By CHRISTINE MWAABA –
NISCO is an exceptional group of companies that seeks to have a positive impact on development in society through its community social responsibility obligations.
The company has taken a proactive step by making significant donations towards a number of communities in the country.
The wholly Zambian-owned company, which was established in 1992, at one time dominated the local market with a footwear brand called Eagle slippers.
The slippers were known as Eagle Pat-Pat.
Today, the company has grown and has established the Nisco Foundation that is reaching out to the marginalised in society, especially women and the girls, and in the process uplifting the welfare of the underprivileged.
The foundation has taken up the responsibility to work with orphanages like House of Moses in Lusaka.
The foundation has also come up with several sponsorship programmes in which it has made financial contributions towards the running of certain social institutions.
House of Moses Orphanage Business Development Officer Salinder Phiri said the financial contribution and the various materials that Nisco provides go a long way in feeding babies and children at the orphanage.
Ms Phiri said the gesture, such as a recent donation made to the orphanage, is an overwhelming.
He described Nisco Foundation’s assistance as being exceptional especially for the orphans and the abandoned infants.
In the past one year, Nisco Foundation has also donated a number of electrical appliances, such as refrigerators, cookers and kettles, which have proved very helpful to House of Moses Orphanage.
The orphanage was opened in 2000 with the aim of providing shelter and support to orphaned and abandoned infants.
Through the holistic care provided at the orphanage, the children and infants have their physical, emotional needs met.
“House of Moses has become a loving home for the children; hence the institution thrives to ensure that all needs are met for the infants and the children,” Ms Phiri said.
She said the orphanage also carters for abandoned children and orphans who obviously need considerable resources to be sustain.
The orphanage needs a whole range of requirements, from clothing and food to accommodation.
“This is why when help comes, such as the help we receive from Nisco Foundation, we appreciate a lot because we know that the future of the children is bright,” she said.
The other project that the Nisco foundation has solely taken on board is refurbishing the premises at Shantumbu Clinic in Kafue.
The clinic, which has had some infrastructural problems in the past, is now boasting of a Maternity Ward that has been fixed and women in the area are now delivering in a comfortable and conducive environment.
Martha Tembo, a Shantumbu mother who is expecting, said the rehabilitation of the clinic has made the Maternity Ward comfortable for child delivery.
Martenity wings are also a critical component of the healthcare.
“Before renovating the Maternity Wing at the clinic, the clinic did not have windows, even the floor was not too good,” she said.
Clinical Officer at Shantumbu Clinic Gorge Mashata said it is important that women deliver in an environment that is fit for child delivery in keeping with acceptable health standards.
Shantumbu Headman Kakote Godwin Pinyolo commended Nisco Foundation for rehabilitating the Maternity Ward at the clinic.
He said prior to it being rehabilitated, the Maternity Wing was not been in a favourable state for child delivery.
“We are happy that the clinic has been given a good facelift that will help the women deliver in a comfortable environment,” he said.
He further thanked Nisco Foundation for donating a number of items at the Maternity Ward.
Nisco Foundation Programmes Officer Lilly Mwape said the charity organization will continue to support such worthy causes that help the less privileged in order to make Zambia better.
She said Nisco Group of Companies, through the foundation, will continue to empower women and youths in order for them to reach their full potential.
Nisco Group of Companies, through its brand of footwear, has opened up other avenues of meeting the economic and social needs of Zambia.
The Eagle Pat-Pat brand of footwear has gone a long to popularize the sandals in the community and that bears testimony to Nisco’s relentless ability to help the community.
In recent years, the company has provided employment to a number of local people in both skilled and unskilled labour categories as well as managerial positions.
Nisco has set out to fulfill its social responsibility obligations to a large extent, owing to the realisation that the organisation ought to plough back resources into the community.
Consequently, Nisco Group of Companies is in the forefront of helping raise the standard of living in the community, hence its involvement in projects that help attain the desired goals of community development.
Feedback from the community indicates that people have appreciated Nisco’s development agenda which has made a notable impact in society.
One beneficiary of Nisco Foundation’s interventions, Martha Kabunda, said the institution’s social development projects would make one wish other organisations doing similar programms could help more underprivileged people in the community.
“Many people are talking about Nisco because of its good works that help the poor in society,” she said.
Ms Kabunda’s plight as an elderly woman facing a number of problems touched Nisco Foundation when her story was published in the Times of Zambia.
The foundation immediately decided to support the elderly woman financially besides providing for her basic needs.
Ms Kabunda, a resident of John Laing Township in Lusaka, had a strange, abnormal growth on her neck that she endured in her old age.
Her day-to-day to living was determined by help that she received from some of her neighbours and well wishers.
At the moment, her anxieties have become a thing of the past after Nisco Foundation took over the responsibility to take care of all her needs.
What one sees on Ms Kabunda face is peace as her daily basic needs have been provided for as well as accommodation, so she can lead a happy and graceful life even in her old age.
Nisco Foundation’s efforts to seek out and help the underprivileged is a significant contribution that will promote community development in the country.