On August 22, 2018, Birla Carbon Weifang (BCW) held its second ‘Sail the Life’ awards ceremony in Weifang. The awards is a medium towards assisting students of the Binhai Middle School near its plant. At the ceremony, awards were presented to 80 students for their excellent performance at the college entrance examination with five deserving students receiving additional donations for their studies.

The ‘Sail the Life’ awards is one of BCW’s key initiatives to support Binhai education with practical actions.

Sanjeev Sood, Regional President, South East and Far East Asia (SEFE), Birla Carbon, shares, “In the SEFE region, Birla Carbon has grown with its people, customers and the communities in which it operates. The ‘Sail the Life’ awards is an example of how students in the community are given an opportunity to excel in academics and receive recognition for the same”. He further adds, “This is a great example of Sharing the Strength, our Purpose, and building Familiar Bonds with our communities.”

The awards ceremony was followed by a visit to the plant where Meng Qingfang, Director, Binhai Public Service Bureau; Wang Demin, Principal, Binhai Middle School and 22 outstanding students took a tour of the plant. At the plant, Gao Weili, HSE Manager, shared the relevant safety and emergency precautions with participants. This was followed by Geng Jingjing, HR Manager, making a presentation introducing the Aditya Birla Group and Birla Carbon to the participants. Jingjing also explained the value of carbon black in daily life and BCW’s journey in the region since it began operations in Weifang.

The visit to BCW was a first time for Binhai education system, its teachers and students, to understanding the workings of an enterprise. After the plant visit, Meng Qingfang, shared, “I am impressed by the safety awareness and the focus that the company has towards the environment. It is indeed interesting to know the multiple uses and applications of carbon black in our daily lives.” He further expressed how Birla Carbon and the Binhai Middle School aim to strengthen their bonds in the future by strengthening the school–enterprise cooperation.

After the event, Meng, in his report to the Binhai Public Service Bureau shared his views on the visit to BCW and proposed a plan for the 2018 School Safety On-site Workshop. Post the bureau’s approval, the workshop was held at the BCW plant on August 28, 2018, where BCW displayed safety, environment protection and health management systems and concepts to the principal, teachers and students. The attendees applauded the employee safety awareness measures taken by the plant and expressed the need to spread this to the school as well.