Ogilvy Africa, through its Give initiative, has partnered with Terumo Blood & Cell Technologies (Terumo BCT) to launch a humanitarian initiative through Coalition of Blood for Africa (CoBA). This will support adequate, safe and sustainable blood donation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ogilvy Africa, the largest communications agency network in the continent, has been supporting several organizations across the region by offering its services and counsel, pro-bono and on humanitarian pricing. Since the onset of COVID – 19 pandemic earlier this year, the agency has significantly scaled up its initiative, Give, to support more initiatives in several countries in Africa.
The CoBA coalition, convened by Terumo BCT, will be launching an information, awareness and education campaign via traditional channels and social media to rally for safe and sustainable blood donation across Sub Sahara Africa.
According to Terumo, most blood donors across the continent are college and university going students. However, with the pandemic this year and schools being closed, the levels of bloods available for patients is significantly low. This campaign is targeting to inspire healthy adults in SSA countries to donate blood during this critical time and even after the pandemic.
“With the world in crisis, we need to find new ways to serve the societies that have contributed so much to our business over the years. We’ve accelerated the Give initiative this year to help NGOs, companies and other bodies doing humanitarian work across sectors, markets and countries in Africa. Communication strategies are often a need-gap in community programs. We do enjoy doing marketing and communication strategies for businesses and corporate houses that help them succeed, but when the same skills come in handy for a humanitarian purpose, its significance feels far more satisfying.” said Vikas Mehta, Chief Executive Officer, Ogilvy Africa.
Give is an initiative of the people at Ogilvy Africa that’s purely voluntary for them to join. The agency now has over 50 of its people actively involved in this initiative.
Some of the notable partnerships under Ogilvy Give include the Jenga Jirani Festival in partnership with the Jonathan Jackson Foundation. This festival brought together over 50 local artists to perform in a vision of raising funds to help communities affected by the Covid -19 pandemic.
Ogilvy Africa’s offices are located in Nairobi, Dar-Es-Salaam, Accra, Lagos, Lusaka and partners in several other countries across Sub-Saharan Africa.