OREANDA-NEWS. March 23, 2011. The III International Conference "Volunteering as the path to the charity" organized by the Ukrainian Philanthropists Forum took place in Kyiv. In the framework of the conference a round table discussion devoted to the successful practices and strategies of corporate volunteerism in Ukraine has been organized by the Eastern Europe Foundation in partnership with the Ukrainian network of the UN Global Compact. The event was attended by the representatives of large Ukrainian companies and international organizations.

 Oranta, as the winner of the national stage of the corporate volunteerism competition in the category "Large Company", presented its best practices in corporate social responsibility and corporate volunteerism at the event. The Company was represented by the Head of Corporate Communications, Ms. Alexandra Afanasyeva. Her presentation of Oranta’s business case "The Insurance School for Young Professionals" outlined the influence of corporate volunteerism in the formation of the partnerships between business and society.

This project has been initiated by the HR Department of Oranta with the support of the Corporate Communications Department in 2010, and is aimed at forming a reserve of talented young people in Ukraine. In the framework of the project each intern student is appointed a personal mentor – the insurance manager, or employee of another department, depending on the professional interest of a young professional. Every day throughout the period of the internship the best experts of Oranta share their professional experiences with the young people, often after hours, devoting their free time (lunch hours or after work) to communicate with the students   to help them explore the features of the profession and accelerate the process of adapting to the future work.

“Oranta does its best to help the younger generation of the future professionals get valuable work experience, and in the future to build a career in insurance. It is very important for young people, especially now in the period of the global economic recession. For companies, in turn, this gives an opportunity to define young and talented staff to continue investing in their development as members of the team "- commented the director of the HR Department of Oranta, Ms. Oksana Krasnoshchek.

In general, during a round table discussion of the private sector best practices, demonstrated by Oranta, Kyivstar, SCM, and other companies, the promotion of corporate volunteerism has been emphasized. The participants discussed the spread of these practices among multinational companies and large domestic businesses to promote the concept of corporate volunteerism in Ukraine and considered the options for possible joint steps in this direction.

The concluding event of the Conference was the ceremony of awarding the winners of the National stage of the Competition of Corporate Volunteerism, organized with the support of the Network of global partnerships "Business in Society”, UK. When presenting a well-deserved award to Oranta, a representative of the Network, Ms. Tessa Kipping highly evaluated the company’s project "Development of young professionals and the formation of a reserve of talented young people in Ukraine." "In business, there is one important rule: who cares - wins," - commented Ms. Kipping.