India, July 2022: Canon India, a leading imaging player in the country, today marked a special occasion in one of its adopted villages-Maheshwari in Haryana, by involving the community as an important stakeholder in their ‘Big Smile with Canon’ campaign. The organization had most recently launched its unique corporate campaign, with an objective to strengthen its brand image and their corporate culture of spreading Big Smiles in community.
In alignment with its corporate philosophy of ‘Kyosei’ which stands for ‘living and working together for the common good’, Canon India strongly considers its adopted villages as a second family. Hence, Canon India team led by Mr. Manabu Yamazaki, President & CEO, Canon India spent a fun and engaging day with the community of Maheshwari Village. The celebration began with a fun and full swing cricket match between the Canon India team and the children from Maheshwari Village, followed by an interactive storytelling session for the children with Mr. Manabu. Staying true to their focus on Environment under the 4Es CSR policy, he further marked his visit to the village with a tree plantation.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Manabu Yamazaki, President & CEO, Canon India said “At Canon, we strongly abide by our ‘Kyosei’ philosophy, which is the basic tenet of our day-to-day operations. Hence, as a leading imaging brand in the country, we believe it is our responsibility to give back to the community in whatever ways we can. Through our welfare driven CSR initiatives, our core objective has always been to create sustainable communities by focusing on their holistic development. As we celebrate our 25th year legacy in India, I am also proud to witness that our consistent efforts towards making our adopted villages self-reliant have shown stupendous results.”
Talking about spreading Big Smiles in the Maheshwari Village, he further added, “Big Smile with Canon has been a special endeavor from our side to spread smiles amongst all our stakeholders. Hence, the campaign would not be complete without including our much-loved adopted villages in this beautiful initiative. I am extremely delighted to be here, and the special activities planned today have brought me much closer to everyone in this village. Through our employee engagement activities like these, we will continue to strengthen the vibrant culture of social responsibility that already exists in the organization.”
Adopt a Village’s journey with Maheshwari Village
Adopted in 2018, Maheshwari became the 5th village that was adopted by Canon India and since then, the organization has focused on the development of over 30,000 villagers, with a special focus on the holistic development of children in the village school. In a span of last five years, Maheshwari village has witnessed notable positive impacts in their core areas of 4Es including Education, Environment, Eye Care and Empowerment.
Education has been a key focus area, with the establishment of a ‘Resource Center’, e-learning facility and the overall improvement of the school infrastructure. As a result, school strength has significantly improved, with 1235 children enrolled in school in the last 5 years Eye Care has been strengthened with establishment of a ‘Vision Center’, where free of cost eye checkups has been provided to 5342 patients Environment activities include regular tree plantation drives, ground levelling activities and environmental awareness sessions, which are conducted with the involvement of Canon employees. Canon has planted 685 trees across the village along with helping villagers to establish 71 kitchen gardens over the past 5 years. 38 Solar Street Lights and 10 KW of solar panels have been installed in the village to contribute to the environment along with ensuring safety of the villagers.
Empowerment being the key to self-sustainable living, a vocational training center has been established in the village by Canon, equipped with computers to encourage digital education. 214 children have enrolled so far in the computer learning classes organized by Canon Continuing its focus on the 4Es, Canon has also made remarkable infrastructural advancements in the village in the past one year. A rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge system has been constructed in the village providing children access to clean and safe drinking water. The organization has also undertaken renovation of separate toilets for boys and girls in the school premises.
