town of Oddity, and quickly becomes the town's expert problem-solver when he discovers a book on Math. Expect exciting times on bicycles and seesaws, discoveries in growing plants and telling time with shadows, and the joys of flying kites!

·  Class 3-5: Zero-Squad - These are stories about an intrepid crime-solving detective duo, Eka and Dvita - the "Zero Squad." Raised by an honest and upright District Collector, their family is often transferred, so the stories take place against the rich backdrop and history of the smaller towns and cities of India. Get ready to crack cases that even adults cannot, for brains to overpower the local goons' brawn - for Eka and Dvita are most certainly superheroes, with the superpowers of logic and reasoning.

·  Class 6-8: Kalina and the Shards of Singularity - These stories, for our oldest students, take place in a world reminiscent of the Arabian Nights - but with intergalactic space-travel in a not-so-distant future. We follow a young rebel, Kalina, as she travels across the universe with her trusted AI partner/sidekick (they can't decide which one), the Djinn. Get ready to explore space/time continuums, break complex codes, and discover the mysterious mathematical origins of the stars.    

HSIL Further Builds on Customer Service Excellence with Demerger of Three Business Undertakings

HSIL Limited in its meeting has approved a scheme of arrangement envisaging demerger of three of its business undertakings into two new entities. The scheme involves:

·         Demerger of its Consumer products distribution & marketing business to into new entity Somany Home Innovation Limited (SHIL)

·         Demerger of its furniture and Home décor Retail business into SHIL

·         Demerger of distribution & marketing business relating to building product into another new entity Brilloca Limited which is wholly owned subsidiary of SHIL

The undertakings being demerged are focused on servicing end-consumers in the market and are involved in branding, marketing, sales, distribution, trading, service etc.  Post demerger, HSIL will be a focused excellence of manufacturing entity. The segregation & demerger of businesses under the Scheme will enable:

·         Sharper focus and better alignment of the businesses to its customers

·         Improved competitiveness, operational efficiencies and strengthening of position in the relevant marketplaces

·         Optimal monetization and development of each of the respective businesses, including by attracting focused investors and strategic partners having the necessary ability, experience and interests in the relevant sectors

·         Dedicated and specialized management focus on the specific needs of the respective businesses

·         Benefit to all stakeholders, leading to growth and value creation in long run and maximizing the value and return to the shareholders, unlocking intrinsic value of assets, achieving cost efficiencies and operational efficiencies

Post demerger, SHIL will issue one equity share each of SHIL, for one equity share held by shareholders of HSIL and SHIL equity shares would be listed on stock exchanges. The appointed date of the Scheme is 1st April 2018. The aforesaid is subject to necessary regulatory approvals including approval from stock exchanges, Hon’ble NCLT.

Sandip Somany, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, HSIL Limited mentioned that, “Certain key initiatives taken by the company over last 2-3 years like launch of consumer business has now started reflecting in sales growth and in couple of months the UPVC/ CPVC pipe business and security caps and closure business is also expected to go on-stream. The new capacities created for these are expected to be fully utilized in next 12-18 months and will further strengthen the product and distribution portfolio of the company.”

He further stated that, “The scheme of demerger once implemented will significantly unlock the value of the respective businesses of HSIL and will support the long term growth.”

Board also approved the results for the quarter and half year ended 30th September 2017. Key highlight of the results is continued excellent performance by consumer products business with sales growth of 93% and 92% during Q2 and 1st half of current financial year respectively. Company had launched consumer business around two years back and business has demonstrated sales growth over 90% annually since launch. The consumer business product portfolio currently consist of kitchen chimneys, hobs, water heaters, water purifiers, air purifiers and air coolers. The building products sales growth is 6.7 % during the quarter with EBIT growth of 8.6%.

Zeven is Activewear Partner for Peter England Mr India 2017

Multi-dimensional sportswear brand Zeven has announced its partnership with the renowned male beauty pageant Peter England Mr. India 2017 as its exclusive active wear partner.

Joining the search for India’s most attractive man, Zeven will provide contestants with a wide array of fitness products for the event which kicked off on November 7, 2017.

With a commitment to transforming sports in India, and making it an active part of every Indian’s life, Zeven’s products are specifically designed for Indian weather conditions and body types. With the tag line #LiveToPlay Zeven continues to encourage Indians across demographics to stay active and play a sport.

D Poojaa Kumar, Leader- Head Marketing, Zeven, said “We at Zeven, are excited to partner with Peter England Mr. India 2017, one of the most prestigious male pageants in the country, as its active wear partner. This platform will undoubtedly enable us to communicate, through the participants, our message of leading a fitter life. We Indians are becoming conscious of our physique and health today and stay active either by playing a sport or following a fitness regimen. But it is also important to achieve this the right way. Not only through the right exercise and diet but also using the right products. Zeven’s fitness products are very high on quality standards but at affordable price points, designed keeping in mind our weather conditions and physique”

The search began on November 7^th, 2017 and was promoted across colleges, modelling agencies, gyms and clubs. The auditions will take place in Bengaluru, Chennai, Chandigarh, New Delhi & Pune and culminate in Mumbai. The Grand Finale will be held in December.

Zeven, India’s young multi- dimensional sportswear brand is steadily making its way into the international arena and competing with international brands in technology, quality and performance. ZEVEN’s mission is to transform sports in India by making active sport an integral part of Indian life and thereby making a billion Indians play sport. Age, gender, income or location are all-irrelevant if one has the desire and commitment to play sport.

ZEVEN offers the very best products at competitive prices tailor made for India. ZEVEN has created footwear and apparel designed for Indian weather and terrain with special attention to Indian culture and requirements. This gives Indians perfection in terms of body fit, size and comfort.