By Martin Vedris
SYDNEY: Groupe SEB is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year and intends to continue its tradition of engaging with the community and giving back to the disadvantaged with the Groupe SEB Foundation.
According to a company statement, during the company’s early years Groupe SEB adopted an approach which was founded on social and environmental accountability, which continues to underpin all of its processes, while promoting, “better living for all”.
Today Groupe SEB has restricted its philanthropic activities into one single entity: a corporate foundation. The objective of this foundation is to combat social exclusion. The foundation will help implement and deploy schemes internationally to foster the reintegration of persons who are on not well off and socially disadvantaged. There will be emphasis on:
– Helping people access the job market.
– Helping to integrate people into society by improving their living conditions.
– Helping people to integrate into society via education and training.
Currently Groupe SEB employees take an active part in donating their time to help in this scheme.
“The vocation of the Groupe SEB Foundation is truly to help others,” said Thierry de La Tour d’Artiase, chairman and CEO of Groupe SEB, and chairman of the new foundation.
“With this Foundation, we aim to mobilise the company’s human and financial resources to help the economically disadvantaged people, and the Foundations priority will be to contribute towards the social integration of the greatest possible number of people.”
The foundation has been granted a budget of three million euros over five years to spend on financing its projects.
One of the world’s leading appliance manufacturers, Groupe SEB sells six products every second around the world. The company was formed in 1857 by Antoine Lescure who set up a tin workshop in Selongey, France. The company first entered the domestic appliance market in 1962 with the launch of SEB Moka electric coffee makers. In 1967 the company invented the oudourless electric deep fryer. The company bought Tefal, inventor of the non-stick frying pan, in 1968 and opened its Australian subsidiary in 1998.