Boutique urges businesses give back after school water cooler gift

Fusionz Boutique is hoping its latest act of community support will inspire other businesses across Barbados to do the same after donating a water cooler to Cuthbert Moore Primary School at St Helen’s, St George on Tuesday.

The donation was presented to the school by representatives of the retail business as part of what the company said was its ongoing commitment to supporting communities across the island.

Floor manager Roger Agard told Barbados TODAY that giving back has always been part of the company’s philosophy and stressed that the donation was not a one-off gesture.

“In terms of the future, as we grow in our country as an entity, we intend to help and donate to our community. We’ve always been a community-based enterprise or business,” he said.

Agard explained that Fusionz Boutique has supported schools before and intends to continue doing so as the company expands:

“This is not the first time that we’ve donated to a school. We’ve donated to schools before and this is something we’ve done before. We intend to be a part of the community.”

According to Agard, the handover at Cuthbert Moore Primary School was warmly received by the principal Andrew Haynes and senior teacher Rhonda Mayers.

The floor manager noted that the company’s outreach has extended beyond schools located near its stores.

“We have donated to schools not only near. We’ve done schools in the St Michael area. We’ve also done schools in the St George area like Cuthbert Moore. We’ve also donated to St Alban’s and we’re into doing a number of other schools as we grow.”

The company’s ultimate goal is to encourage a culture of corporate responsibility throughout Barbados, he said.

“Our endeavour is to keep the community at hand so that other businesses will follow through and become a part of our legacy where we tend to keep doing and improving on our community.”

Business owner Yusuf Hafejee echoed those sentiments, saying the focus of publicising the donation was to highlight the positive impact businesses can have within their communities.

“The main emphasis for highlighting it is so other businesses can see… what can be done from a business perspective for the community,” he said.

The businessman, whose company opened its newest branch at Lower Estate on May 20, said he hopes the example set by Fusionz Boutique encourages more corporate citizens to play an active role in national development.

“It’s just highlighting what we’ve done so far as a business… and we encourage other businesses to do their part as well.”

(LE)