Procter & Gamble India Extends Its Medical And Workplace Benefits To Partners Of LGBTQ+ Employees

Procter & Gamble today announced that all its company offered benefits are now extended to partners of LGBTQ+ employees. Effective April 1, 2022, the following company medical and workplace benefits will be extended to partners of LGBTQ+ employees:

a)      Medical support: Partners of LGBTQ+ employees will now be covered under company’s medical plan that provides hospitalization coverage to employees and their dependents

b)      Emergency financial assistance: LGBTQ+ employees can avail emergency financial assistance for their partners. P&G India provides emergency financial assistance to its employees and their partners in case of natural calamity, death of an immediate family member or hospitalization of an immediate family member to cover expenses not covered in the company’s medical policy

c)       Flex subsidy allowance: The company provides additional fixed allowance to its employees to meet their personal and family needs. These include interest payments for bank loans, allowance for medical care, childcare, wellness, productivity tools, home renovation, personal vacation and travel, personal development for employee and family, and family celebrations. LGBTQ+ employees can now avail this benefit for their partners

d)      Relocation benefits: The company will extend financial support and transfer related assistance arising out of a company-initiated relocation to partners of LGBTQ+ employees

PM Srinivas, Vice President and Head – Human Resources, Indian Sub-Continent, Procter & Gamble said, “At P&G, our goal is to create a fully inclusive workplace where our employees feel included and are able to bring their authentic selves to work every day. In line with that, we are proud to shape our company offered comprehensive benefits to a fully inclusive and equality-based program which extends to partners of LGBTQ+ employees. This latest initiative builds on top of our ‘Share the Care’ inclusive parental leave policy that we launched last year. We will also continue to strengthen our awareness and training programs that sensitize our people on LGBTQ+ diversity. We hope that this will enable us to strengthen our company’s culture, inspire change and create a positive societal impact.”

Back in 1992, P&G took a public stand for inclusion by adding sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policies. The company has an internal affinity group, GABLE (Gay, Ally, Bisexual, Lesbian, and Transgender Employees) that is dedicated to fostering an inclusive and supportive network, that empowers diverse employees to bring their whole selves to work every day. The company’s India GABLE network has been conducting LGBTQ+ diversity training to sensitize employees on inclusive behaviours, role modeling inclusion and showing support. In the past six months, more than 70% managers have completed this training.

P&G India has also launched ‘Pride Podcasts’ wherein it invites leaders from within P&G globally and external advocates who are sharing their journey, educating, and addressing myths about LGBTQ+. In 2021 the company organized its first ever virtual pride event titled ‘PrideON’ to educate and celebrate the progress made on LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion in the workplace.

About Procter & Gamble: P&G serves consumers in India with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Vicks ®, Ariel®, Tide®, Whisper®, Olay®, Gillette®, Venus®, AmbiPur®, Pampers®, Pantene®, Oral-B®, Head & Shoulders®, Herbal Essences® and Old Spice®. Please visit in.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G India and its brands.

5IRE And The City Of Alliance, Nebraska Sign An MoU To Develop Smart Policing System

 

5ire, the 5th generation blockchain network, announced today that it had signed an MoU with the City of Alliance, Nebraska, USA.  The MoU will help develop Smart and Robust Policing for the city.

The MoU will create a public-private partnership between the City of Alliance Police and 5IRE to

* Create and implement a robust smart policing solution that strengthens both transparency and accountability in policing procedures.

* Would streamline procedures that are auditable and reflect all events in greater detail to stakeholders involved.

"This is the central piece of action towards building a civil society that any community can take. Responsible law enforcement that simultaneously serves the public and requires accountability from officials is something that was long expected and needed in our community.  As Sir Robert Peels’ principles established in 1829, “knowing the police are the public and the public are the police.” 5ire helps thrust us into policing the frontier," Phillip Lukens, the chief of Police for the Alliance city, said at the MoU signing.

The MoU signed with the Alliance Police Department is the first of its kind in the United States for 5ire that is gearing up to build confidence in its blockchain network, 5ireChain with a wide diversity of use cases globally.

"Police have a civic role that requires a delicate balance between law enforcement and accountability.", Pratik Gauri, the CEO and co-founder of 5IRE, said at the signing, "The smart policing solution that we are developing with the city of Alliance is one of many solutions across the United States that can be deployed on a public sector scale in a more efficient way than the existing solutions."

5ireChain acts as a bridge to facilitate the world's shift from the 4th industrial revolution, focusing on AI and technological advances, to the 5th industrial revolution, focusing on human-centred design and sustainable development.

