CAIRO: Businesses in Egypt have stepped up their role in trying to get the economy back on its feet, after weeks of protests that unseated president Hosni Mubarak splintered off into sector strikes at factories, companies, banks and government institutions. Pepsico's Tomooh program, the Vodafone Foundation, Banque Du Caire, Banque Misr, Star Care Mercedes and CEMEX Assiut Cement met on Tuesday with Gianpietro Bordingon, the World Food Program's (WFP) Egypt director, to discuss the first steps to address the immediate needs of poor families that lost their livelihoods in the southern governorates. “We are trying to widen the circle of partners in the private sector, these companies already contributed and are already partners but some of them wanted to do more,” said Souraya Saoud from the World Food Program. Saoud said that Pepsico and Star Care Mercedes, for example, wanted to fund an additional food basket program for families in Upper Egypt. “We are now trying to spread the world through businessmen associations, to increase support for the program,” she added. Over the past few days, the WFP said it has provided food to more than 3,000 schoolchildren and their families, distributing a 15-day ration — mainly fortified date bars — as well as a one month advance of take home rations or 10 kilograms of rice. The statement added that close to 11,500 family members in the southern governorates of Assiut and Sohag benefited from this round of distributions, which will spread to other governorates in Upper Egypt this week. Shereen Shaheen, CSR and PR manager of Pepsico, North East Africa, said that in the past few days, Pepsico has shifted their CSR focus on those who receive daily wages, starting an initiative for food packs to go to 3,000 students and 13,000 families in their ongoing Tomooh program in Sohag. The food packs contain monthly rations with enough supplies for one month. Pepsico's own daily paid laborers, according to Shaheen, received compensation for the time when the company had halted operations. Pepsico also donated additional funds to another initiative in greater Cairo run by the Egyptian Food Bank, which also supports those in Cairo whose livelihoods depend on daily wages and who according to the bank have been severely affected by the recent events. The food bank accepts donations from individuals, starting from LE 15 to LE 90 which they say is enough for the needs of the family for a month and is fining much support in that respect. Ayah Ayoub Seniour, director of marketing communications at the food bank, said that she has noticed a change in corporate donation interest recently. “Usually what happens is that we go and look for interested donors but what we are seeing now is that they are taking the initiative. Now businesses are coming to us saying they want to invest either through financial or in kind donations and some even offered marketing channels or materials to support our programs,” she said. She could not name all the companies responsible for the donations, explaining that negotiations are still underway, but she expects the food bank to announce a number of large donations next week. CSR initiatives by different businesses were not limited to charity as initiatives made efforts to support even the financial mechanisms of the state. Commercial International Bank launched last week, a new initiative with Istethmar Fund, enabling all Egyptians to subscribe and support the Egyptian stock exchange by changing the minimum subscription units for first orders to 1 unit instead of the current minimum of 10. One can invest as little as LE 67, “building on youth initiatives calling on the Egyptian youth to stimulate and revitalize the national economy and support the stock market,” according to a statement. In another effort, real estate developer SODIC, after hosting a blood drive on Feb. 13 at Kasr El-Eini hospital, organized a relief team which is planning a clean-up initiative on Feb. 19 to clean the area next to the Mehwar which leads to Mohandiseen. Dina Hassanein, project development manager, pointed out that the initiatives are not just for employees, but that the company calls on all citizens to join. This greater focus of businesses on community building came out of spirit of the revolution which according to Hassanien “has affected everyone,” including businesses and “helped them understand what is really important.”
