We believe that God and man are equal partners in life. God always does his bit, and we need to do ours. The part of God’s 0.50 is always full. Therefore, at Joyalukkas, we decided to do our bit towards filling the part of our 0.50. That is how we began the drive for “My 0.50”.
The company’s staff voluntarily supports the “My 0.50” project by a daily contribution of only 0.50 Fils (.15 cents) of their salary to the fund. This operation is deployed by an automatic deduction of the total monthly amount from the salary of the employees. A provision is in place to allow for adjustments, should any staff member wish to top his monthly contribution by an additional amount. In addition to this, the Top Management adds an equal amount from their personal funds into the “My 0.50” Fund. The total monthly collection of the “My 0.50” fund is estimated and projections for Annual Collection are in place. Thereafter, Fund Allocation is done in advance so as to ensure a strategic utilization of the same.
It is fairly easy to succumb to the habit of doing a good deed once and then forgetting about sustaining it. Therefore, to walk the talk in a sustained manner, such thoughts need to be actioned and put onto a conveyor belt for self-propelled action. This self-propelled mechanism has been developed by simply depositing the salary of the staff into a separate bank account and entering the details of the same into the software. Thereafter, the usage of the fund is done in a transparent manner through the application form with appropriate scrutiny from various levels. The fund management can be tracked from the software, to the very last 0.50 Fils.
Deployment
The challenge was faced in understanding and deciding how to channelise these funds. This paved the way for us to develop an implementation strategy. The funds raised this way have been used for various social causes across the world such as: Medical Treatment assistance to patients such as those suffering from AIDS, cancer, renal failure or any other such major ailment, Jail Rehabilitation, Family Help, Air Ticket, Special Need, Education, Home Building, Old Age Home Care, Amnesty Help, Disaster Help, Marriage Help, Beyond Orphanage, Cloth Distribution Scheme, Sanitation Scheme in Rural Areas, Self Employment Machineries, Health Awareness Campaign, Monthly Caring Scheme, Child Caring Scheme, etc.
All these programmes are looked after with great passion by the CSR department at Joyalukkas. They identify those people whom they feel must be helped and mobilize their resources to do the needful. All the help extended through the “My 0.50” project is without any discrimination whatsoever, irrespective of caste, creed, age, gender, nationality, religion, etc.
The Fund utilization from “My 0.50” project is shown below. Each of the above has been consolidated on the basis of the general nature of expenses, and the company ensures that this assistance is provided directly to each of the beneficiaries by directly traveling to remote places and disbursements the assistance directly.
Our Action Plan to achieve this target is described briefly as under: The Company has devised several methods to strategically achieve the above target. Some of these methods are listed below:
1. A software has been developed to manage the funds in such a way that all the financial processes, personal information of beneficiaries, and all required reports are generated. In future, this will also be made freely available for other organizations aiming to independently emulate “My 0.50” in their own organizations, without any financial obligation/commitment to Joyalukkas Jewellery.
2. The company has made a list of Nursing Associations in Europe and USA. These Associations are being contacted so as to share this idea with them and thereby enable them as well to join the “My 0.50” drive.
3. Joyalukkas Jewellery is also endeavoring to rope in its large and varied Suppliers and get them also to join the “My 0.50” drive.
4. Joyalukkas aims to conduct a roadshow for its loyalty card customers, who are often in a position to either implement this project into their own businesses, or influence their organization to do the same.
5. Joyalukkas also encourages its loyalty customers to donate their loyalty points towards the “My 0.50” project, thereby enabling its customers from all walks of society to participate in this noble cause.
6. Joyalukkas will contact several schools to be able to involve the school children. This way, they will not only get this project started in the school itself, but also influence the young minds of children at an early stage and teach them to be altruistic.
Setting a good example:
Research conducted by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry revealed that consumers expect business in the country to engage with their community. The survey showed that a majority of consumers consider a company’s CSR activities as ‘very influential’ in their investment in a company. Therefore, we believe that it also makes good business sense to promote CSR activities within an organization. Further, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai also advocates this message strongly through the exemplary “Dubai Cares” initiative.
some other companies and organizations have already given shape to a contribution scheme in line with “My 0.50”. JAJ also has dedicated software for this, with a tracking system for all the funds spent. Should you also wish to embark upon this project and get “JOY”, and need any more information to implement this in your organization, please feel free to contact us anytime.