Landmark Group brands and the Jagtiani Foundation commit AED 15 Million to support communities impacted by COVID-19 across Middle East & India

• Working with non-profits and public healthcare on the frontlines for immediate on-ground support towards local communities in need.
• In India, the Group is providing direct aid to hospitals and food relief targeted to daily wage laborers and unorganized sector

Dubai: Landmark Group’s home-grown brands in Middle East & India, along with The Jagtiani Foundation, the private philanthropy arm of the Jagtiani Family, have formed a united front to help with relief efforts in the region and India to help meet the critical needs of those severely impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Led by the values instilled by the family and the Group’s CSR mission which focuses on the health and wellbeing of local communities, a sum of AED 15 Million has been committed towards supporting and empowering those affected by the pandemic.

Renuka Jagtiani, Chairwoman and CEO, Landmark Group, said, “The Middle East and India have been home to us for several decades, and therefore we have pooled our resources from the Group & the Jagtiani Foundation to work on ground and support those have been impacted by the crisis. We have tried to reach people across our value chain and by prioritizing the health and safety of our employees and customers, as well as continuing to engage our partner factories in relief efforts and with communities in garment hubs across India. In addition, we are working closely with accredited NGOs, food banks and healthcare workers on the frontlines to provide aid to help local communities where we operate in need directly in the GCC and India.

So many people across the globe have been impacted by this pandemic, and our thoughts are with everyone whose lives have been affected.”

Landmark Group and The Jagtiani Foundation have joined forces with public health partners, non-profit and civic organisations, and have made donations to Covid-19 Relief Funds to ensure urgent help for vulnerable communities, providing food rations for expat and local low-income families, daily wage earners and textile workers. Relief efforts are also focused on providing important resources like medical equipment and supplies to frontline workers in collaboration with our partner factories. The LIFE Foundation, a registered trust founded by Micky Jagtiani in 2000, that supports the public education system in Mumbai working in over 2,000 child care centres and over 160 schools, has also pivoted its programmes to provide aide to underserved populations and workers on the frontline.

All the Landmark brands will back the collective efforts. In the Middle East, the relief efforts will be backed by all Landmark Group retail & hospitality brands: Centrepoint, Splash, Babyshop, SHOEMART, Lifestyle, Max, Home Centre, Home Box, Emax, Shoexpress, Shoemart International, Landmark Leisure, Citymax Hotels, Fitness First and Foodmark.

In India, Lifestyle, Max, Home Centre, Easy Buy and SPAR Hypermarkets will support the initiatives on ground.

The Details:

MIDDLE EAST

• In the UAE, the Landmark Group brands have come together to support the "The Fund for the United Arab Emirates: Homeland of Humanity". The fund has been launched, under the guidance and directions of the UAE’s leadership, in coordination with the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NECDMA) and the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC), to facilitate community contributions towards combating the COVID-19 outbreak, by providing food rations and medical supplies to those worst affected. Along with a donation to the fund, the Landmark Group will also extend the initiative to their own employees, customers and partners through online communication to further strengthen the community contributions towards the noble cause. 

• In Saudi Arabia, Centrepoint, Splash, Babyshop, SHOEMART, Lifestyle, Max, Home Centre, Home Box have collaborated with the Kingdom’s largest food bank, Eta’am, to distribute quality meals to vulnerable communities. As a part of the initiative, Landmark Group brands will donate proceeds from their online sales to feed people in need. Landmark Arabia will also extend the initiative to their customers across stores in Saudi Arabia, who will be given the option to add at will, SAR 5, 10 or 50 to their bills to help feed local communities in need. Landmark Arabia employees are also joining the cause by donating hot meals to the Saudi Food Bank, towards people in need.

• In Saudi Arabia, Centrepoint joins hands with Al Nahda Society to provide laptops for children of underprivileged women-run households to support their distance learning.

• In Kuwait, Landmark Group brands have donated laptops to the Kuwait Ministry of Health to support the Government’s proactive efforts on COVID-19 testing across the country.

• In Bahrain, the Group has partnered with the Capital Governorate, which includes Manama, to donate food packs to vulnerable blue-collar workers.

