Nation Publications Limited (NPL) has emerged Social Impact Innovation (SII) 2019 Cohort Pitch Competition overall winner after presenting an impressive pitch of its flagship annual Mother’s Fun Run project.
The competition was held yesterday at Ufulu Gardens in Lilongwe where 20 social innovation competitors assembled for the SII-Malawi 2019 Future Summit organised by the Segal Family Foundation, a philanthropic organisation that supports SII.
As overall winner, NPL received $10 000 (about K7.6 million), followed by Centre for Youth and Development who pocketed $5 000 (about K3.8 million) in the SII category.
In the Impact Pitch category, Padziwe came first and got $5 000 followed by M-Khusa who pocketed $3 000 (about K2.3 million).
One of the judges Emma Katengeza said NPL’s pitch impressed because it demonstrated the outstanding impact that Mother’s Fun Run makes in society.
She said: “We looked at the impact the innovation makes and while others concentrate on a specific area of coverage, the NPL Mother’s Fun Run reaches everywhere and that means given money, it will benefit people far from towns and cities.”
The NPL Mother’s Fun Run is an annual event which focuses on improving maternal health outcomes in public hospitals through mobilising medical resources for targeted district health facilities.
This year’s fun run, which takes place in October in line with Mother’s Day celebrations, seeks to raise K300 million for the promotion of safe motherhood at St Peter’s Hospital in Likoma and Ntcheu District Hospital.
On his part, NPL business development manager Chimwemwe Jere, who made the pitch, said focus was on the project’s impact and social connections to demonstrate its sustainability.
“The summit is about social impact and connections so in our pitch, we focused on the impact of Mother’s Fun Run and the partners that we work with,” he said.
Segal Family Foundation director of innovation Dedo N. Baranshamaje congratulated the winners and encouraged the participants to show up again in future competitions.
Other participants in the SII category got $3 000 each and those in the Impact Pitch category were also recognised.
According to www.segalfamilyfoundation.org, SII-Malawi was launched in 2016 and since then, dozens of organisations have graduated from the programme, which is now in its fourth cohort.
