Believing in giving back to the communities which is instrumental to the success of the company, Dorf Ketal Chemicals is a major player in development, commercialization, marketing and application of specialty engineered chemistries for the refining and petrochemical industries. Founded in 1992, it is a prime supplier of process chemicals and additives for refineries, petrochemicals, fuels, plastics, lubricants and oil stimulation industries. Its process chemicals business treats over one-third of the oil refined by the 20 largest refineries in the world.
When it comes to the social responsibility of the company, the Dorf Ketal Group is dedicated to catering for the wellbeing of the underprivileged group of the society. Its aim is to transform lives of needy people by facilitating them to unfold their hidden potentials. The CSR is incorporated in its core business policy, thus it is a part of its vision, mission and goals.
To achieve its CSR goals, the Group has collaborated with genuine NGOs to lead CSR initiatives in the areas of Skill & Livelihood Development, Education, Health and Sports, which shall electrify the lives of the deprived people of the society. The group believes that social investment in these areas can break a vicious cycle of poverty, hunger, gender inequality and a culture of silence that is inherited by the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) of our society since time immemorial.
“Just by doing a charity, the problems of Economically Weaker Section (EWS) can’t be solved. Thus, we at the Dorf Ketal believe in a saying that, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. Therefore, for their sustainable development, we are honestly investing in their skills & livelihood, sports and holistic educational development”, says Mr. Subodh Menon, Founder & Director- Operation & Business Development (Dorf Ketal Chemicals).
To elaborate on the first initiative, Skill & Livelihood Development Program, the group works with three NGOs – Paragon Charitable Trust, The De Bagd Tracss Association and Navdrushti.
Muktangan –
The Dorf Ketal Group is associated with Paragon Charitable Trust’s initiative called Muktangan. It is an innovative model of education located within mainstream Government schools providing quality, child-centred, inclusive English-medium schooling to thousands of underprivileged children in Mumbai. It truly believes in “Education for the Community, by the Community”, and so the Group develops teachers from the same neighbourhoods as the students, who then become empowered change agents.
It has started in response to the challenges inherent in the Indian education system; its community-based, low-cost, inclusive, child-centred methodology has been researched over ten years in their Teacher Education Centre and 7 English-medium Municipal schools in Mumbai.
Its schools support the natural curiosity of children, their creativity and joy of learning, while developing in them independent and critical thinking skills. Their classrooms are designed for active learning to fully engage the students, leading to almost zero dropout rates. Their teachers are empowered community change agents, whilst their parents, having been given an understanding of the process of their child’s education, are equipped to play an informed role in it.
The Group is sponsoring the Early Childhood Development Teachers Training Program of the Trust from the Academic Year (AY) 2014-15; under this program every year Muktangnis provide an intensive training to the batch of around 30 educated unemployed girls who are from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS). After a successful completion of the training program, these trained teachers would get employment opportunities in the Muktangan or in the nearby English medium schools. From the batch of AY 2014-15, about 25 trainees has got jobs in the Muktangan schools. These girls are now being called as trained teachers; their community and parents respect and value their contribution and their self-respect and confidence has tremendously increased.
The De Bagd Tracss Association –
The Dorf Ketal has initiated a livelihood skill development training program in collaboration with the De Bagd Tracss Association, Imphal. With the group’s support, it is providing livelihood base skill training to 27 underprivileged women in developing 29 different products, baskets, slippers, mats of different sizes, flower pots, covers etc. All the women who are engaged in the training program are seen as entrepreneurs. They make products from Kauna and these products have a good demand in market. Thus, with these training they can make products independently and earn their livelihood in the near future.
Skill Development training program for tribal women –
At village Dabheri, Taluka – Jawahar, District – Palghar, the Group has initiated Tailoring classes in collaboration with Navdrushti, an NGO for livelihood and skill development of tribal women. The program has started after assessing the needs of women and educated unemployed girls. The first batch of 30 trainees has completed the training and 3 trainees of this batch have collectively taken orders from the 4 Primary Schools of nearby villages for stitching school uniforms. They have started their own business now. Some of the trainees have started their own business at home. Many more success stories are yet to come out. The classes will continue till there is a demand for it from the villages.
