04 March 2013
Corporate News

Cancer charities benefit from Tata Founder’s Day

Tata Steel employees across Europe will today be adding their weight to the fundraising efforts of colleagues around the globe in support of cancer charities.

Fundraising is one of the key activities that Tata Steel’s 80,000 worldwide employees engage in each year to mark Founder’s Day, a celebration of the birth on 3 March 18391of Tata group Founder Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. A central tenet of the Founder’s vision was that “the community is not just another stakeholder in business, but is in fact the very purpose of its existence”. The day is also an occasion to remember the Tata Steel group’s various other founders.

This year, for the first time, Tata group companies across Europe have worked together to align their fundraising campaigns. The theme of the fundraising campaign is ‘Wear it Blue’. Employees at numerous Tata Steel locations will show their support for the charities by wearing ‘something blue’ and donating money. In addition, Tata Steel employees in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, China, Sweden and France will hold their own fundraising activities throughout the day2.

In his inaugural Founder’s Day address to employees, Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry said: “It was Jamsetji Tata’s vision that led to the creation and early flowering of the Tata group. It was he who paved the path for us to follow. He was a pioneer in an age when the road that a pioneering industrialist had to traverse was littered with trials and tribulations. He met these challenges with dignity and humanity.

“The Tata group now reaches shores far beyond the country of its origins and touches the lives of people from different corners of the world, people hailing from a variety of ethnicities and cultures. This places on us a bigger responsibility than ever before. I have no doubt that we can bear this responsibility with care and honour, simply because we have on our side the capabilities and the conviction of our employees around the world.

“Let us pledge to continue to nurture the spirit of pioneering and entrepreneurship while staying true to our values.”

Karl-Ulrich Köhler, MD & CEO of Tata Steel in Europe, said: “For the last couple of years we have celebrated this anniversary by organising different activities throughout Tata Steel. These activities are all focused on the core principles of the Tata group – caring for and engaging with our communities.

“This year Tata Steel will be celebrating this day as one company. Along with other companies in the Tata group, we will organise various local activities to support a common good cause, namely helping to fight cancer.”

Half of the money raised will be donated to cancer charities located close to Tata Steel’s sites and the other half will be donated to the Tata Medical Center cancer hospital in Kolkata, India.

The state-of-the-art Tata Medical Center provides the entire range of patient services from prevention, diagnosis and treatment through to rehabilitation and palliative care, and also acts as cancer research institute. The hospital was opened on 16 May 2011 by Tata group Emeritus Chairman Ratan Tata. This philanthropic Tata group initiative is dedicated to helping cancer patients from the east and northeast of India as well as Bangladesh.

Geeta Gopalakrishnan, Director Donor Relationships at the Tata Medical Center Trust said: 'Thank you to Tata employees in Europe for choosing to support the Tata Medical Center on Founder's Day. Every pound we receive makes a difference in the lives of underprivileged cancer patients, many of whom are from some of the poorest parts of India. We rely heavily on the goodwill of our donors to help us provide critical care for patients who otherwise may not be able to access lifesaving care.'

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For further information, contact Bob Jones on +44 (0)207 717 4532 or bob.jones@tatasteel.com

For further information about the Tata Medical Center charity in Kolkata, visit www.tmckolkata.com

Notes

1. As 3 March this year falls on a Sunday, Tata Steel employees in Europe are holding their celebrations today to ensure as many as possible can get involved.

2. Among the charities that will benefit are, in the UK: CLIC Sargent; Lakelands Hospice, Corby; Lindsey Lodge Hospice, Scunthorpe; Macmillan; Institute of Cancer Research; Holistic Cancer Care Centre, Teesside; Hospice at Home, Workington; Yorkhill Schiehallion Unit, Glasgow; Willowbrook Hospice, Prescot; St David’s Hospice Care, Newport; Myton Hospice, Coventry; in the Netherlands: KWF Kanker Bestrijding; in Germany: Kinderhospiz Regenbogenland, Dusseldorf, and Deutsch Krebshilfe eV; and in the USA: the American Cancer Society.

About Tata Steel in Europe

The European operations of Tata Steel comprise Europe's second largest steel producer. With the main steelmaking operations in the UK and Netherlands, they supply steel and related services to the construction, automotive, packaging, lifting & excavating, energy & power, aerospace and other demanding markets worldwide. The combined Tata Steel group is one of the world’s largest steel producers, with an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 80,000 employees across four continents.

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