The British Asian Trust Co-Launches the Climate Innovation Fund

Lyca Group chairman and founder Allirajah Subaskaran leads a conglomerate of companies spanning numerous different industries, including healthcare, telecommunications, media and entertainment, marketing, technology, hospitality, travel and financial services. He has received numerous coveted awards throughout his 18 years of business leadership and entrepreneurial activities, including a Platinum Award for Business Person of the Year from the Asian Achievers Awards and the Golden Peacock Award for Entrepreneurship from the Asian Voice Political & Public Life Awards. You can learn more about the Asian Voice Political & Public Life Awards by viewing the attached video.

Allirajah Subashkaran is proud to serve on the Advisory Council for Sri Lanka for the British Asian Trust. The British Asian Trust was founded in 2007 by King Charles III and a group of British Asian business leaders with the goal of tackling inequality, injustice and poverty in South Asia. This article will look at the British Asian Trust’s partnership with the SAJIDA Foundation, a collaboration that culminated in the creation of the Climate Innovation Fund.

Co-launching the Climate Innovation Fund, the British Asian Trust and SAJIDA Foundation aim to pave the way for the creation of innovative Bangladesh-based solutions to mitigate the ongoing threat of climate change by enhancing climate resilience in the country. With an initial joint commitment of $1 million, the fund aims to mobilise further partnerships and funding.

Bangladesh currently ranks in seventh place on the Global Climate Risk Index. Due to its high poverty rate, population density and unique geography, Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with the United Nations estimating that within the next three decades some 13.3 million Bangladeshi citizens could be displaced due to rising sea levels, threats to agriculture and water scarcity. The attached infographic contains some startling facts about the global impact of climate change in 2023.

Recognising the need to invest in Bangladesh-led climate innovation, the Climate Innovation Fund will offer support and grants to help local people establish and expand the most impactful solutions to promote climate resistance. Applications are now open for grants of up to $80,000, facilitating the development of solutions to some of the biggest climate challenges faced by Bangladeshi communities, covering sectors such as water security, food security, agriculture and livelihoods.

Reflecting on its partnership with SAJIDA Foundation, the British Asian Trust said it was delighted to announce the launch of its new Climate Innovation Fund to identify and support Bangladeshi innovations to enhance climate adaptation and resilience. The attached PDF contains more information about the British Asian Trust and its game-changing impact on communities across South Asia today.

About the Gnanam Foundation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gnanam Foundation was founded by Allirajah Subaskaran, Prema Allirajah and Gnanambikai Allirajah, who the charity is named after. This article will take a closer look at the NGO and its work, providing lifechanging and lifesaving funding for people, families, and communities in some of the world’s poorest areas and providing assistance to those most in need.

The Gnanam Foundation aims to enable people, improving lives on an individual, family and community basis. The charity bases its projects on the premise of ‘teach a man to fish’, not merely focussing on short-term improvements but creating enduring stability in the communities it serves. The charity seeks to achieve this by providing safety, shelter, medical care and educational support, helping people and communities to develop skills and gain independence.

In Sri Lanka, the Gnanam Foundation continues to deliver humanitarian assistance to northern and eastern communities, helping to rebuild lost livelihoods that were destroyed by a prolonged civil war combined with several natural disasters.

The Gnanam Foundation has funded life-changing rainwater harvesting projects across Sri Lanka’s Jaffna Peninsula. In August 2016, a special ceremony was staged at Velanai Pradeshiya Sabha auditorium to distribute water tanks to local people. Several families from the Velanai region were provided with rainwater collection tanks at the ceremony, which was attended by former Sri Lankan President the Honourable Chandrika Bandaranyake. Governor Reginald Cooray, State Minister Wijekala Maheshwaran and Chief Minister C.V. Vickneshwaran were also present at the event.

At the ceremony, it was revealed that some 375 water tanks would be provided to local people in total, with 142 tanks distributed throughout Kytes, 109 tanks distributed across Velanai, 96 tanks allocated for Maruthankeni, 10 tanks reserved for Chavakcheri, 10 more for Pointpedro, and 8 tanks allocated to Karavetti.

Lyca Group founder and committed philanthropist Allirajah Subashkaran, co-founder of the Gnanam Foundation, spearheaded the initiative. Under his stewardship, 80 million Sri Lankan Rupees in funding had been earmarked for the rainwater harvesting project, paving the way for construction of 1,000 Nos Cement Ferro Tanks across the Jaffna Peninsula, enabling some 1,000 recipients to benefit under the initiative.

On 17^th August 2016, a special awards ceremony was staged at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, which was attended by the Gnanam Foundation’s co-founders Gnanambikai Allirajah, Preema Subaskaran and Allirajah Subaskaran. Gnanambikai Allirajah, mother of Allirajah Subaskaran and the Gnanam Foundation’s namesake, was honoured by the Global Officials of Dignity of the United Nations, receiving its Global Woman of the Year Award. The same year, the Gnanam Foundation was recognised by the Global Officials of Dignity as the Greatest Humanitarian Service Organisation of 2016.

The Gnanam Foundation’s goal is to open doors, providing opportunities for marginalised individuals and families and helping them to enhance their quality of life by increasing their household income. In addition to its long-term community projects across Sri Lanka, India, Tanzania, Sudan, Pakistan, Romania and the Philippines, the Gnanam Foundation also provides emergency aid and assistance, responding rapidly to emerging crises such as the Ebola infection epidemic and tsunamis.