"As the chief puts it, 'Policing is a delicate balance between the business aspect congruent with the human rights aspect.' and we are here to provide a tool that empowers everyone to benefit from this new frontier in technology," said Prateek Dwivedi, Co-founder, and CMO at 5ire.

5ire is focused on implementing the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. So much so that 5ire has produced 5ireChain, an innovative blockchain technology with the UN SDGs written into its core. Non-financial factors such as environmental, social, and governance scores are weighted in the 5ireChain ranking protocol, impacting a party's participation in the 5ire network.

By incorporating sustainability into the network's base layers with its blockchain technology and rankings, 5ire is building a for-benefits economy with its mission to accelerate the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

About 5ire

5ire is a blockchain ecosystem that brings sustainability, Technology & Innovation to build the 5th industrial revolution (5IR). Founded by Pratik Gauri, Prateek Dwivedi, and Vilma Mattila, proponents of blockchain technology, in August 2021, the mission of the 5ire ecosystem is to embed the for-benefit paradigm at the heart of the blockchain, highly incentivize practises that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), facilitate the transition from the 4IR to 5IR and accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The company's primary offering is 5ireChain, a first layer, sustainability-driven 5th generation blockchain that ensures adherence to the philosophy of 5IR, creating a net positive impact on the planet and serving humanity.

Akshaya Patra Initiates Vaccination Camp For BMTC Employees Across Bangalore

* The drive covers over 20,000 employees across bus depots in the city

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is conducting a COVID-19 vaccination drive for the employees of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation. This drive aims to vaccinate over 20,000 employees across bus depots in the city, including drivers, mechanics and admin staff.

The Foundation strives to address vaccine hesitancy among marginalised communities through its incentivised vaccination drives.

To motivate people, every person who comes forward to get vaccinated receives pre-jab refreshments; post-jab lunch, and a Raksha Kit — a customised ration kit with groceries for 21 meal servings — all free of cost.

Each Raksha Kit consists of one kg of rice, a kilo of wheat flour, 500 gm Toor dal, 500 gm desi chana, 500 gm green moong whole, 250 gm peanuts, 200 gm turmeric powder, one kg sugar, one kg salt, a litre of refined oil and a bar of soap.

About Akshaya Patra Foundation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that strives to address classroom hunger and malnutrition in India. By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Government and Government-aided schools, Akshaya Patra aims to fight hunger and, at the same time, bring children to school. Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked towards reaching out to children with wholesome food every single school day. The Foundation is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children. Its state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and attract curious visitors from around the world.

In partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments and the inestimable support of many philanthropic donors and well-wishers, Akshaya Patra has grown from humble beginnings serving just 1,500 school children across five schools to becoming the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) mid-day meal programme, serving wholesome food to over 1.8 million children from 19,039 schools [as of March 2020] across 13 states and one union territory in India.

Airtel Business Africa And Avaya Partner To Deliver Effortless Customer Experiences Across The Continent

Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, announces that its B2B provider, Airtel Business Africa, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA), to better equip organizations across the continent to deliver effortless customer and employee experiences by providing customer control and flexibility on its fixed voice service.

The agreement will see Airtel Business Africa empower its enterprise customers with the Avaya OneCloud™ AI-powered experience platform, as they transition to the digital workplace. The platform, bundled with Airtel Africa voice services, includes workstream collaboration, contact center, unified communications, and communications platform as a service solution with Avaya OneCloud CCaaS, OneCloud UCaaS and OneCloud CPaaS.

With this joint offering, Airtel Africa’s customers will be able to procure vertical-focused, communications-enabled solutions on a simple, 24/7, one-stop shop and service support in addition to having access to the latest business devices.

The MoU builds on an existing partnership between Airtel and Avaya that has seen Airtel make the Avaya Spaces workstream collaboration solution available across multiple African countries on multiple connectivity channels that include internet, microwave and fibre.

Luc Serviant, Group Enterprise Director, Airtel Business at Airtel Africa commented: “Airtel Africa is committed to exploring opportunities and possibilities that will enhance enterprise operations, empower entrepreneurs, and enable more productive and successful organizations. Our existing partnership with Avaya has supported key sectors over the last 18 months, ensuring minimum disruption to everyday business while still supporting economic growth. This MoU takes our partnership to a new level that will see us enable enterprises to compete and win in the emerging experience economy.”

