Wednesday, 17th March 2020
- FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF ZAMBIA PRESIDENT- MR. ANDREW KAMANGA
- FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF ZAMBIA –GENERAL SECRETARY MR. ADRIAN KASHALA
- ST LAWRENCE HOME OF HOPE DIRECTOR – BROTHER JACEK RAKOWSKI
- MEDIA PRESENT
- ATLAS MARA AND FAZ STAFF PRESENT
- CHILDREN OF ST LAWRENCE HOME OF HOPE
- LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
Good Afternoon,
It is a great pleasure that am here with you today and feel honoured that have accorded us such a warm welcome.
I am happy to be here at St Lawrence Home of Hope because your initiative to take in vulnerable children from all parts the country and provide them an opportunity to be reunited with their families as they seek shelter here is an admirable gesture and should be applauded.
Ladies and gentlemen, For the Bank, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of the biggest tenets for Atlas Mara’s vision of being ‘the Premier Financial Institution in Sub Saharan Africa’. This means ensuring continuous improvement in the communities that we operate in.
We strive to be responsive to the needs of society and the communities at large, hence our desire to develop strong and relevant CSR programmes in partnership with like-minded organizations. In this case the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) who also have a passion to uplift communities and help mitigate the various challenges they face.
Hence, our partnership with the Football Association of Zambia to sponsor the 2020/21 Samuel `Zoom` Ndhlovu Charity Shield is based on this premise.
Ladies and gentlemen, This sponsorship begun with our sincere belief that the Samuel `Zoom` Ndhlovu Charity Shield represents the partnership and unity in the beautiful game of football in Zambia. Atlas Mara identifying and supporting St Lawrence Home of Hope is borne out of the continuous promise to find ways of supporting initiative and activities such as these.
We are indeed happy to be part of an event that begun 54 years ago at Buchi Stadium with the first match played between ‘Mighty’ Mufulira Wanderers who beat ‘Magnificent’ Kabwe Warriors 4-0.
Ladies and gentlemen, this wonderful tradition has since continued and in 2020 we were honoured to have had the opportunity to sponsor the Charity Shield match between 2019/20 League Champions Nkana Football Club and Indeni Fooball Club the winners of the 2019/20 Eden University First Division which was played on Saturday 24th October 2020.
Ladies and gentlemen, though the Tenga Mobile Money Solution we enabled the general public to make financial contributions to support St Lawrence Home of Hope, which we called `Tenga for Hope` by sending the money any amount of money through our mobile wallet.
The proceeds which we raised from the tournament are what we are here to donate. We identified the shelter because of their passion to assist the male child in crisis, which is exceptional approach as the male child also requires a lot support from the communities.
I am aware that, the facility looks after children from different backgrounds who include street kids, kids who have been abandoned, runways from homes due to various reasons such as, abusive households, victims of human trafficking and other sad situations they encounter in their day to day lives.
The facility hosts boys ranging from 6 years to 18 years coming from all the parts of Zambia.
Through this partnership we hope to contribute in a small way to St Lawrence Home of Hope and help raise awareness about the great work they are doing to improve the well-being of vulnerable children.
In this regard, we would like to contribute the raised amount of K25, 000 (Twenty-Five Thousand Kwacha) and K5, 000 (Five Thousand Kwacha) worth of disinfectants for the home. These disinfectants will help St Lawrence Home of Hope to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic and provide a clean environment for the children that are housed here and are at risk of contracting the Covid-19.
Ladies and gentlemen, with the negative social-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in Zambia and globally, no one has been spared. Therefore, as the leading digital bank, we have on offer products and services that ensure transactions are made safely and conveniently from anywhere and everywhere.
Hence the Tenga Mobile Money was a convenient and effective channel for receiving the donations from the general public.
Kindly allow me to delve a little bit on Tenga Mobile Money, this is a simple mobile money platform that allows individuals across the country to self-register by simply dialling *360#, send and receive money, make bill payments and borrow just to mention a few features. This platform cuts across all networks which makes it easy and convenient for users.
Tenga Mobile Money can also be accessed for your day to day transactions through our 50 Atlas Mara branches, Atlas Mara Agencies, 110 ATMs as well as through our third party agents Kazang, Zoona and Konse Konse 543 at over 10,000 outlets across the county.
Lastly, we sincerely hope this contribution will assist the facility and I would like to urge the children here, to study hard and grow into useful talents to society. I also hope that teachers and children continue to work together to make this place a success.
I wish you all the best and God bless you.
The End.