Woman Entrepreneur Raises Record Funds For Charity
By Shareen Han

Bandar Seri Begawan - A Bruneian housewife and entrepreneur has raised a record $7,630 for Standard Chartered Bank's 'Seeing Is Believing' fundraising initiative, while about $60,000 worth of total funds were raised for last year's Brunei Marathon.

Faridah Hanim Yusof said that the reason she participated in the fundraiser was to contribute her bit in making people happy, which gives her great satisfaction.

"I first read about the fundraising activity in a newspaper advertisement, and I took part because the funds were going to a charity rather than the usual process of paying administration fees," she said.

"I did not expect to win, but I asked them what was the highest amount of collection raised by an individual in the first Brunei Marathon, and they told me it was about $5,000," said Faridah.

"So I thought to myself that maybe I had a good chance of becoming the top fund raiser of the fundraising initiative," she said.

During the presentation ceremony to commend the efforts of the top three fund raisers, she told The Brunei Times that she did not experience any problem in trying to persuade people to contribute to a charity as "they were mostly generous people".

"It took me less than a month to raise the funds and I enjoyed taking part in the 10 km run, after training for about a month," said Faridah.

Faridah has won a return ticket to Brisbane, Australia, while Yap Chow Tun and Oi Mee won the second and third prizes - return tickets to Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur respectively.

Yap, who raised a total of $4,596, said he wanted to raise the funds because it was for a good cause for the blind.

"Whenever I have the free time, I would send e-mails and give my friends a call to ask for their contribution," he said.

Yap, who has been working as a logistics engineer for 32 years, added that he previously raised funds for schools and other associations.

This is the second year that he has participated in Standard Chartered Bank's fund-rasing drive and won a place among the top three for the second consecutive year.

Tiew Siew Chuen, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bank, said that 'Seeing is Believing' and many other initiatives, have resulted in the bank being awarded the Banker's Award for Corporate Social Responsibility Bank of the Year 2006.

"This achievement would not have been possible if not for the heart-warming efforts of our supporters and partners," she said.

"We believe that partnerships change lives, and as part of our brand promise to be the right partner, it is only fitting that we take this opportunity to thank all the marathon runners who contributed to the 'Seeing is Believing' initiative," she added.

More than 40 per cent of the 3,000 runners in the Brunei Marathon 2006, ran for 'Seeing is Believing' initiative.

The funds raised through the programme will go towards necessary operations, medical equipment, education, training and awareness on sight restoration to have a positive impact on the lives of about 10 million people worldwide. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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