Blue Dart empowers Chennai's underprivileged youth

.1st batch of 30 students graduate from the Blue Edge: Empowering Lives programme in Chennai

Mumbai, October 10 2011:

Blue Edge: Empowering Lives, an initiative by Blue Dart, South Asia's premier courier, and integrated express package distribution Company in association with Oasis India (NGO), celebrated its 1st Graduation Day in Chennai. Inaugurated in April 2011, the 1st batch comprising of 30 young adults from the marginalised section of society received certificates and trophies from the Chief Guest, Gopa Kumar, Senior Vice President, South, Blue Dart Express Ltd., and Dr. Shantanu Dutta, Executive Director, Oasis India for their performance and successful completion of the six month programme.

Divided into morning and afternoon batches, the Blue Edge: Empowering Lives programme imparts training over a period of 6 months on General Awareness, Verbal communication, Essential Computer Skills, Life Sciences and Customer Orientation. To aid the students post completion of their course, Oasis India organised various sessions such as networking with companies for job placements, interacting with H.R. Managers regarding their future plans and goals, orientation on interview skills by John Milton, H.R. Manager, Necta Technology, motivational speech on attitude, determination and positive thinking by Sriram, Staff Recruitment Officer, Blue Dart.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Guest, Gopa Kumar, Senior Vice President, South, Blue Dart Express Ltd. said "Youth forms a major section of the society and the economy. Blue Dart and DHL along with Oasis India through this initiative have empowered youth from the weaker sections of society and equipped them with skills that could make them employable. This is the first batch graduating from the Chennai Blue Edge: Empowering Lives school and we hope to keep adding numbers and bringing a change in their lives in the best possible way. At Blue Dart, we are committed in letter and spirit to making a difference and enabling the future in keeping with the three pillars of DHL's Sustainability namely GoTeach (Education), GoGreen (Environment) and GoHelp (Disaster Management)."

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Shantanu Dutta, Executive Director, Oasis India said, "With the immense support of Blue Dart and DHL in this programme, we are happy to mould and enrich the lives of these underprivileged youths. We have had a very successful run in Mumbai and hope to receive a similar response in Chennai. It is a matter of great pride to see them transform their lives and become a beacon of light to others in similar situations. Today at the end of 6 months, many of our students are placed in verticals like Telecom, IT, FMCG, while some are in talks with Blue Dart too. At the end of the day, our endeavour is to ensure that this programme helps make a difference to their lives and equips them to be able to support their family and influence their communities."

Delighted on receiving the Best Performer Certificate and Trophy, Logesh S. said, "Since my father left us, the responsibility of the entire family was entrusted to me. I had completed my HSC and was looking for a job. I had planned to work and study at the same time and luckily I came to know about Blue Edge: Empowering Lives. It was a great opportunity to learn spoken English and computer as free courses. I attended job interviews and now I have joined Cameo as a SIM Verification Executive. I would like to thank Blue Dart and Oasis who helped shape my future."

The Blue Edge: Empowering Lives programme was initially started in Mumbai in 2008 and till date has completed 8 batches impacting 403 young adults. The success of the programme ensured that it was nominated as a 'Lighthouse Project' under DHL's GoTeach Sustainability pillar and as a token of appreciation for the good work conducted in the field of education, received funds to replicate it in another city in India - Chennai. Students who successfully complete their course are felicitated at a Graduation Ceremony where the senior management team of both Blue Dart and DHL share their life experiences with the students and advise them on leading a meaningful life. This is followed by awarding the students with their graduation certificates and two best performers in each batch are acknowledged with a special certificate and trophy as a token of appreciation for their hard work and dedication. The students are also encouraged to share their experiences about the course. More than 40% of the students who have graduated from this programme have been placed in successful and reputed organizations in sectors like Telecom, Retail, FMCG etc. This ensures that the underprivileged section of the society is not deprived of education as a building block to their ability to earn and support their future and families and contribute positively to the community.

About Blue Dart

Blue Dart Express Ltd., South Asia's premier courier, and integrated express package Distribution Company, offers secure and reliable delivery of consignments to over 27,050 locations in India. As part of the DHL Group (DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding & DHL Supply Chain), Blue Dart accesses the largest and most comprehensive express and logistics network worldwide, covering over 220 countries and offers an entire spectrum of distribution services including air express, freight forwarding supply chain solutions and customs clearance.

The Blue Dart team drives market leadership through its motivated people force, dedicated air and ground capacity, cutting-edge technology, wide range of innovative, vertical specific products and value-added services to deliver unmatched standards of service quality to its customers. Blue Dart's market leadership is further validated by numerous awards and recognitions from customers for exhibiting reliability, superior brand experience and sustainability. Some of these include SUPERBRAND and 'Reader's Digest Most Trusted Brand Gold Award' 6 years in a row, one of 'India's Best Companies to Work For' by The Great Place to Work® Institute twice successively, Organization with Innovative HR Practices 2009-10 and Best Employer Award on Employee Retention at the Global HR Excellence Awards, BSE Best CSR Practice Award and 22nd CFBP Jamnalal Bajaj Fair Business Practices Award - 2010 in the category of Service Enterprises (Medium) to name a few Blue Dart accepts its social responsibility by supporting climate protection (Go Green), disaster management (Go Help) and education (Go Teach). Apart from various other initiatives in Sustainability, in an effort to reducing its carbon footprint, Blue Dart registered an improvement on CO2 efficiency by 10% year-on-year.

For further information contact :

marketing@bluedart.com
Dated :October, 2011