HomeKnowledge centreNews and StoriesCable & Wireless donates to Nature Seychelles and other local charities
Cable & Wireless donates to Nature Seychelles and other local charities
Nature Seychelles and other local charities have received generous donations from local telcom Cable & Wireless as contributions to what the company has called "positive impacts" project. On Friday 22 November at a special event to conclude the 120th year anniversary campaign the company has been running, various local charities received donations from a pool of SR 120,000. Nature Seychelles donation amounted to SR 15,000.
Seychelles's first telecommunications company was born when on November 11th, 1893, the founding company of Cable and Wireless, the Eastern Telegraph Company, connected Seychelles with the rest of the world by a submarine telegraph cable link to Zanzibar. To celebrate this big anniversary, the company ran a series of activities involving its customers and the Seychelles community at large. The event on Friday was held to award lottery winners and to recognise organisations "which exists solely for the benefit of mankind and the environment we live in."
Speaking at the Event, Cable & Wireless Chief Executive Mr. Charles Hammond said that the company has been working closely with the community, through local charities, to bring assistance where it matters.
"You represent those who are in need and you champion their causes; therefore, it is an honour for us to offer our assistance. We all should be grateful of the work that you do for the betterment of society, and are pleased that you are able to be here this evening," Mr. Hammond said.
"This is not the first time Cable & Wireless is assisting Nature Seychelles, having partnered with us in the past in public awareness and education activities," said Dr. Nirmal Shah, Chief Executive of Nature Seychelles who was present at the event.
This donation comes at a time when Nature Seychelles have launched a Corporate Social Responsibility programme to entice other local businesses to work with it under the recently introduced CSR Tax regime. Local businesses have already made contributions in this regard with Hunt, Deltel & Company Limited donating towards the printing of the materials for the CSR programme.
A brochure describing activities and programmes that businesses can partner in has been uploaded on Nature Seychelles' website, which local business can download.
"The CSR tax is seen as burdensome by companies, especially since some businesses say they are already making donations over and above their CSR tax quota. But from the NGO side we believe this is an opportunity to build sustainable, long term partnerships with the private sector. I believe enlightened companies like Cable & Wireless Seychelles support this type of strategy," Shah said.
Other companies that have recently shown their CSR by partnering with Nature Seychelles include Sun Excavators who generously donated manpower and machinery allowing the organisation to significantly increase the scope of work that has been undertaken at the Sanctuary at Roche Caiman.