Written on 28 April 2020.
Faced with the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic and the ravages caused by the virus, the EDHEC community is engaging in a variety of solidarity measures geared to helping the hardest-hit participants in our society. Under the impetus of different communities - Alumni, Foundation and research chairs – an array of initiatives is emerging with the common objective of supporting the victims of Covid-19, whether vulnerable populations, students or businesses in difficulty.
Faced with the health crisis and in co-ordination with the School, the EDHEC Foundation has ramped up the solidarity fund created in 2019 to help students in financial difficulty and converted it into an emergency fund. The fund is being used to award bursaries and exceptional aid to French and international students financially affected by the Covid-19 crisis, whether via the cancellation of a student job or internship, the loss of parental income or extra living costs entailed by an extended stay abroad.
To raise funds, the EDHEC Foundation has launched an extensive appeal to the generosity of its alumni. And extending the impact of this initiative, the whole of the EDHEC community – School, Foundation, donors – is mobilising behind a that will see EDHEC double the amount of donations up to an overall amount of €200,000.
In order to support businesses impacted by the health crisis, the Foresight, Innovation and Transformation (FIT) research chair has moved to set up teams of students devoted to supporting companies in major difficulty. These EDHEC Students Against the Crisis (ESAC) teams will offer assistance and strategic advice to the management teams of the companies concerned. Each 3-5 member ESAC team will invest 25 hours of time over 3 weeks, in order to help company managements overcome the crisis, by imagining recovery scenarios or new business plans.
The EDHEC Alumni association has joined forces with The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA), an NGO that supplies people in Africa with emergency medical assistance. Amid this unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, EDHEC Alumni has teamed up with two other prestigious business schools in the #OxygenforAfrica operation, launched on 6 April with the aim of financing the purchase of respiratory equipment through donations.
EDHEC Alumni and members of the EDHEC BBA student union are heavily engaged alongside some 20 alumni associations of leading business and engineering schools in a fund-raising exercise organised by the French Red Cross. The aim is to provide medical staff with protective masks, gloves, gowns and hair caps. For each donation made, EDHEC Alumni has agreed to contribute the same amount. So far, the efforts of the participating associations have raised €180,000 in donations.