N. R. Narayana Murthy is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor of Infosys and is now known for his work on corporate philanthropy in India. He was recently in Silicon Valley, speaking at a fundraising event for Akshaya Patra Foundation. The Foundation provides meals to poor children in 5,700 schools in India. You can find the full story by Mercury News reporter, John Boudreau here. Mr. Murthy's lengthy accomplishments can be found here. An excerpt from the Mercury News interview on corporate philanthropy is below:
Q: You now speak out on the importance of corporate philanthropy.
This has also been spoken of by several chief ministers at the state level because they realize there is a section of India that is progressing rapidly, that's making lots of profits, that's creating lots of jobs. And they are saying, If you want goodwill from society, you need to do something.
I always believed that no corporation can indeed sustain its growth, sustain its vibrancy, without making a difference to society. Society contributes customers. Society contributes employees. Society contributes investors. Society contributes politicians and bureaucrats, who together frame the policies for the industry and corporations to grow and succeed.
So unless corporations are seen as living in harmony with society, unless corporations are seen as making a difference to the society, they will not exhibit longevity, especially in countries like India, where there are serious gaps. So today you see more and more entrepreneurs, more and more corporate leaders involving themselves in corporate philanthropy.
Photo courtesy of The Pick
