Transputec rivals tech giants with its big social impact programme

Transputec rivals tech giants with its big social impact programme

Transputec joined an illustrious shortlist of national and multinational tech giants at a high profile awards ceremony for its social impact programme that equips young Indian women with life-changing digital skills.

Transputec was honoured at the CRN Women in Channel Awards 2019 for its comprehensive digital literacy programme and dedicated IT training facility in a remote outpost in west Bengal.

The ‘Best Community Outreach’ award category recognised IT vendors that are attracting more young women into the technology industry through their outreach programmes. Transputec made the final shortlist along with industry heavyweights, Cisco, Microsoft and Computacenter, who are also delivering transformational programmes to help pave the way for more women in IT.

Transputec saw off strong competition from IT powerhouses, Cisco and Computacenter to clinch the commendation in the category. The winning award went to Microsoft with its multimillion International Women’s Day programme with a series of events and programmes at its offices worldwide, as well as in schools and with public and private partners.

On receiving the award, Transputec Chairman, Rickie Sehgal, said: “This award is extra special as it proves that you don’t have to be an IT conglomerate with an outreach scheme running into millions of pounds to make a difference. Our programme is a much smaller yet highly personal scheme. 100% of the donations go to helping the children and we regularly interact with the students on Skype. I often spend my Saturday mornings mentoring them with IT course modules over Skype.”

Transputec launched the Transputec Academy for impoverished 6 – 18 year olds in the village of Atla in Tarapith, West Bengal. The Wembley-based IT Services and Solutions provider launched the facility in the village in 2016. It now holds 80 students who continue to flourish. There are two fully furnished IT suites, with a third suite in the final stages of development. Prior to this, the nearest facilities were in a school located several miles away and comprised of just one computer shared by hundreds of schoolchildren.

Transputec has committed more than 60% of the places the Academy to girls following the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative.

Rickie Sehgal added: “A huge number of studies reveal that one of the keys to fighting against poverty is female empowerment and it is an honour to equip these young women with skills to break any cultural and educational barriers that may be curbing their ambition.

“We initially started flying out teams to the area 4 years ago to set up specialist IT equipment in the community centre that was set up by our corporate charity partner, Haven (Help a Village Emerge Anew). However, we wanted to do more for this incredibly rewarding cause and finally set up the Transputec Academy. There is now a dedicated team in place to oversee the facility, provide technical hardware and network support, IT training at the centre, a Haven Academy course coordinator, and a Transputec course coordinator.”

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