Malabar Group scales up its ‘Hunger-Free World’ programme

MUMBAI/ GULF TIME

‘Hunger-Free World’, the ongoing social welfare program by Malabar Group to provide nutritious daily meals to the needy, will be expanded to cover more people and cities. At present, as many as 31,000 food packets are distributed under the ambitious program, initiated to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2 – Zero Hunger. As part of scaling up, 51,000 nutritious food packets will now be distributed on a daily basis. The expansion plan was officially flagged off by P S Sreedharan Pillai, Honourable Governor of Goa, at the World Hunger Day observance event held on May 28, at Malabar Group Headquarters (MHQ) in Kerala, India.
M P Ahammed, Malabar Group Chairman, presided over the function. P T A Rahim, MLA from Kozhikode, Kerala, unveiled the Hunger-Free World donation gateway. Dr Basith Vadakkayil, Project Head – IPRH Daya Rehabilitation Trust, briefed about the program and Thottathil Raveendran launched athe official newsletter. P K Ahammed, PK Group Chairman, and P V Chandran, Mathrubhumi Managing Editor, offered felicitations. K P Veeran Kutty, Executive Director of Malabar Group graced the occasion with his presence. The attendees including the chief guest took an oath, pledging their commitment to creating a hunger free world. O Asher, Malabar Gold & Diamonds Managing Director (India Operations), welcomed the guests and Nishad A K, Malabar Group Executive Director, proposed the vote of thanks.
At present the program is implemented in 37 cities spread across 16 states including Union Territories, apart from a few centers in the Gulf countries. As part of the expansion, the program will now cover 70 cities in 16 States. Besides, the Group also plans to launch the same program for school children in the African nation of Zambia known for the largest level of gold mining in the world. “There are still plenty of people around us who are struggling to secure at least one square meal a day. We launched this program as a small hand of help to those governments and agencies working hard to eliminate hunger from our world,” said M P Ahammed, Chairman of Malabar Group.
As part of the Hunger Free World initiative, modern kitchens have been set up in different places to prepare nutritious food in a hygienic environment by skilled chefs. The volunteers of Malabar Group identify the needy people in the streets and urban suburbs and bring the food packets to their doorsteps.
The volunteers are also surveying the beneficiaries to assess the social and economic causes of hunger. As part of this program, the Malabar Group has already started the `Grandma Home’ project to identify poor and orphaned elderly women and provide them with free food, accommodation, and other health care. Two such `Grandma Homes’ have been set up in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Plans are afoot to set up similar homes in Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and a few select cities in Kerala. This will provide an opportunity for neglected and orphaned women to live with dignity. The Group has also launched a micro-learning program to support the primary education of street children.
Apart from this, the Malabar Group is also active in other social welfare and charitable activities like financial assistance for medical care, education support to female students, and partial support for house construction. The Group earmarks five percent of the profits towards ESG activities in every region of operation. To date, Malabar Group has spent over 29 Million USD towards social welfare schemes.
Malabar Gold & Diamonds was established in 1993 and is the flagship company of Malabar Group, a leading diversified Indian business conglomerate.
With an annual turnover of $6.2 billion, the company currently ranks as the 6th largest jewellery retailer globally and today has a strong retail network of over 350 outlets spread across 13 countries in addition to multiple offices, design centres, wholesale units, and factories spread across India, Middle East, Far East, the USA, the UK, Canada & Australia. The group, owned by more than 4,000 shareholders, has more than 21,000 professionals from over 26 countries working towards its continued success. Malabar Gold & Diamonds also features an online store www.malabargoldanddiamonds.com providing customers the opportunity to purchase their favorite jewellery at any time and on any day from the comfort of their homes.
ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) has been the primary commitment of the group since its inception. The key ESG focus areas of Malabar Group are Health, Housing, Hunger Free World, Education, Environment and Women empowerment. Integrating the principles of responsibility and sustainability into its core business, Malabar Group periodically strengthens its ESG goals to remain a socially conscious and responsible organization. The group contributes 5% of its profit to such initiatives in the same country of operation.