The agreement will also see Airtel Business Africa take part in the recently launched Avaya Experience Builders™ initiative. Avaya Experience Builders globally aligns Avaya’s services, partners and developers into an ecosystem that delivers next-generation customer and employee experiences. And as part of the initiative, Airtel will leverage and add to Avaya’s rich ecosystem to make it easier for regional businesses to build and deliver experiences that create deeper relationships with their customers.

Nour Al Atassi, Director, Service Providers – Asia, Middle East & Africa, Avaya, said: “Airtel Africa has helped to foster great customer and employee experiences across Africa with its investments in innovation, and we’re proud to be helping Airtel build on that legacy as we work towards an expanded partnership. We can’t wait to see what African businesses, governments and other organizations can do with the power of Avaya OneCloud as Airtel helps them use the platform to compose effortless experiences for their customers and employees.”

Facilio Raises $35M Series B From Dragoneer & Brookfield To Transform Real Estate Operations With AI

* Plans to Expand Its Team, Deepen Its Global Penetration and strengthen its R&D initiatives

Facilio, the property operations software platform leader, today announced it has raised $35 million in Series B led by Dragoneer Investment Group with participation from Brookfield Growth and existing investors Accel India and Tiger Global Management.

Founded in 2017, Facilio offers a unified software platform that leverages an AI-led predictive engine to help real estate portfolios digitize processes and optimize their property operations. Replacing the traditional and siloed software landscape that has frustrated the market for decades. The solution aggregates data from multiple, disconnected systems across portfolios into an integrated, cloud-based platform, helping operations & maintenance [O&M] teams become data-driven and agile. The platform encompasses a suite of SaaS applications for maintenance [CMMS/CaFM solutions] and operational visibility, sustainability, and remote equipment performance monitoring. This modern approach allows customers to reduce operating costs, exceed sustainability targets, and elevates customer experiences.

“Our customers understand that success in a post-pandemic world will be achieved by driving efficiency gains and delivering smooth customer experiences,” said Prabhu Ramachandran, Founder & CEO, Facilio. “We are uniquely positioned to accelerate digital transformation in the built world and lead the industry’s transition towards IoT-led connected buildings. This investment will allow us to extend our market leadership, expand sales and marketing, and enable more companies to reach success through a predictive, connected model of real estate operations.”

Facilio has emerged as a next-generation leader in the $50 billion commercial real estate-focused operations software market. It has established a broad, global customer base and is rapidly gaining share with faster-than-market sales growth across multiple geographies.  Currently Facilio, is solving operational problems for 10k+ properties, over 100 million sq. feet across 12 countries. The company’s growing list of portfolio-scale deployments includes 40+ larger enterprise customers across the commercial office, healthcare, retail, banking, and government real estate categories.

“Facilio has unlocked a world of potential with its AI-based predictive approach to increase operational effectiveness,” said Eric Jones, Partner at Dragoneer Investment Group. “We were blown away by the customer love that Facilio receives from their diverse roster of global clients. The company is on its way to revolutionizing operations for real estate portfolios and we are proud to support this customer-obsessed team.”

Facilio excels in guiding real estate portfolios through their digital transformation journey with its advanced IoT-native and mobile-first product offerings. As a result, many leading organizations dealing with outdated solutions from incumbent vendors are turning to Facilio.

“We have been customers of Facilio and now it's incredible to be a partner in their journey,” said Josh Raffaelli, Managing Partner at Brookfield. “What Prabhu and the team are building isn’t merely a great product portfolio but a movement towards data-led property operations. The company is writing the blueprint for how modern real estate portfolios will operate in the next decade and beyond.”

Founded four years ago by Prabhu Ramachandran, Rajavel Subramanian, Krishnamoorthi Rangasamy, and Yogendra Babu, Facilio has been defining and building the category growth. Similar to how Salesforce is to customer management and ServiceNow is to IT services management in today’s enterprise software categories, Facilio aims to build the operations management cloud platform unifying field workforce processes and infrastructure IoT data, in one place.

About Dragoneer Investment Group

Dragoneer is a growth-oriented investment firm with over $25 billion in long-duration capital. Dragoneer has a history of partnering with management teams growing exceptional companies characterized by sustainable differentiation and superior economic models. The firm’s track record includes public and private investments across industries and geographies, with a particular focus on technology-enabled businesses. Dragoneer has been an investor in companies such as Airbnb, Alibaba, Atlassian, AppFolio, Bytedance, Ceridian, Chime, Datadog, Doordash, Duck Creek, Innovaccer, PointClickCare, Procore, Slack, Samsara, ServiceTitan, Snowflake, Spotify, Uber, UiPath, Urban Company, Zomato, and others.

