This year’s Beyond Zero Half Marathon received a major shot in the arm with donations of over Sh163 million for the March 10 2019 race.

The Nation Media Group was among corporates that handed over sponsorship cheques to First Lady Margaret Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi. Nation Media Group Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gitagama and Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Clifford Machoka handed over a Sh10 million cheque to support the race.

Besides the cash donations from traditional and new partners, sponsors and supporters, the First Lady also received additional support from Chinese Firm, Huawei Technologies, who presented 50 laptops to support healthcare delivery through the Medical Safaris. Receiving the donations in an event that marked her first official engagement this year, the First Lady said the Beyond Zero healthcare initiatives, including the recently launched medical safaris, have had a huge impact on health delivery to vulnerable populations especially in hard to reach parts of the country.

“The impact on the ground is truly amazing. You can feel it and you can see it,” said First Lady Margaret Kenyatta as she thanked the 20 organizations for their support. The First Lady said her current focus is on obstetric fistula, a condition she said continues to frustrate many poor women.

All the chief executive officers and team leaders of the 20 corporate donors affirmed their support for Beyond Zero’s healthcare initiatives. The other corporate donors included the Commercial Bank of Africa, whose team, led by Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Ikindu Nguze, gave Sh30 million and the Co-operative Bank of Kenya which gave Sh20 million. Kenya Commercial Bank’s CEO Joshua Oigara led his team in donating Sh20 million. MediaMax, Kass, Capital FM, the Standard Group gave donations of Sh25 million, Sh20 million, Sh12 million and Sh5 million respectively. Royal Media Services presented the First Lady with an open cheque with others making contributions including Magnate Ventures and Reelforge, the latter a media monitoring firm, who gave Sh5 million each. The Kenya Women Finance Trust gave Sh3 million while Coca Cola Africa and Parapet Cleaning Group gave Sh3 million and Sh2 million, respectively. Other donors were the Philips Group who gave Sh1.8, and Toyota Kenya Sh1.5 million.