In the month of Ramzan, Ufone is supporting a social enterprise called Rizq. Rizq was started in April 2015 by a group of young and self-driven boys, Huzaifa Ahmed, Musa Amir and Qasim javed. All three of them were on a mission to manage food wastage which they called ‘Rizq Bachao Bhook Mitao’.
The model is simple and it swiftly manages food redistribution. This is done by collecting surplus food at; restaurants, weddings, and households (usually thrown away) so it could be distributed in slums and food deficient areas of Lahore. Some of these areas do not have access to daily food items .
We underst and that corporate structures are difficult to deal with and that airtime is the business of media. We also underst and that we live in times where TRPs matter and anything that does not “sell” in the corporate world or does not bring the right ROI finds it hard to make its case.
Given all that we do appreciate this move to support causes that need media projection and hope that this initiates a new trend in the media buying space.
So this is how simple it is, Ufone will purchase media space on television channels and digital media throughout Ramazan to promote Rizq.
Ufone highlighted the partnership at an event held on Wednesday, 7th June 2017 at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Lahore.
The main objective of Rizq is to decrease food wastage that is rampant in our society and to feed the under nourished persons, particularly children. In the initial step, the Rizq team is identifying areas within Lahore, likely a slum or village.
Rizq’s Facebook page catalyzed 5,000 likes overnight after it came into existence.
On average, Rizq aspires to serve 200 to 250 meals every day, and the team aims to take this up to 2000 meals per day.
During Ramazan, Rizq also plans to arrange 2-3 Iftar dastarkhwans on different locations everyday to make food available for deserving people. There are plenty of causes that need media support and we hope that the impact helps corporate sector design its CSR strategy in a way that it can support more social causes.
There are many such initiatives run by individuals in our society however they are limited in scale. Now we can say that Pakistan has been privileged for having its own established food bank that channelizes excess food and has the potential to reduce hunger.