Spar scholarship programme gets thumbs up

FIRST LADY Auxillia Mnangagwa yesterday visited Spar Ashbrittle in Mt Pleasant, Harare, to express her gratitude for 50 scholarships the Spar Group donated to her organisation, Angel of Hope Foundation.

The supermarket group made the donation in recognition of the charity work the First Lady is doing across the country.

They announced the donation at Ashbrittle Shopping Centre last Friday after the clean-up exercise that was led by President Mnangagwa, prompting the First Lady to visit the supermarket yesterday to express her gratitude.

The First Lady also mingled with shoppers at Spar while she did shopping for foodstuffs and other basics for young girls from the country’s 10 provinces she is hosting at a boot camp in Harare. Amai Mnangagwa said: “I am so grateful to the Spar Group for their donation, which will go a long way in assisting the underprivileged children in our communities. They decided to help me in my philanthropic work and came up with this scholarship programme that will benefit children starting from ECD up to tertiary (level).

“I was not present when they made the pledge, so today I came here in person to thank them for their kind gesture.

“I am, therefore, pleading with other corporates to come aboard and assist the less privileged like what Spar has done.”

Amai Mnangagwa, who is passionate about women empowerment, revealed that the Spar Group also pledged to assist women from marginalised communities who are working with the Angel of Hope by buying their produce such as vegetables, fruits and poultry for resale in their shops.

The company’s human resources director, Mr Moses Chihuri, said the scholarships will benefit the less privileged children from ECD up to tertiary level. Mr Chihuri pledged his company’s commitment to assisting the First Lady in her philanthropic projects.

“We are thrilled that the First Lady came to meet us and we have honoured our commitment to pay school fees for 50 children starting from ECD up to tertiary (level).

“We are also going to partner her in other projects she is embarking on in this country through her charity organisation, Angel of Hope Foundation.

“As Spar Group, we are also calling upon women to bring their products to us. We want to empower women, the girl child and the less privileged.

“The First Lady has done a lot of good work to assist vulnerable groups, especially women and children, hence we decided to assist her as part of our corporate social responsibility,” he said.