President of Rider Steel Company Limited, Ghassan Wathaifi bought items worth 30,000 dollars to be distributed to staff of the company as well as various children’s homes across the country. The gesture is to appreciate the hard work of the workers, a year after the company almost collapsed over high electricity tariffs.
As part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility, donations have been made to Marfo Children’s Care Foundation, Remar Children’s Home, Light House Christian Children’s Home among others. Some government schools and hospitals will also benefit.
The items being distributed include bicycles, children’s wear, bed sheets, mosquito nets, cutlery sets, stationery and many more. Staff of the company who have children, brought them over on Friday to receive the items. The workers expressed their appreciation to management of the company for the gesture.
One of them, Solomon Bediako, a father of two says the donation is the first he has ever experienced in his working life. “I’ve worked in many companies but I have never been given any of these gifts by management before. We are motivated to do more because we believe when the company succeeds, we will benefit too”, he said.
Already, management of Rider Steel Company pays the school fees of children of employees who have been working with them for more than 2 years. According to the Managing Director, TP Patnaik, the company doles out at least GHC 10,000 every academic term to cover the tuition of at least 70 children to the Senior High School level.
“If we do well, we can even pay the tuition to the university level”, he hoped.
The company almost collapsed last year as a result of astronomical cost of electricity being charged by the Enclave Power Company, the firm that supplies electricity to factories within the Tema Free Zones Area. The situation caused it to stop production for several months putting the jobs of some 400 workers at risk. The Jordanian investors of the plant were at the verge of withdrawing their investments at the time of government’s intervention.
The company is back to making profit and is looking to expand within the coming months. Mr. Patnaik said the donation by the Company’s President is an indication that we are not only here to make money and repatriate all of it abroad; we want to make an impact in the lives of those we work with as well as underprivileged children in the country.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
