Regional retailer, Nakumatt Holdings, has announced a positive uptake for its recently deployed social causes fundraising option, on the firm’s retail technology platform.

In an innovative approach towards the support of various social causes, Nakumatt Holdings, has opened up its Loyalty Card programme featuring more than 1 million loyal shoppers, as a fundraising tool with marked success in the last two weeks leading up to Mashujaa day.

As part of the programme, Nakumatt Shoppers, will now have a periodic opportunity to redeem and donate, their Smart Points, to specific worthy causes. Besides Smart Point redemption, Nakumatt has also added a convenient- donate-at the till feature, for customers wishing to top up, or make their donations, as they pay for their shopping.

Speaking, when he provided a mid-term update on the ongoing Fundraising initiative in aid of the Faraja Cancer Support Trust , Nakumatt Holdings, Regional Strategy and Operations Director, Mr. Thiagarajan Ramamurthy, said the program, has so far raised more than Kshs 5million indicating a positive uptake by the retailer’s customers, suppliers and partners.

For the second year running, Nakumatt in conjunction with Faraja Cancer Support Trust have partnered to mobilise funds and raise awareness for cancer treatment and provide access to life-saving cancer screenings.

The ongoing fundraising initiative, affords Nakumatt customers an opportunity to redeem and donate their accrued loyalty points at the rate of Kshs 2 per point in support of cancer awareness and management programmes run by the Faraja Cancer Support Trust.

“On this specific initiative, we are targeting a more than kshs 12million collection throughout the month of October as part of Nakumatt’s corporate contribution to raising further awareness on cancer,” Ramamurthy said, adding, “by deploying our retail technology solutions, we are glad to be building a bridge between social causes and effective fundraising options.”

The retailer, he, added will continue providing a convenient platform for crowd sourced donations at the till in all its 54 branches across East Africa.

The fast uptake of Smart Point redemptions for a worthy cause such as cancer management and awareness, he noted has also proved the effectiveness of the programme. Comparatively, Nakumatt has been facilitating smart point redemptions for a variety of other causes including school fees cheques to its loyal customers.

Last year through the Nakumatt fundraising option at the till successfully raised, Ksh5million, funds that have now been channeled towards the care and treatment of 6 patients suffering from cancer.

The money also assisted in cancer screening efforts in Kisumu and Thika, with 1,622 people undergoing screening. From the screened cases, 103 were identified as suspicious cases- however only 3 were diagnosed with cancer and are currently undergoing treatment.

By raising awareness on cancer, the Faraja and Nakumatt partnership, further, seeks to boost survival rates as global research confirms that when detected early - localized stage - the five-year survival rate is 98 per cent for breast cancer victims. Regrettably due to low awareness, over 30 per cent of women are routinely diagnosed with breast cancer only after it has spread beyond the localized stage.

“At Nakumatt, we shall also be actively facilitating access to information through our in store platforms as we seek to encourage proactive cancer management and prevention in conjunction with Faraja Cancer Trust,” Mr. Thiagarajan said.

According to a report by the International Journal of Cancer, disparities predominantly arise from inequities in work, wealth, income, education, housing and overall standard of living, as well as social barriers to high-quality cancer prevention, early detection and treatment services.

Additionally, persons with lower socioeconomic status are more likely to engage in behaviors that increase cancer risk such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, and poor diet due to environmental or community barriers.