Vista Equity Partners, a US-based investment firm, has announced the expansion of its partnership with The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Vista and its portfolio companies operating in India have pledged an additional USD 1 million to Akshaya Patra to support the Foundation’s Mid-Day Meal Programme across India, helping deliver hot, nutritious, and hygienic meals to children every school day.
The expansion of the partnership between Vista and Akshaya Patra was announced by Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Vista, during Vista’s International Best Practice Sharing Summit (International BPSS). International BPSS is an annual event that brings together several hundred portfolio leaders and team members from throughout the Asia Pacific region to provide professional networking and development opportunities and share Vista best practices in areas such as go-to-market success, product and technology leadership, and financial and operational excellence. The event, one in a series of BPSS’, also hosts Vista’s APAC Hackathon, bringing together global teams from throughout the portfolio to share technological innovations and compete for prize money.
The extended partnership is part of Vista’s commitment to invest in and give back to the communities in regions where they operate. “Around the world, Vista and our companies make it their mission to engage with and give back to our communities on a global, national, and local level,” said Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Vista Equity Partners. “With our rapidly expanding footprint in India, it is important for us to partner with an organisation that is able to make a real and scalable impact on people’s lives. We are thrilled to continue to partner with Akshaya Patra to help ensure that children across India have access to nutritious meals that will enable them to excel in the classroom and beyond.”
In 2017, Vista partnered with Akshaya Patra for the first time, pledging USD 1 million to the organisation over a period of five years. This enabled the Foundation to procure delivery vehicles to serve mid-day meals to children in 145 schools across three states, Gujarat, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, and milk to children in 345 schools in Karnataka through its milk kitchen in Jigani.