Allirajah Subaskaran launched the Gnanam Foundation with the overriding objective of showing compassion to those in need, operating with the ethos that the charity may not be able to help everyone but that everyone can help someone. To that end, Allirajah Subaskaran, his wife and mother and the Lyca Group family is committed to providing help to marginalised communities around the world, improving lives on an individual, family and community-wide basis by prioritising long-term change and improvement over temporary solutions.

The Gnanam Foundation provides communities with the opportunities they need to achieve independence, offering shelter, safety and medial care. In addition, the charity helps people, families and communities to improve their prospects by honing their skills, helping those in impoverished communities to boost their quality of life by enhancing their earning capacity.

Recognising education as a vital conduit in terms of breaking the cycle of poverty and enabling communities to thrive and modernise, the Gnanam Foundation places an emphasis on learning, with a keen focus on literacy, numeracy and skill-based learning, enabling generations to come to build bridges and save lives in communities that may otherwise remain trapped for decades due to the cyclic nature of poverty.

In the realms of health care, the Gnanam Foundation recognises the importance of communities all over the world benefitting from access to clean water and medication. Although the need for clean water and decent healthcare is obvious, an increasing number of people around the world today are sadly missing out on the basic services that can not only save and change lives but transform whole communities.

The Gnanam Foundation is committed to establishing frameworks in local communities that promote safe communities while providing a means for local people to support themselves, helping them to grow their independence and break the cycle of poverty.

What Is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lyca Group founder and group chairman Allirajah Subaskaran launched Lyca Mobile with the vision of connecting families and friends irrespective of how far people venture from home. Under Allirajah Subashkaran’s leadership, Lyca Mobile has grown to become a world-leading mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), boasting more than 16 million users globally, with a new customer signing up every two seconds.

This article will look at the role of MVNOs in delivering mobile phone network coverage to consumers at vastly reduced rates compared with traditional mobile network operators (MNOs).

MVNOs rent infrastructure from one or more MNOs. Since an MVNO does not incur the same level of expense as that involved in building and maintaining a network of masts and paying for bandwidth, MVNOs are able to offer consumers low-cost call and data deals, as well as a variety of other benefits.

An MVNO is a communications service provider that does not rely on its own infrastructure to provide connectivity. Instead, MVNOs lease capacity from MNOs at wholesale rates, reselling this to customers at a lower retail price. While MNOs operate their own infrastructure, MVNOs rent it from MNOs.

Since MVNOs do not need to build and maintain infrastructure or pay for expensive radio frequency spectrum licenses, they can afford to mark down their retail costs, enabling them to invest more in marketing as they have low overheads, boosting their chances of selling minutes to customers. MVNOs principally offer prepaid wireless plans on a subscription basis.

An MVNO may rely on another organisation known as a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE) to handle sales and customer care aspects for them. MVNEs specialise in managing and promoting mobile services. An assortment of different phone pans are available with MVNOs today, with some minor carriers even allowing customers to create their own wireless plan.

Despite the fact that most MVNOs do not offer as many plan features as MNOs – for example roaming and streaming incentives etc. – MVNOs compensate for this by offering special deals on plans, making the MVNO a more attractive proposition for customers on a tight budget.

Most MVNOs offer an impressive range of different handsets, with some working with third-party financiers to provide customers with monthly payment plans. Many MVNOs allow people to bring their own device if they are not in the market for a new handset, provided that it is unlocked and compatible with their network.

Put simply, MVNOs buy phone and data packages in bulk from MNOs, reselling them to their users. MVNOs offer the same connectivity services as MNOs including voice services, SMS services, MMS services, data services and broadband services.

In the United Kingdom today there are numerous MVNOs, making the mobile telecommunications market incredibly competitive. However, in terms of MNOs, the UK has just four: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.

MVNOs provide the same service as MNOs with no difference to the consumer in terms of connecting to the network, getting online and making calls. The difference between MVNOs and MNOs is only apparent when looking beyond the basics of getting online.

EE, O2, Three and Vodafone tend to offer a variety of different added extras in their mobile deals, for example subscriptions to streaming services, priority concert tickets and technology. That said, MVNOs offer some significant advantages over traditional mobile network operators. As running an MVNO incurs considerably less cost than running an MNO, MVNOs can pass these savings on to customers, offering low-cost call and data packages. In addition, many MVNOs offer a wide range of affordable handsets, although some do not offer handsets at all, instead concentrating on presenting competitive SIM-only deals – an attractive option for customers who already have a handset and are primarily concerned with finding a low-cost plan.

Some MVNOs offer the added incentive of enabling customers to support causes they care about by partnering with socially responsible organisations like Fairphone and Fairtrade or investing in green energy. Meanwhile others, like Lyca Mobile, focus on enabling consumers to make low-cost international calls, allowing customers to keep in touch with their family and friends irrespective of where they may be in the world.

About Lyca Group

Lyca Group is a multinational organisation incorporating 16 subsidiaries operating in a variety of different industries, including telecommunications, healthcare, travel, financial services, technology, hospitality, media and entertainment, and marketing. The company grew from the vision of its founder, Allirajah Subaskaran, who is committed to connecting friends and family all over the world, no matter how far Lyca Mobile customers may venture.

Since Allirajah Subaskaran founded Lyca Mobile in 2006, the company has gone from strength to strength, establishing itself as the world’s largest global MVNO and enabling customers to share meaningful connections no matter how far the distance is between them. Over the years, Lyca Group has thrived and diversified. Bold, agile and daring, Lyca Group and its subsidiaries remain as committed as ever to providing innovative, customer-first experiences.