Merck takes Corporate
Social Responsibility- CSR very seriously, they have demonstrated a long term
commitment to Africa’s social and economic development, they have engaged with
communities to understand the challenges and explore solutions and develop the
appropriate programs with appropriate engagement of local stakeholders and
partners.
We spoke with Dr. Rasha
Kelej; the Chief Social Officer of
Merck. An African woman and pharmacist from Egypt, she is there everywhere in Africa,
meeting with women and girls in Villages, Students at Universities as well as members
of parliament ministers and First Ladies; going seven layers beneath any problem,
digging for meaning, understanding and different perspective of Africa’s challenges,
asking too many questions to be able to touch people lives and leave an impact.
She has won the award
of women empowerment recently in Spain
as a recognition of Merck More than a mother campaign development and
implementation in Africa as well as empowering women in the fields of research
and healthcare.
She explained during
Merck more than a Mother recent event in Abidjan” I am extremely proud to work
for Merck, the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company which
established in 1668. Throughout all these generation CSR is part of Merck’s
DNA. Merck empowered me and my team to dedicate our time and resources for only
one objective, to add a concrete and measurable value to societies and
scientific community to improve access to innovative and equitable healthcare
solutions for Africa and developing countries” said Rasha Kelej , Chief Social
Officer Merck .
I learnt a lot from
working closely with Prof. Frank Stangenberg Haverkamp , The chairman of the
Executive Board and The Family Board of Merck, who have a great passion for
Africa, and dedicate a large part of his time to visit African countries to
contribute personally in all CSR programs to fulfil his commitment to build
Healthcare capacity and empower youth and women in the field of Healthcare and
research. He is been awarded with “HE for She” for Women
Empowerment Award.
I am also very happy to
work closely with Dr. Belen Garijo, CEO of Merck healthcare, my role model, she
is a strong, smart, elegant and successful woman. She inspires me and inspire
many other women. She also very dedicated to empower women and advocate for
gender equality across the globe.
We asked Rasha Kelej
about the secret of her success, she answered:
The greatest enemy of
success is the fear of failure, so you do not try to do something new. I always
explore my strengthes within me and take risk and start new things. I never
compare myself to others , I only compare what I done; not with what others
done, but with what I should or could have done.
“I also believe in
being there by myself, all my programs demand me to be there with them, with
people, with communities, it is very important to talk to people who affected
by the problems and who would benefit from solutions. I will do this all the
time, I will never give them up” Rasha confirmed
Merck has developed a
lot of initiatives under the umbrella of Merck Capacity Advancement Program-
CAP. In every initiative Merck gives back to society and contribute to the
African Development hence to Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs.
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