As part of the Sanlam Group’s Blue Ladder initiatives for empowering students through education, especially in disadvantaged communities, Sanlam Zambia activated the 2019 initiative with a Literacy Awareness Campaign to highlight the literacy levels in the country – statistics revealed that only 4 out of 10 kids in Zambia can read or write.

Sanlam Zambia conducted a Literacy Awareness Campaign with a newspaper insert that had headlines written out, but the copy was written in gibberish to demonstrate how frustrating it can be when you can’t read or write. The backdrop of the campaign included desk donations to 10 schools and the construction of a classroom block in Mpongwe, in the central part of Zambia.

Sanlam runs an Annual Summer School for Financial Journalists. In 2019, Joshua Jere from ZNBC (Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, Zambia’s national broadcaster) was selected to represent Zambia in Johannesburg, South Africa, with all expenses paid plus pocket given. This prestigious programme is a must-attend for journalists. The 2020 intake was held virtually due to COVID-19 and a young female journalist, Jesse Lundu, from Sun FM in Kitwe represented Zambia.

In commemorating the 2019 Women’s Day celebrations, Sanlam Zambia chose to donate maternity pads to women in the cancer ward at UTH – the University Teaching Hospital.

In celebrating 2019’s Africa Freedom Day, Sanlam Zambia developed an initiative that celebrated Africa’s music icons through An African Medley. The initiative partnered with celebrated Zambian and international musician and legend, Maureen Lilanda, in a Facebook Live concert. The event was timely as the novel COVID-19 pandemic had broken out and people were staying home. It brought timely entertainment and helped gain significant reach and grew the likes on Sanlam Zambia’s Facebook page.

At the peak of COVID-19, in May 2020, the Government of the Republic of Zambia called corporates to a multisectoral approach to fight the novel Coronavirus – COVID-19 – pandemic. Sanlam responded to the call and donated various items that included ICU beds to the 10 provinces, as well as gloves, masks and hand sanitiser. The donation was aimed at assisting the frontline staff in helping them to deal with the pandemic. In addition, Sanlam also sponsored free counselling to the staff to ease their mental stress.