The First Lady’s Beyond Zero campaign has received a major boost for this year’s half marathon with donations of over Sh163 million for the March 10 race.
The race has received cash donations from traditional and new partners, sponsors and supporters. Donors included local media houses like Nation Media Group, Mediamax, Kass, Capital FM and the Standard Group who gave donations of Sh10 million, Sh25 million, Sh20 million, Sh12 million and Sh5 million respectively. Royal Media Services gave the First Lady an open cheque as a media monitoring firm, Magnate Ventures and Reelforge, donated Sh5 million.
Other corporate donors included the Commercial Bank of Africa, whose team, led by Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Ikindu Nguze, gave Sh30 million and the Co-operative Bank of Kenya which gave Sh20 million. Kenya Commercial Bank’s CEO Joshua Oigara led his team in donating Sh20 million. The Kenya Women Finance Trust gave Sh3 million while Coca Cola Africa and Parapet Cleaning Group gave Sh3 million and Sh2 million, respectively. Philips Group and oyota Kenya also contribjted the donations giving Mrs Kenyatta Sh1.8 million and Sh1.5 million respectively.
In a State House event that marked her first official engagement. First Lady Margaret Kenyatta also received additional support from Chinese Firm, Huawei Technologies, who presented 50 laptops to support healthcare delivery through the Medical Safaris.
Speaking at the Tuesday event, Mrs Kenyatta said the Beyond Zero Initiatives have had a huge impact in healthcare delivery to the financially challenged especially in the remote areas of the country. “The impact on the ground is truly amazing. You can feel it and you can see it,” she said.
The beyond zero campaign was launched in January 2014 by the First Lady. It was inspired by the realization and knowledge that maternal and children deaths are preventable. Mrs Kenyatta said her current focus is on obstetric fistula, a condition she said continues to frustrate many poor women.