NewZNew (Bangalore) : Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company,today organized the tenth edition of the ‘Spirit of Wipro Run’, an annual global initiative to celebrate the true Spirit of Wipro. Thousands of employees, their families, friends, customers, partners, analysts and suppliers ran together on the same day at different locations across the world.
The central theme of this year’s event – ‘Run with a purpose’ – is focused on educating children with disability. Through this Run, Wipro offices across geographies raised funds to support this cause.
Commenting on the Run, T K Kurien, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board, Wipro Limited said,“ Marathons are a celebration of the human spirit and instill in us the quality of perseverance to overcome challenges and obstacles in the pursuit of our goals. This aligns with the ‘Spirit of Wipro’ and forms the core of our philosophy. It was heartening to see so many enthusiastic and determined participants come together to make the 10th edition of this Run a big success.”
The tenth edition of the Spirit of Wipro Run saw participation of over 68,000 people, including over 1500 from various client organisations. In India, the Run was held in 16 cities, including Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. The event had an officially timed 21k run (half marathon) in Bangalore and also the 10K run in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Kochi, Mysore and Hyderabad.
Saurabh Govil, Global Head, Human Resources, Wipro Limited said, “The Spirit of Wipro Run, one of the world’s largest global employee engagement initiatives, showcases the passion, determination and collective effort of numerous individuals across the globe. It fosters and strengthens a sense of team spirit and camaraderie not just within our organization but also with our ecosystem of customers, partners, suppliers, employee families, and others.”
Dan Luo, Integra LifeSciences Corp, a key customer of Wipro who participated in the Run in 2014 and 2015 said, “The Spirit of Wipro Run brought a closer relationship between Integra and our colleagues at Wipro. It helped us connect better with each other and find common ground at work and beyond, especially with the fact that there was a social philanthropy angle attached to the run which I am personally quite a strong advocate of. Winning the bronze at the 2014 run was a wonderful surprise for me, it helped me realize that obstacles can be overcome.”
As with the previous years, the Run supports local causes identified by Wipro Cares, the community initiatives arm of Wipro. This year’s Run also saw an active community engagement program conducted in partnership with multiple non-government organisations (NGOs).Wipro Cares, as a ten year partner to the Run, initiated the ‘making your footsteps count for the run’ campaign to involve Wipro employees across the world and bring to life the central theme of this year – run with a purpose. Over 3000 Wipro employees volunteered for the cause in their cities across India, so that Wipro Cares can make an overall difference to society. In the USA, this is being channeled via a new partnership with First Book, a Washington DC based NGO, in five cities.
“The Spirit of Wipro Run is a celebration of Wipro’s values. The theme for the run highlights our long term commitment to social and community causes. This year many employees and their families have been involved in volunteering initiatives across the world” noted Anurag Behar, Chief Sustainability Officer, Wipro Limited.
Over the years, the ‘Spirit of Wipro Run’ has built a large community of runners within the organization. Many employees, their friends and families have been part of Wipro’s Running Club that trains throughout the year and compete at regional and corporate tournaments winning accolades.
