CSR: Canon India extends its Big Smile campaign to adopted communities – India CSR

Manabu Yamazaki, President & CEO, Canon India visits to Canon adopted Maheshwari village to strike a deeper chord with community members

NEW DELHI (India CSR): 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.

4Es CSR policy of Canon India

Hence, Canon India team led by 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 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.

Give back to the community: Manabu Yamazaki, President & CEO, Canon India

Speaking on the occasion 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.”

Spreading Big Smiles in the Maheshwari Village

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.

The Canon’s corporate philosophy ‘Kyosei’

Canon India’s CSR endeavors are driven by their corporate philosophy of ‘Kyosei’, which mean the ‘spirit of living and working together for the common good’, which is considered foremost in the organization’s way of working and day-to-day operations. However, their definition of the word is much broader and encompasses “all people-regardless of their race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together for the common good.”

Moving forward with this philosophy, they believe in standing in unison when it comes to their commitment to the community and strive to make a positive impact in the society and the environment. The organization is involved in various community welfare programs aligned with their 4Es CSR policy implying Education, Eye Care, Environment and Empowerment, to build progressive self-reliant communities. Along with ‘Adopt a Village’ project, the organization is also associated with SOS Children’s Village across the country to encourage and support the overall development of children in these villages.

The flagship ‘Adopt a Village’ initiative was launched in 2012, through which Canon India undertakes the task of overall development of the villages across North, East, West, and South India for a certain period for the holistic development of the society. At present, Canon India has four adopted villages which includes Maheshwari in Haryana, Parivali in Maharashtra, Annadodi in Karnataka and Kalyanpur in Kolkata.

Canon Group Kyosei philosophy of living and working together

Ever since its foundation in 1937, Canon is guided by the ‘Kyosei’ philosophy of living and working together for the common good. Canon strives to create and deliver world-class products, becoming a top global corporation by diversifying into new business fields throughout the world. Focusing on optical technologies, Canon produces office equipment, consumer and professional imaging devices, network cameras, healthcare, and industrial equipment.

Through the close connection between its global head office in Tokyo and regional headquarters in America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and regional headquarters in Japan, Canon combines its global and local operations organically. In 1996, Canon launched its Excellent Global Corporation Plan to serve society with advanced technologies and become a trustworthy and responsible corporate citizen. The year 2016 was the first year of Phase 5 of the Plan. Currently, Canon boasts a strong global presence of 376 subsidiaries all over the world, supported by 197,776 employees. (Data as of December 31, 2017)

Canon India Set up in 1997

Canon India Pvt. Ltd. is the sales and marketing subsidiary of Canon Inc., a world leader in imaging technologies. Set up in 1997, Canon India markets a comprehensive range of sophisticated contemporary digital imaging products and solutions in India. The company today has offices in 10 cities across India with warehousing facilities at 6 locations and employs over 1000 staff and over 850 channel partners. Canon India enjoys a vast retail presence across the country through Image Square stores, PIXMA Zones and BIS Lounges. Canon India’s service reach extends to over 632 towns covering 19,118 PIN codes across India – which comprises of 188 Camera collection points, 15 Camera repair centers, 294 Printer repair centers, 191 Copier, Scanner and Large Format Printer Sales & Service dealers. (Data as of 19 April 2022)