• To support and recognize efforts for those in the healthcare system in Oman, Landmark Group’s Centrepoint, in collaboration with non-profit Al Rahma Association, will provide hot meals to healthcare workers dedicated to the fight against COVID-19, as well as provide food packs to vulnerable families across the Sultanate.

INDIA

In India, the Group’s brands, alongside The Jagtiani Foundation and The LIFE Foundation have pledged to support and empower affected communities including migrant and garment workers, front-line personnel, low-income families and other vulnerable individuals.  

• The Jagtiani Foundation is working directly with government hospitals to provide Personal Protective Equipment and masks to frontline healthcare workers, working with Max India to leverage the Group’s partner factories in India to channel resources through its existing supply chain and working communities. The Foundation is also working with a network of reputed local non-profit organisations, such as Apnalaya, Jan Sahas, Oscar Foundation, SAVE and READ, to provide access to food for underserved populations including low-income families, daily wage earners and migrant workers. In addition to funding these organisations, the Jagtiani Foundation, as well as The LIFE Foundation have also partnered with Spar Hypermarkets to ensure good quality rations are made available in the quickest possible manner.  The Foundation, in its first phase, is focusing resources in Mumbai, one of the hardest hit cities in India, as well as in Coimbatore and Tiruppur, a major textile and knit wear hub contributing to 90% of total cotton knit wear exports from India.

• The LIFE Foundation has dedicated its COVID-19 efforts to providing food rations and hot meals for labourers, villagers, street dwellers, elderly citizens and children, as well as PPE Kits, sanitizers, masks for frontline workers in police stations and public hospitals. The LIFE Foundation is also working to provide medical equipment, having recently donated to the paediatric ward ICU Nair Hospital, Mumbai.

• Lifestyle International Private Limited (LIPL) will continue to work with its partner NGOs, pivoting existing programmes to address immediate needs of those impacted by COVID-19, providing humanitarian relief and strengthening public health systems. This includes working providing food packs to daily wage earners and migrant workers, as well as medical supplies to government healthcare facilities.

About Landmark Group

Founded in 1973 in Bahrain, the Landmark Group has successfully grown into one of the largest and most successful retail organisations in the Middle East and India. An international, diversified retail and hospitality conglomerate that encourages entrepreneurship to consistently deliver exceptional value, the Group operates over 2,100 outlets encompassing over 30 million square feet across the Middle East, North Africa, India and South East Asia. 

Landmark Group has a strong workforce of over 55,000 employees and provides a value-driven product range for the family through its retail concepts: Centrepoint, Babyshop, Splash, SHOEMART, Lifestyle, Max, Shoexpress, Home Centre, Home Box, Emax and UAE’s first food discounter, VIVA. In addition to the brands developed in-house, the Group also holds the franchise rights for some of the world's leading fashion and footwear brands in the countries where it operates.

The Group brands ensure the delivery of a seamless shopping experience to customers through a keen focus on their e-commerce and omni-channel capabilities

The Group has also diversified in the leisure, food and hospitality with Landmark Leisure, Citymax Hotels, Fitness First and Foodmark, the restaurant division, which operates the Group's own and franchise food outlets.

As a high-volume retailer, Landmark Group operates the MENA region’s largest privately-owned logistics and distribution hub. The company has now advanced to offer 3PL Logistics services with the launch its fully-automated Mega Distribution Centre at JAFZA, Dubai under the brand name of Omega Logistics.

About Landmark Group, India

In 1999, Landmark Group entered India, to revolutionize retailing in the country with the introduction of Lifestyle Stores. Currently in its 21st year of retailing in India, Landmark Group has launched several innovative retail concepts in the country including Lifestyle, Home Centre, Max and hospitality concepts, Spar Supermarkets and Hypermarkets, Fun City, Citymax and Krispy Kreme. For more information, please visit www.landmarkgroup.com 

For more information, please contact:

Yasser Alvi | Rawan AlHosban
ASDA'A BCW
Tel: (+971) 4 4507 600
Email: yasser.alvi@bcw-global.com | Rawan.AlHosban@bcw-global.com 

© Press Release 2020