Press Release – Societe Generale Global Solution Centre
(SG GSC) Launches Second Phase of ‘SG GSC India Talent Scholarship’ Program
Mumbai, 20th December,2011: Bangalore based Societe Generale Global Solution Centre (SG GSC), a subsidiary of the France based Societe Generale Group, announced the second phase of their unique scholarship program — “SG GSC India Talent Scholarship‟, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to fund higher education for talented students with financial difficulties.
This is the second successful year of the “SG GSC India Talent Scholarship‟ program. This year it received around 150 applications from the top institutes in India out of which the top ten deserving students received the scholarship. SG GSC leadership team selected the scholarship recipients after face to face interview and after evaluating various factors like academic performance, need, impact and the potential recipient ambitions.
The chosen students represent Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad; Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad; Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore; and International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore.
The unique element of this program is its unqualified and unconditional objective of grooming future leaders and to this end, its mentorship program that assigns each student to an individual senior manager in the company.
The mentors help the students to navigate through their course with proper career counselling and support given in multiple ways via trainings like “Campus to Corporate‟, where they are career counselled and improve their people and interview skills.
“One year later, when I look back, I realize that financial support was just a part of the promise that SG GSC had made and honoured. Fresh out of college, not knowing a bit about corporate life, SG has equipped me to face the future with confidence through its counselling and mentoring” said Saba Rahman from IIM-B, the last year qualifier of the programme.
Deepa Ravi from IIIT-B said that “This program is a unique blend of academic guidance and corporate opportunity. I personally had consulted my mentor regarding my choice with respect to courses in the second semester of my PG (MTech – IT) and he patiently guided me through. I was given an opportunity to croon my skills under his auspices, i.e., my project elective involved developing a web based tool and I got a live project which I could work on and develop an exciting tool”
“I consider myself privileged to be awarded this scholarship. SG GSC Talent scholarship not only helped me financially but also took care of my needs of being coached and mentored. Before coming to IIMK, I always had to work on part time basis to fund my education. Thanks to SG GSC, I did not have to worry about funding any of my academic expenses here and I could do better in my studies. Moreover, to fulfil my career aspirations, I was sponsored to go for a student’s exchange program in Italy” said Ashish from IIM-K.
Nippi Kochhar, Chief Executive Officer of SG GSC said, “Last year was fulfilling as the program successfully met its objective of mentoring the students in the right direction. This year, with expanded association with other premium institutes, we will be able reach out more deserving students. Our experience has made this programme even more open and strong to enable and harness India‟s tremendous intellectual capital”.
“We are committed to ensuring that deserving students should not be denied the opportunity to study at IIMB due to lack of funds- as such, we very much appreciate the initiative taken by Societe Generale to provide scholarships to our students.” said Professor Pankaj Chandra, Director, IIM Bangalore. ”Five of our students from the PGP Class of 2012 have benefitted from this scheme, both in terms of mentoring as well as the financial support that they received. We look forward to continuing to be associated with SG and to take forward this very novel initiative.” he added.
“We welcome Societe Generale‟s generous endowment which will provide two full scholarships to our students. At ISB, we have always realized the importance of academia and industry working in tandem to ensure that deserving students get access to high quality management education irrespective of their financial backgrounds. Societe Generale‟s contribution reaffirms our belief and will support our efforts in grooming future business leaders.” said Deputy Dean Mr. Deepak Chandra.
Samir K Barua, Director, IIM Ahmedabad said, “The cost of higher education in India has galloped over the last several years. This has made it difficult for talented youngsters who hail from families with modest means to pursue higher education. The scholarships from SG GSC, as a part of its CSR initiative, would go a long way in alleviating the hurdles faced by bright and motivated youngsters to blossom in life through education”
Societe Generale
Societe Generale is one of the largest European financial services groups. Based on a diversified universal banking model, the Group combines financial solidity with a strategy of sustainable growth, and aims to be the reference for relationship banking, recognized on its markets, close to clients, chosen for the quality and commitments of its teams.
Its 157,000 employees* based in 85 countries accompany more that 33 million clients throughout the world on a daily basis. Societe Generale teams offer advice and services to individual, corporate and institutional customers in three core businesses:
Retail Banking in France with Societe Generale branch network, Credit du Nord and Boursorama
International retail banking, with a presence in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, in the Mediterranean basin, in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Asia and in the French Overseas Territories.
Corporate and investment banking with a global expertise in investment banking, financing and global markets.
Societe Generale is also a significant player in specialised financing and insurance, private banking, asset management and securities services. Societe Generale is included in the international socially-responsible investment indices: FTSE4good and ASPI.
www.societegenerale.com
* including employees of Societe Marseillaise de Credit acquired in September 2010 by Credit du Nord
Societe Generale Global Solution Centre (SG GSC)
‘Global Knowledge Centre’ for the Group providing innovative solutions that combine in-depth business knowledge with exceptional technology skills.
Started in 2000 in Bangalore, Indias Silicon Valley, as a dedicated strategic service arm of the Bank.
Over 2300 staff currently provides services in the areas of information technology, business process outsourcing and infrastructure management services to Societe Generale‟s business lines around the world.
Societe Generale Global Solution Centre is a subsidiary of Societe Generale; all its staff are employees of the bank, sharing a long term perspective and developing global best practices to promote Société Générales strategic objectives.
SG GSC has an ISO Certification for compliance with the ISO 9001:2008 standards.