Tuesday 29 / October / 2024
“What we want to do in Eshraqa is everything we don’t do in Khimji Ramdas as a business,” said Nailesh Khimji, speaking about the 147-year-old company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm. Eshraqa, which means a new beginning and the hope that everybody gets a second chance, functions mainly on three pillars: Health, education, and community service. “At KR, we don’t invest in health and education for profit. Hence through Eshraqa we can give back to the community by investing in health, education, and community service,” he said.
Nailesh, who belongs to the fifth generation of one of Oman’s most reputed businesses, understands his responsibility as a company when it comes to giving back to the society he lives in. “We feel that we can’t depend on government for everything. We have to as businesses also give back.”
“Since Oman is a huge country and we do not have unlimited funds, we decided to focus on one wilayat at a time,” said Nailesh, explaining how Eshraqa helps read out to those in need in Oman. “During the last two years, we did Samail. It has 24 schools and one or two hospitals. We had a person from Samail, who was involved in community service. So we decided lets use his expertise and understand what the people need.”
The group doesn’t believe in giving cash, but helping communities by providing them with what they need most in kind. Since Khimji Ramdas doesn’t have unlimited resources and time, they decided that their investment would be such that the people and institutions that are being supported through Eshraqa should be self-sustainable. “The ladies of Samail wanted to set up their own sewing and repairing businesses. So we gave them sewing machines. We gave them a tool to make income,” Nailesh said, noting how this would make them independent and self-sufficient in the long run.
After thorough research and survey, they found out what the schools and hospitals in Samail needed most. “Most schools said they want smart TVs, some wanted security cameras, and some others wanted shades in their playground. The hospital in Samail needed a paediatric ICU monitor,” he said. Since their aim is to benefit as many people as possible in the process, they involved the local businesses and SMEs too. “We would find a local SME to build the shade or a local TV seller and buy the TVs from him. CCTV’s were also supplied by local suppliers,” he said.
After Samail, they are now looking at Izki and Bidbid and will help and support the community by means of the three main pillars of Eshraqa. The Khimji Training Institute (KTI) is an important part of the CSR activities. “KTI used to do a lot of work with the Ministry of Manpower. Now we feel we could use their expertise in the CSR arm.”
KTI has tied up with various organisations, including the Environment Society of Oman, to train talent and help them reach their potential. “ESO competed in a public speaking/debate competition in the Gulf. We got KTI involved to teach them how to do public speaking. And they won every time they participated.”
They have also tied up with Riyadh, the Public Authority for SME Development, and Nailesh has devoted three to four years to mentor many aspirants registered with the organisation.
Although Eshraqa is the CSR arm of Khimji Ramdas, Nailesh sees it becoming an independent foundation focussed on community services in the future, without relying on Khimji Ramdas to survive.
“In the future we would like to run it as an independent foundation, with its own income and support services, where it never needs to depend on future generations to keep funding it.”
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