Media Release
Dubai, Feb 17: UAE-based multinational diversified group KEF Holdings, which specializes in innovative offsite manufacturing technology, has won the Gulf Sustainability and CSR Award for the best learning and education programme, for their interventions through the Faizal and Shabana Foundation.
The accolade recognized the company’s contribution to enhancing the quality of public education in India.
Engineer Mohamed Al Hosani, managing director of Tandeef, presented the award at a ceremony held at Jumeirah Creekside Hotel on February 15. The scheme rewards organizations, companies and individuals implementing outstanding sustainability and CSR initiatives across the region. Their objective is to share best practices and promote continuous improvement, learning and personal development.
Competing against the region's most prominent companies from diverse industries, KEF Holdings won the award for its transformative work in designing public education experiences that thousands of students benefit from. After the company’s Faizal and Shabana Foundation successfully overhauled the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School for Girls Nadakkavu in Calicut in the Indian state of Kerala, 65 other schools adopted the innovative education model. In addition, the Government of Kerala has decided to replicate the formula through its Mission 1,000 initiative.
Mark Hamill, managing director of Awards International, said: "We feel extremely privileged to have so many of the top companies in sustainability and CSR participating in our inaugural awards, and are delighted to provide the platform for leaders in the field to tell their stories.”
Accepting the award, Dr Joseph Sebastian, head of the Faizal and Shabana Foundation, said, “We set out to change lives among the most ignored segments of society in India, and realized that through a structured model of holistic development, we can create opportunities and empower future generations. The Faizal and Shabana Foundation hopes to take this vision across the world. We thank the Gulf Sustainability and CSR Awards for recognizing the potential of our work and look forward to participating in this forum in the coming years.”
About KEF Holdings (www.kefholdings.com)
Established in 2007, KEF Holdings is a new era social enterprise registered in Singapore. Founded by Faizal E Kottikollon, the company operates across India, the Middle East and Singapore. The company has five business verticals – KEF Infra, KEF Health, KEF Education, KEF Metals and KEF Investments – that focus on the infrastructure, healthcare, education, metals and investment sectors respectively. KEF’s industrial forte lies in its ability to create integrated business processes and deliver cutting-edge off-site construction technology and solutions, including precast, prefabricated bathrooms, joinery and aluminium glazing. The company applies this expertise in the creation and upgradation of essential infrastructure, such as educational, healthcare, commercial and residential facilities.
KEF Holdings is guided by the philanthropic vision of its founder and chairman Faizal E Kottikollon and his wife Shabana Faizal, co-founder and vice chairperson. The company, in close collaboration with stakeholders in the public and private sectors, actively drives, funds and supports high-impact social activities undertaken by the Faizal and Shabana Foundation. KEF Holdings does this through providing innovative industrial technologies, products and processes designed to create shared value through increasing productivity, quality and sustainability.
About the Gulf Sustainability and CSR Awards 2016
Held in Dubai, the awards provide recognition for companies and individuals implementing outstanding Sustainability and CSR initiatives across the region. The awards are supported by the headline sponsors Bee’ah with International Humanitarian City and Dubai Carbon as strategic government partners.