Americana marks 30th anniversary of launching its CSR march

03 / 02 / 2020

By Dina Diab - - | Edited by Marwa Nassar

Americana – the leading international food chain – marked the 30th anniversary of launching its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This coincides with its silver jubilee of opening the first KFC restaurant in Egypt with a full deaf and dumb crew.

During a press conference marking the event, Americana corporate communication department head Mai el Qenawi said Americana opened the first branch of KFC fully operated by youths of special needs in 1994 to be the first of its kind in the Middle East.

Believing in the capabilities of youths and the importance of giving hand to disabled youths, Americana opened the second KFC branch with fully handicapped youth crew in Alexandria.

Another branch for handicapped youths was opened in Roxy district in the Cairo suburb of Helioplis in 2012 in addition to one in Sheikh Zayed in Sixth of October city in 2014 with a crew of youths from various governorates.

About 70 youths are working in the four branches, he said, noting that the company is planning to open more branches to create more jobs for youths in 2020.

Qenawi said Americana’s CSR initiatives over the past 30 years contributed to improving people’s living conditions in addition to realizing development in the health, cultural, intellectual and educational scores.

The company’s CSR efforts are meant mainly to build youths’ skills to be able to fulfill their dreams.

The company has also been keen on supporting youths of special needs to get decent jobs. Qenawi said she is proud of inaugurating the first KFC branch with a fully-impaired team 25 years ago in order to secure a decent life for handicapped youths.

Americana educational initiatives:

Meanwhile, Americana Egypt Managing Director for restaurants sector Mohamed Ali Hassan said the company’s 30-year-long history of CSR overtures underlines Americana’s interest in developing society.

He referred to an initiative launched by the company to draw up a special educational curriculum for managing and operating restaurants.

The initiative was implemented in tandem with the ministries concerned, civil society organizations and the specialized international education partner City&Guilds.

He added that initiative aimed at honing skills of 2,000 students of hotel schools to be qualified to cater for the shortage in restaurants workforce.

He noted that the program targets students who obtained preparatory certificates in hotel education and belong to poor families in order to contribute to improving their social and economic conditions.

The three-stage program started with establishing two schools and additional school could be established. The schools are specialized in the restaurants score. The program’s schools grant successful students upper intermediate diplomas in addition to certificates from City Guilds, he said.

At the end of the third stage of the program, students get bachelor degrees in managing and operating restaurants under the blended learning program of the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Helwan University, in addition to City Guilds level 4 Hospitality management diplomas.

Americana plans to renew its blending learning program with Helwan University in addition to engaging in two blending learning programs with two other universities, he added.

Americana is among the first companies to cooperate with the Education Ministry in training youths to hone their skills to join the labor market. Within this context, the company launched its pioneering initiative for training youths to manage and operate fast food restaurants.

Americana company has cooperated with the Higher Education Ministry through developing models of specialized bachelor degree programs from which about 30,000 people have benefited so far.

Americana company has also collaborated with the Education Ministry and Misr El Kheir Foundation to implement an initiative which led to the establishment of Ahmed Ta’lab hotels school for applied technology in Cairo’s Nasr City, he said.

Under this overture, New Nozha secondary hotels school for applied technology will be opened, he said, noting that Americana seeks to qualify up to 2,000 graduates to join local and international labor markets within 10 years.

He added that the company also works on training teachers to adopt up-to-date technology in the educational process in addition to securing practical training for students at its affiliated restaurants.