Embracing Tomorrow – Samsung Stands Alongside Youths from Around the World

Having proper access to education is essential for young people’s development, especially in the rapidly transforming technological era of today. Samsung has chosen this pressing issue as the focus of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts for its landmark 50th year. It envisions creating a world in which it uses its technology and innovative know-how to provide quality education for young people everywhere, regardless of their circumstances.

Kusum, a Nepalese student, recites a poem she wrote to her friends about overcoming difficulties and pursuing your dreams. She says her experience at the Samsung Employee Volunteer Program-run design school opened up paths that she “had never dreamed of”

The Journey to Better Educational Opportunities

‘People’ have always been central to Samsung’s philosophy. Alongside the priority that is ‘people’, nurturing talent and harnessing innovation and collaboration to build a better world are other values that Samsung holds dear.

Samsung understands the importance of economic development for emerging nations. However, it also knows that once a country starts benefitting from that development, it is important to ensure that as many people as possible benefit from the new opportunities that are generated as a result.

Since the 1990s, Samsung has been investing in programs to support children from low income families through the Samsung Welfare Foundation. This foundation supports youths – the leaders of tomorrow – while establishing an environment in which women can continue to work, safe in the knowledge that their children are being taken care of. It has facilitated access to quality education for children, and provided young people in need of financial support with self-reliance funds to allow them to focus on their education.

Samsung, which promotes organizational public welfare programs through the Samsung Welfare Foundation and Samsung Life Public Welfare Foundation, created an organization dedicated to Corporate Citizenship in October 1994 to help it invest more in CSR activities. Since then, Samsung has implemented a range of programs to promote social welfare in domestic and international communities, and brought social welfare experts onboard to help streamline its efforts. In 2007, Samsung established ‘Happy Together’ as the objective statement for its CSR activities, with ‘hope’, ‘harmony’ and ‘humanity’ as the main keywords for its vision. It proceeded to launch a number of activities to instill hope in young people, such as its financial support program for children, study room program, and scholarship program.

Visual Identities of some of Samsung’s CSR initiatives: ‘Light of Love, Sharing Star’ (1995) and ‘Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People’ (2019)

Based on its enthusiasm for social responsibility, Samsung has devoted itself to nurturing the technology leaders of tomorrow by sponsoring apprenticeship contests both domestically and internationally. In 2012, Samsung launched its Dream Class program, an extracurricular academic program for middle school students, and in the process demonstrated its will to focus more on youth education.

Samsung has also been launching educational programs around the world that take the diverse range of environments seen in different communities into account. For example, Samsung supported Vietnamese schools by replacing their old desks and chairs and provided Thai, Indian, Filipino and other Southeast Asian youths the opportunity to experience advanced digital technology via the ‘Samsung Digital Hope’ program. The company has also nurtured potential track and field athletes in Kenya through the ‘Dream Tree’ project.

Realizing Potential – From Elementary Students to Job Seekers

In February 2019, Samsung announced its new CSR vision, ‘Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People’, the goal of which is to empower future generations to achieve their full potential, pioneer positive social change and build a better world for all. Samsung understands that it has a responsibility to foster the development of the future leaders who will help their communities overcome the challenges brought about in the rapidly changing 21st century.

To build a future where all young people can realize their full potential, regardless of their circumstances, Samsung launched its Corporate Citizenship website and took action on its goals by shifting its Corporate Citizenship focus towards domestic and overseas youth education programs. Let’s look at how Samsung’s Corporate Citizenship activities are aiming to provide youth with the chances to receive quality education and benefit from new experiences.

Participants in the 2019 US Samsung Solve for Tomorrow program (Above). The Samsung Solve for Tomorrow US online program for 2020 (Below)

Watching your own original idea being realized is a priceless experience. Thus, ‘Samsung Solve for Tomorrow’, a creativity contest in which young people come up with their own creative solutions to address real life issues, allows young people to do just this. This program aims to enhance the problem-solving abilities of youths to induce positive social transformation.

The ‘Samsung Innovation Campus’ program offers training to young people seeking employment. Based on the success of the previously run ‘Samsung Tech Institute’ initiative, Innovation Campus was launched in October 2019 to provide young people with opportunities to learn about core technologies and help them advance into high-potential industries via global ICT training programs. Domestic programs that play a similar role exist in select markets as well.

Seema, who got a job as an engineer after attending the Samsung Technical School, has become a beacon of hope for others in India, where many women still do not receive an education

‘Samsung Smart School’ is a series of initiatives that utilize Samsung devices and content to provide quality digital education to students around the world with insufficient educational prospects and poor information accessibility. As of the end of 2019, more than 3.8 million students have benefited from the program.

By harnessing a wide range of channels and means, Samsung is constantly providing precious learning opportunities to the young people of the world through its diverse array of Corporate Citizenship programs.

Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People

The future will only be bright as long as the young people of today are equipped to lead us into it. Thus, Samsung dreams of a future in which the youth of the world are empowered to build a better world where we can all thrive together.

Today, on United Nations International Youth Day, let’s all reflect on the reasons for this day and unite under Samsung’s vision of ‘Together for Tomorrow!’