Philanthropic Values: NAMBIYATTUKUDY PAPPACHAN MEMORIAL TRUST

"He who wished to secure the good of others, has already secured his own" - Confucious

Nambiyattukudy Pappachan was a survivalist. He had neither inheritance nor education to fall upon. He has a wife, three sons, George, José & Antony and a sister to them Susan. And he had to find their bread from his sweat. He did lease farming, traded in agriculture produce and whatever he could lay hand on. He always looked for opportunities. His wife was good at bamboo matting and together they rowed their boat of survival and existence. In the late 70s, when people around him took to rice milling as a backyard activity, he too jumped to the fray. And he had a vision, rice milling in a big way with modern machines, transport vehicles and the like. His sons joined him. He bought land in God forsaken villages at throw away prices, and drove away foxes and snakes. He bought a second hand rice mill, dismantled and shifted to his newly acquired land. He had plans but fate made him succumb to an accident when his first modern rice mill was under construction.

Not disheartened, his children George & Antony took over from where he had left. Their first modern rice mill, Nambiyattukudy Rice mill that used a locomotive boiler came into being in 1992, a rarity at that point of time. Within one and half decade, five more mills were added to their account. These were: Nambiyattukudy modern rice mill, Nambiyattukudy Agro Industries, Nambiyattukudy Agro Mills, Nambiyattukudy Food & spices, along with food processing units like Star foods & Godwin food products. Their turnover and asset holdings grew.

One thing that the late Pappachan was particular about was that his workers must be looked after well. He also believed that charity and prosperity are complementary. If you practice the first the later will follow. Both George & Antony liberally donated Cash & kind to orphanages, old homes, for medical assistance to poor, for sponsor education of the deserving, providing matrimonial assistance and houses for the homeless. They patronized every philanthropic activity that their Church conducted. Prompted by their mother, the brothers thought on an Institution that shall commemorate the memory of their late father. And this resulted in forming of a public charitable trust, viz., Nambiyattukudy Pappachan Memorial Public Charitable Trust registered in October 2003, with a corpus fund provided by Mrs.Aliya Pappachan, their mother. Ever since the formation of the Trust most of the charitable & Philanthropical services of the family are routed through the Trust and the audited accounts of the Trust show that up till now (31-3-2007) Rs320,723 has been spent on charitable activities as follows.

1. By Matrimonial assistance to wedding of poor brides:                     Rs.42000
2. By Educational assistance to poor students…                                Rs.28575
3. By Medical treatment assistance to poor patients                          Rs.18235
4. Philanthropical assistance like drinking water supply
   Hospital renovation, School uniform etc.,                                     Rs.181740
5. Other assistance through religious institutions                               Rs. 47372

Donations in kind         

At the cluster level, the Kalady Rice Millers Consortium (Pvt) Ltd. is another initiative running under the chairmanship of Mr. Antony. The facility at the KRMC provides free English classes to the local population and training in various skill development programmes etc. These courses ultimately benefit those who are economically backward by helping the participants of the course, secure jobs both within and outside the country.

To sum up, entrepreneurial leadership is seen as an important determining factor for sustainability and quantum of ESR (Entreprenrursip Social Responsibility) in this small cluster of Kalady, as seen by the examples of individuals sighted above. Someday, others also might follow the footprints of these leaders, channelizing their ESR activities through other institutions and move out of confining themselves to only religion-backed activities.