Abdul Raheem, CEO, Thank U Foods and VP, Indian Association for the Blind was crowned Medianews4u Gamechanger 2022 in the Social Impact category at the awards ceremony in Chennai on 31st May 2023.
The fifth edition of the annual event recognising path breaking contributions in the space of advertising, media and marketing awarded winners in 13 categories.
The citation reads as follows.
The GameChanger 2022 Award for Social Impact is conferred on Abdul Raheem, CEO, Thank U Foods and VP, Indian Association for the Blind:
- For creating a successful business in D2C and food retail with the sole purpose of employing the blind.
- For building a company where half the employees are visually and otherwise disabled, and a further 35 pc are women from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- For taking South Indian delicacies to a national audience online, finding acceptance and growing manifold.
- For training the visually challenged to stand on their own and championing their self-reliance, while standing tall as a brand, thereby showing others in the social impact space the value of self-reliance.
Receiving the award, Raheem said, “Thanks Medianews4u for conferring the award on Thank U Foods. It’s so good to have in this space a social impact organisation being awarded. This feels special because this is the first time we are being recognised for the brand that we have built – Thank U Foods. We wanted to create a brand which was sustainable, creating a livelihood for the differently-abled people and turn them into entrepreneurs in the long term.”
“We are from a village in Madurai, from where in the two years of existence, products made have reached over two lakh customers creating livelihood for over 50 differently-abled people. Media support has been immense and we want to take this brand across the globe. I hope we receive further recognition and coverage so that this can become a community movement. So that people recognise the potential of differently abled people and do not see them with sympathy. Because given the right opportunities, they can be as good as anyone or even better,” he added.
