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Leading Financial service group First Mutual has unveiled an $80 000 scholarship fund with the Reformed Church University (RCU) that will run until 2021. The RCU, First Mutual Scholarship fund, which is part of First Mutual’s corporate social responsibility, will be used to provide bursaries and ancillary support to primary school children with multiple vulnerabilities.
A total of $20 000 will be made available each year over the next four years to six potential beneficiaries. The money will cover tuition, boarding, fees and living expenses. The scholarship fund, which will assist beneficiaries from the Reformed Church University, will be awarded on the basis of humanitarian need and academic merit.
Speaking at the memorandum of understanding signing ceremony early this week, First Mutual Holdings Limited chief executive Mr Douglas Hoto said the partnership with the Reformed Church was one that they value as it is aligned to one of their core values which is “care”.
“As a responsible corporate citizen we care about the environment and communities within which we operate. We applaud the Reformed Church University of Zimbabwe for going beyond in the extension of their brand to include a university and particularly in special needs education which deals with learners with disabilities.
“Their ethos of continuous improvement and relevance to the Zimbabwean landscape is aligned to our ethos as a group. We believe in bringing economic dignity to our customers and this partnership is aimed at improving the lot of selected economically disadvantaged, gifted recipients reflects our brand positioning as we all work together to empower the recipients through education,” he said.
The Reformed Church University vice chancellor Professor Wiseman Magwa expressed his appreciation to First Mutual for the initiative which will go a long way to support the university whose bias is towards students with special needs and are physically incapacitated.
“We are greatly humbled to accept this noble commitment by First Mutual to support our institution which is a first of its kind since the inception of the university and we pledge our support for the implementation of the scholarship. We are proud to be associated with First Mutual,” he said.
The fund is an added opportunity for the expansion of the First Mutual Foundation whose main objective to afford bursaries and ancillary support to primary school children with multiple vulnerabilities.
First Mutual’s corporate social responsibility programme also extends to sports in schools through the partnership with the National Association of Secondary Schools (NASH) which promote sports in secondary schools.
Online Reporter