Tata Starbucks Launches New Initiative to Empower and Transform Lives of Girls and Young Women in India Through Education

by Suman Gupta

Tata Starbucks proudly announced the Tata Starbucks Empowering Girls and Young Women program, a new initiative to support girls and young women in India through education, skills development and economic empowerment. As part of Tata Starbucks ongoing commitment to creating equal opportunities, the program will provide girls and young women with the education, financial assistance and community support they need to develop their skills and find careers.

Tata Starbucks will collaborate with non-profit organizations, Educate Girls, to improve girls’ education in rural and underprivileged areas, and VIDYA India, to provide volunteering and educational support to girls and young women who have relocated to urban cities from villages.

In the first year of the program, Tata Starbucks will support 2,000 girls and young women across India, creating education, skills development and mentoring opportunities that will empower participants to create a better future for themselves and their communities.

Every Starbucks store across India will sponsor and support the education of a girl in primary school by covering the cost of enrolment, while improving learning outcomes and school retention rates. In addition, the company will also donate a percentage of all transactions in the new all-women stores in India to helping mobilize communities around the importance of girls’ education through the partnership with Educate Girls. The program aims to increase educational enrolment and retention within rural communities, while improving literacy and numeracy skills.

Tata Starbucks partners can also volunteer to support girls aged 4 to 18-years old who have relocated to urban cities from villages. Through the VIDYA India collaboration, partners can help to conduct training for life skills, numeracy and literacy, and volunteer as teachers’ aides to make online classes more effective and engaging. Partners are also invited to participate in parental education awareness programs, designed to advance understanding and engagement around the importance of their children’s education.

“We are delighted to announce this new initiative that provides girls and young women in India with education and tools to build a better life for themselves and for their communities,” said Navin Gurnaney, ceo, Tata Starbucks Private Limited. “Throughout India, gender disparity remains a significant barrier to education – more than 4 million girls are out of school and we are still 15% away from closing the literacy gender gap between men and women. As a leading employer in India, we have a responsibility to invest in initiatives that advance education and skills development among girls and young women. We also continue to encourage diversity and gender equality in this dynamic region. It drives sustainable growth, elevates innovation through diverse thinking and deepens understanding of communities.”

“Educate Girls is glad to collaborate with TATA Starbucks. It is the first time we are collaborating in this unique model with every Starbucks store supporting a girl’s education. Starbucks commitment to creating inclusion, diversity and equity, and our vision to empower out-of-school girls from India’s most remote and rural geographies to get back to education, is well aligned. Together we hope to strongly advocate for gender equality, equal right to education and enable our girls to become contributing members of our society,” said Safeena Husain, Founder and Executive Director of Educate Girls.

“VIDYA’s partnership with Starbucks is a momentous step towards scaling up our reach and impact, and moving closer to our vision of an India where every child receives a high-quality holistic education, every youth gets an opportunity to succeed and every woman gains economic independence and social equality. We are excited and deeply honoured to enter into a partnership with Starbucks,” said Rashmi Misra, founder-chairperson of VIDYA.

Since entering the market in 2012, Tata Starbucks has honored its commitments to diversity and inclusion in India through empowering women in new and meaningful ways. Earlier this year, Tata Starbucks opened three stores in India operated entirely by women, and plans to open more women-led stores by the end of the year. In 2019, Tata Starbucks achieved 100% gender pay equity and set an ambitious target to increase its workforce female representation to 40% by the end of 2022.

As Tata Starbucks continues to grow in India, the company is deeply committed to being an active member of the community and creating positive impact in the neighborhoods we serve.