More organisations get financial help from SBL Foundation |01 June 2023

A souvenir photograph

Following the provision of financial assistance in October last year to six organisations to undertake their projects aimed at serving the community, the Seychelles Breweries Ltd Foundation has presented beneficiary letters to five other organisations.

As the second cohort under the programme, the five beneficiaries were presented with their letters by managing director of Seychelles Breweries Ltd (SBL), Conor Neiland, in a small ceremony held on Tuesday afternoon at the O’Brien House, Le Rocher, in the presence of staff of the company.

The five beneficiaries are the Seychelles Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (SABVI), the Bel Air Basketball Academy, Elles Foundation, HIV/Aids Support Organisation (Haso) and L-Foundation Seychelles.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Neiland said that the company, as a business, is once again happy to be giving back to the community following the success of the first beneficiary cohort.

He added that he hoped to see the foundation grow to continue to assist the community from now to 50 years’ time.

On the part of the awardees, Cecile Lablache from SABVI thanked the foundation for accepting their applications that will improve the lives of those that will benefit from them.

She added that they are very touched by the noble gesture being done to help other people, especially with regard to her foundation where they will now be able to print from normal to Braille, to browse the internet for e-mails and whatups among other things, to feel independent by being able to communicate with the outside world through a special blind shell smart phone, and to be able to read books, newspapers among other readable documents through the Hark Reader that turns printed text into speech immediately.

The Seychelles Breweries Ltd Foundation was launched to mark the company’s 50 years celebrations on July 10, 2022. The projects to be funded are vetted by the staff themselves through a point awarding system.

The awarded projects are as follows:

- Seychelles Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (SABVI) will purchase adaptive equipment to improve the well-being of the visually deficient community in the country. The equipment include Juliet Embrossers (to turn normal print to Braille), Hark readers to turn text into speech and Blind Shell Smartphones for communication.

- Bel Air Basketball Academy - funding to purchase basketball equipment to be used by members of the academy with the aim of bringing youths of the district together and provide them with positive activities to engage in. The academy will also help to groom players to represent their country in future.

- Elles Foundation - The funding will be used to build the capacity of parents through play and interactions. It is also to provide support and educate teenage parents on important social and health issues.

- HIV/Aids Support Organisation (Haso) - Funding for a train-the-trainer programme for people with disabilities so that they can have the competence to educate and create awareness among members of their community on HIV and gender-based violence.

- L-Foundation Seychelles - Support to facilitate access to resources and materials aimed at generating awareness and to educate the Port Glaud community on environmental issues such as climate change, resilient and mitigation through involvement in voluntary activities.

Text & photo by Patrick Joubert