Brand Development by DABUR via CSR

Companies these days other than the fact that they have to compulsorily undertake some corporate social responsibility initiative, are also working on their corporate branding to build on their brand equity. For example, CSR initiatives of DABUR are driven through Sustainable Development Society or SUNDESH, an outcome of the vision of Dabur India Ltd’s founder Dr. S.K Burman. SUNDESH is a non – profit organization engaged in carrying out welfare activities with the aim of improving the quality of life of the people in rural areas. The activities done under Sundesh are in the areas of Education, Healthcare, Microfinance & Veterinary Services.

About DABUR

Since its inception about 120 years ago, Dabur has managed to create a niche for itself in a huge range of FMCG segments like healthcare, consumer care, ayurvedic medicine, hair oil, etc. Its brands like Vatika, Anmol, Hajmola, Babool, Real and certain other products under the parent brand like Chyawanprash and Gulabari are extremely successful in their respective product segments. Dabur’s inclusive marketing and herbal association has made it a household brand name, and that too a very reliable one.

While studying Brand Management, I was intrigued by how Sundesh was helping build upon Brand Recall for DABUR as well as create goodwill amongst its consumers and beneficiaries.

Let’s look into some of these initiatives by the company:

• Education
Non-Formal Education- Education to children between 6-14 years of age by holding classes at village centers and encourage them to seek formal education.

Adult Literacy- Sundesh provides education to women in the age group of 14-35 years. After attaining education, these women are also provided with training in various self - employment activities such as cutting and tailoring, food preservation, mushroom cultivation, mehandi application, etc.

Special School for Child Labour- Sundesh provides special education to child labourers (8-13 years of age) under National Child Labour Project. Currently Dabur is running five education centers in Loni Block.

Library- Sundesh manages a library for children to inculcate the habit of reading amongst them.

• Health Care
Sundesh provides health care facility to the villagers. The main aim is to empower villagers with essential knowledge which would enable them to lead a healthy life. Sundesh Health Team includes a medical officer, lab technician, Community Health Workers and Traditional Birth Attendants.

Health aid priorities include:
• General OPD at the center.
• Pathological Testing Facility at the center.
• Provision of essential drugs at the center.
• Health check - ups through OPDs and camps in the villages.
• Self Help Groups (Micro Credit Society)

Sundesh has taken an initiative to promote, support and design a number of poverty alleviation programmes in collaboration and guidelines given by District Rural Development Agency, Ghaziabad through Swarn Jayanti Gramin Vikas Sawrojgar Yojna for Below Poverty Line people and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for general families in the targeted villages.

Main objective of this programme is to form Self Help Groups / micro credit groups and link these SHG’s with credit institutions. Dabur provides cooperation in building mutual trust and confidence between the bankers and the rural poor. These credit groups are motivated to utilize the savings for economic betterment. For this they are also given training on various income generation activities such as mushroom cultivation, cutting and tailoring, bee keeping, food preservation etc.

• Income Generation
To promote self-employment in the area, Sundesh provides need based training programmes such as Bee Keeping, Mushroom Cultivation, Food Preservation, Tailoring Training, Embroidery Training, and Mehandi Application. This facilitates the trainees to sustain their livelihood and not fall back to below poverty line status.

• Veterinary Services  
Villagers are given information on livestock health and care at Sundesh Integrated Rural Upliftment Center, village Chouna. Sundesh organizes vaccination and animal health checkup camps in the villages. Medicine is provided at subsidized rates to the villagers. This ensures that farmers remain engaged with the company, and benefit as well with their source of livelihood being well taken care of.

Impact of CSR initiatives on Dabur as a Brand
Dabur, while its name connotes reliability & warmth, with these CSR initiatives the company is gaining immensely from the goodwill generated by SUNDESH initiatives. Dabur symbolizes not just good quality products but also a friend, philosopher & guide that is with the beneficiary and consumer at every step of their life.

-Akash,
 Student, INLEAD
 INBM October 2015