About Brookfield Asset Management

Brookfield (NYSE: BAM, TSX: BAM.A) is a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately US$690 billion of assets under management across real estate, infrastructure, renewable power and transition, private equity and credit. Brookfield owns and operates long-life assets and businesses, many of which form the backbone of the global economy. Utilizing its global reach, access to large-scale capital and operational expertise, Brookfield offers a range of alternative investment products to investors around the world—including public and private pension plans, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, insurance companies and private wealth investors.

Brookfield Growth is the technology investment arm of Brookfield.  Founded in 2017, Brookfield Growth seeks to partner and invest growth equity into market-leading technology companies that can leverage the diverse real assets and operating businesses that make up the $690 billion Brookfield economy. For more information, please visit brookfield.com/brookfield-growth

About Facilio:

Facilio's AI-driven property operations platform allows real estate owners to aggregate building data, optimize performance, and control portfolio operations - all from one place.  Customers in the commercial office, healthcare, retail, education, and other real estate categories across the world use Facilio to reduce operations costs, increase net asset value, and de-risk operational liability. Headquartered in New York City with offices in Dubai, Chennai, Singapore, and Sydney, Facilio is a global company backed by leading investors including Accel India, Tiger Global Management, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Brookfield Growth. For more information on Facilio and data-led property operations, please visit facilio.com/

UTI Mutual Fund Launches ‘UTI S&P BSE Low Volatility Index Fund’

UTI Mutual Fund (UTI) launches an open-ended scheme replicating/tracking the S&P BSE Low Volatility Total Return Index (TRI) - ‘UTI S&P BSE Low Volatility Index Fund’. The New Fund Offer opens on February 14, 2022 and closes on February 25, 2022. The scheme will re-open for subscription and redemption on ongoing basis from March 07, 2022.

The investment objective of the scheme is to provide returns that, before expenses, closely correspond to the total returns of the securities as represented by the underlying index, subject to tracking error. However, there is no guarantee or assurance that the investment objective of the scheme will be achieved.

Mr. Sharwan Kumar Goyal, Head - Passive, Arbitrage & Quant Strategies, UTI AMC, is the Fund Manager for the scheme.

On the occasion, Mr. Goyal, said, “Low volatility investing aims to provide better risk adjusted returns over time with less volatility for a relatively smoother ride. Stocks with lower volatility generally tend to hold up better when markets decline rapidly.”

“UTI S&P BSE Low Volatility Index Fund, our latest offering in the smart-beta fund category, will offer exposure to a diversified portfolio of relatively stable companies within the Large and Midcap segment, by investing into the constituents of S&P BSE Low Volatility Index.”, he added.

Salient features of UTI Sensex Index Fund

·        Eligible Investors

The scheme is open to resident individuals, non-resident Indians, Banks, eligible Trusts, Financial Institutions, Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) etc.

·        New Fund Offer Price

During the NFO period, the units of the scheme will be sold at face value i.e., Rs. 10/- per unit.

·        Minimum Application Amount

Minimum initial investment is Rs. 5,000/- and in multiples of Re. 1/- thereafter.

Subsequent minimum investment under a folio is Rs. 1,000/- and in multiples of Re. 1/- thereafter with no upper limit.

·        Plans and Options Available

The scheme offers Regular Plan and Direct Plan.

Both the plans offer only Growth Option.

·        Load Structure

o   Entry Load: NIL (Not applicable as per SEBI guidelines)

o   Exit Load: NIL

·        Benchmark Index

S&P BSE Low Volatility TRI

·        Special Products/Facilities Offered

o   Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)

§  Step up facility

§  Any Day SIP

§  Micro SIP (Non PAN exempt folios)

§  Pause facility

o   Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP)

o   Systematic Transfer Investment Plan (STRIP) (Available as Destination Scheme and Source Scheme)

o   Flexi Systematic Transfer Investment Plan (Flexi STRIP) (Available as Destination Scheme and Source Scheme)

Product Label

UTI S&P BSE Low Volatility Index Fund

(An open-ended scheme replicating/tracking the S&P BSE Low Volatility Index TRI)

This product is suitable for investors who are seeking*:

·        Capital growth in tune with the index returns

·        Passive investments in equity instruments comprised in S&P BSE Low Volatility Index

(Product labelling assigned during the NFO is based on internal assessment of the scheme characteristics or model portfolio and the same may vary post NFO when the actual investments are made. *Based on the Index Composition as on January 11, 2022.)

