Two Blackstone staffers win Rs 74 lakh in firm's charity contest

The award money will support Bal Gurukul, IDF's flagship project that provides supplementary after school education programmes to needy children

Shruti Agrawal and Sambhav Jain, 25-year-old associates in Blackstone’s Indian private equity team have won $100,000 (Rs 74 lakh) for the Indian Development Foundation (IDF) in the Blackstone Gives Back Challenge, a firm-wide charity competition.

Blackstone Gives Back, sponsored by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, is a competition for employees to win funding for charities of their choice. Through a competitive month-long selection process, the firm’s leadership and the Foundation’s Board of Directors judge teams based on a number of factors including the project’s impact, innovation, scalability, team’s analysis of project goals and financials, and strength of the organisation’s leadership. This year, more than 350 employees around the world pitched their ideas, and five teams were awarded $100,000 each.

The $100,000 won by the India team’s two junior employees will support Bal Gurukul, IDF’s flagship project that provides supplementary after school education programmes to children most in need. Launched in 2005, Bal Gurukuls have supported millions of children access quality education and 247 are currently in operation nationwide. The $100,000 (approx Rs 74 lakh) grant will help expand Bal Gurukuls in the states of Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat and in North East India and support the education of more than 10,000 underprivileged children.

Amit Dalmia, Blackstone’s Operating Partner in Corporate Private Equity, India, said: “At Blackstone, we firmly stand by our culture of service and commitment to our communities. It’s exciting to see young members of our India team represent the cause in our global, firmwide initiative and share their passion for helping others. IDF does remarkable work in the field of education, and we are glad to support them in their initiative to provide access to inclusive education.”