Penlac shares its CSR donations with the inner islands |12 August 2019

Group photo

The inner island state schools have benefitted from a generous donation of paint from Penlac.

The handover was done in a small ceremony at the Grand Anse Praslin primary school in the presence of students and teachers from Grand Anse primary, Baie Ste Anne primary, Praslin secondary and La Digue schools.

Gafoor Yakub, chairman and chief executive of Penlac and Sophia Jumaye, sales assistant, had journeyed to Praslin for the presentation.

“We try our utmost to assist schools all over the country, but that is mostly done on Mahé. This year we managed to accumulate enough Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) tax in order to assist a total of four schools. We believe that the inner island schools are often ignored so we thought why not donate towards them and make a difference. Our presence today shows that the inner island schools have not been forgotten,” Mr Yakub highlighted.

Each school received at least 18 litres of super gloss paint of various vibrant colours which ideally comes on the day that the August one-month school vacation starts. This will allow the schools to open with a brand-new look in September for the last term of 2019, all in line with efforts to create a conducive environment for both teachers and students for effective teaching and learning both academically and vocationally.

The headteachers of each school took turns to personally thank Penlac for its generous donations and for having chosen the inner island schools this time round.

They assured the company’s representatives that the donations will be put to good use, especially in the eco-school projects for mural painting and the assembly of recycled materials.

“We trust that the schools will be satisfied with the high quality of our products and that may encourage them to partner with us for their future projects and general maintenance of the school buildings and compound. Though the gloss paint is ideal for use on wood, metal and other recycled materials we hope with this donation, the schools will be encouraged to purchase from our range of emulsion or water-based products as well,” Mr Yakub expressed.

Penlac, a proudly 100% Seychellois ran local industry, specialises in paint manufacturing ranging from decorative paints to marine paints, as well as industrial, floor paints and automotive paints. The company’s well-trained production team has the capacity of customizing its products to meet its customers’ requests as well as offer technical support free-of-charge where needed. One of the edges that Penlac has over its competitors is that its paint products have been adapted to suit the local, humid climate.

When asked how she would describe Penlac sales, Miss Jumaye said: “Generally, I would describe our sales as very good due to the fact that we always try our best to assist our customers whenever we can. We provide free technical advice and even go on site visits if necessary, so that we can best serve our customers. We also take note of our customer’s health and safety by providing eco-friendly emulsion-based products with low VOCs or zero VOC (Volatile Organic Compound). Based on the high quality of our products and the pre and after sales support which we provide, we must say that our customers generally come back for more of our products.”

“We have visited a lot of educational institutions. It is sad that not much is being invested in the regular maintenance of the older public school buildings in Seychelles. Investing a little in maintenance each year is much more cost effective than having to undertake major repairs and maintenance after several years. We’d like the heads to convince their budget planners to re-examine their priorities and allocate adequate funds for periodic maintenance in their annual budgets for their own benefit and for the benefit of the school children,” Mr Yakub emphasised.

Both Penlac and the inner island schools hope that this modest donation is merely the beginning of a fruitful business relationship for the future.

The accompanying photos show highlights of the handover ceremony on Praslin ad La Digue.

Text and photos by Nadia Bedier