AIIA Launches ‘Ayush Start-Up Challenge’ To Encourage Early Start-Ups And Individuals In India

-          AIIA partners with Startup India with the aim to identify and support innovations and start-ups working in the Ayush sector

-          Winners of ‘Ayush Start-up challenge’ will be provided incubation support and financial incentive

-          The last date of applications is March 4, 2022

-          Participants can enter the programme through the link here: https://bit.ly/3JtiG5q

In line with the Central Government’s initiative to support start-ups, All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) in association with Startup India has launched 'Ayush Start-up challenge' to encourage early-stage start-ups and individuals working on innovations in the Ayurveda sector and alternative healing. The winners of ‘Ayush Start-up Challenge’ will receive both a cash prize and incubation support from AIIA.

The Ayush market currently stands at a whopping $10 bn and is projected to see an impressive 50% increase over the course of the next five years. Ayush sector offers massive potential for exponential growth at a time when there is growing global interest in the field of ‘alternative’ medical practices. The Ministry of AYUSH has taken numerous steps to promote the research and understanding of these practices that are indigenous to India and her history. All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) is actively working towards creating an environment that fosters research and development and building of practices, technology, and solutions to accelerate the adoption of AYUSH practices. The ‘Ayush Start-up Challenge’ is an important initiative towards realizing this vision.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. (Dr.) Tanuja Manoj Nesari, Director, AIIA said, “We are building AIIA as an institution of eminence under the guidance of Ministry of Ayush with three key wings of medical science under one roof – academics, scientific research and clinical practice. To fully realize the potential of the Ayush science we need a thriving ecosystem with players operating across the entire value chain. This is where start-ups can play an important role in developing new solutions. The present initiative aims to not just identify promising start-ups and reward them, but also provide them incubation support through guidance and skill development which will go a long way in helping these start-ups realize their next phase of growth”.

The ‘Ayush Start-up Challenge’ is open for participation from both early-stage start-ups as well as individuals as a group. A group of 3-5 individuals can come together to participate in the programme, however, if selected they would need to register a legal entity before the cash prize is disbursed to them.  

There are 3 entry categories for participating start-ups - Ayush Food Innovations, Ayush Bio-instrumentation (Hardware solutions) and Ayush IT Solutions (Software solutions). There will be two winners in each of the 3 categories with a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh for the winner and Rs. 50,000/- for the runner-up. Therefore overall, there would be 6 winners.

In addition, winners will receive incubation support from AIIA. The incubation support would entitle winners to tap into the vast knowledge and resource pool of AIIA across the three wings of the institute namely research, academics, and Hospital.

Details of the 3 participating categories are as follows:

1.       Food Innovations in Ayush Sector – Ready to Eat Nutritious Ayurveda Ahara (Food): In this era of the pandemic the population at large is striving to consume more nutritious food, with less time to be spent in preparing it. The ready-to-eat foods are in demand at a wider scale and those which require minimum preparation or clean-up for the user. Innovation in this segment of food delivery helps in enabling consumers to enjoy a healthy lifestyle while keeping to their busy work schedules.

2.       Ayush Bio-instrumentation (Hardware Solutions) and Innovations in healthcare:  These innovations should enable breakthrough performance in terms of better outcomes, convenience, access at lower cost, reduced complexity and time required for the patient and the healthcare provider. These innovations can be in the area of 3-D printed devices for Ayurveda Medical Technology products, Convenient care/Urgent care at lower cost to patients, Telehealth, Panchakarma Instrumentation, Innovation in instruments used for pharmaceutical processing of Ayurveda drugs at lab scale, drug ATMs, Innovation in instrumentation for analysis and quality control of Ayurvedic drugs etc.

3.       Ayush IT Solutions in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based solutions in Ayurveda Diagnostics, Virtual reality, Biosensors & Trackers: Innovations in Information technologies (i.e. ITs) have the capacity, more than any other medium, to facilitate various stakeholders of Ayush Sector achieve better outcomes. Innovations can be in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based solutions in Ayurveda Diagnostics, Virtual reality, Bio-sensors & Trackers, Convenient care/Urgent care at lower cost to patients, Leveraging data to physician experience (During diagnosis and treatment and taking patient feedback), Databases, methods for identifying various phases of pharmaceutical processing, web based networking for raw drug consumption in pharmaceutical industry with linkages etc.

The last date of application submission is March 4, 2022. Participants can enter the programme through the link here: https://bit.ly/3JtiG5q