Getting it right with CSR!

Announcing the launch of The Ma Foi Foundation (TMFF) yesterday, Latha Rajan, Director of the company, and Chairperson-Trustee of TMFF, averred that the spadework for the project had started nearly four years ago, and that its fundamental objectives were to harness the education, employability and NGO capacity building potential of communities.

“We have sporadically been doing a lot of work, both as a company and as members of the Confederation of Indian Organisations for Service and Advocacy (CIOSA), and so we decided to give our activities a forward thrust, and had our unofficial launch in July. The main focus areas will be on children, and empowerment of kids, which is more than just money – it is about boosting children’s self esteem, and giving them confidence. Our ‘Disha’ scholarships initiative – a pioneer venture by TMFF - presently covers 600 children, in rural and central Chennai, and we’ve also supported different projects through the Sornammal Education Trust (SET), today the Sornammal Matriculation School run by the SET in a slum in Ayanavaram hascome a long way since its inception in 2001, in providing a quality education to under privileged children,” she pointed out.

“We are also planning to empower youth in our next phase, followed by women.
For the youth, the initiatives will comprise vocational training, our real forte is the soft skills updation, and I do hope this will give them the abilities needed to be self sufficient,’ Latha Rajan said.

She also hoped that more people would come forward to support the merit-cum-means scholarship given to selected students throughout their academic years, which amounted to Rs.1,200 to Rs.1,500 every year during their schooling and Rs.5,000 or more depending upon the careers chosen by the students. Each scholarship student gets to attend four classes a year on different topics on life skills and career education. “Willing members of the public could also join the programmes and contribute in the training content, remember every drop counts and adds on to make the ocean,” she said.

Those interested in making contributions to Disha, can make out the cheque for the required amount to The Ma Foi Foundation, and send it to Ma Foi Management Consultants Limited, First Floor, #49, Cathedral Road, Chennai – 600086.