English 
Español
Français
Português19.02.2021
Yet another year, and the spirit of solidarity of the OLIPES workforce in partnership with the Abriendo Caminos Foundation has enabled us to ship a solidarity container to Benin – one of the poorest countries in central Africa - full of clothes, shoes, backpacks, school desks, computers, toys, balls, children's bicycles... and all the things we no longer need here and that they receive with unbridled joy and gratitude.
In addition to this vast amount of donated material, the Abriendo Caminos Foundation, to which OLIPES allocates more than 10% of its profits for social purposes, has also provided school supplies and a set of wheelchairs specifically requested by the people in charge of the local NGO IYA N'SA, with which this solidarity initiative is coordinated and which is responsible for distributing these 30 cubic metres of material to the most disadvantaged areas in the country´s hinterlands.
This was the second year Benin has been chosen as the beneficiary of this initiative carried out by the workforce and the company in conjunction with family members, acquaintances, associates... and which on other occasions has been geared to depressed areas in different African countries. All this is part of OLIPES´ DNA, aligned with its policy of corporate social responsibility, the most noteworthy contribution of which was the construction of an Educational Centre in Puma (Cameroon) for more than 1,000 children, which opened in 2018.
Benin is ranked the 129th economy in the world by volume of GDP and registered a per capita income of € 1,052 in 2018, reason for which it is near the bottom of the global GDP rankings, lying in position 163 of the 196 countries monitored. The Human Development Index or HDI, which the United Nations calculates to measure a country´s progress and which registers the standard of living of its inhabitants, illustrates that the Beninese people are among those with the worst quality of life in the world.
We hope our small gesture will bring a little joy and hope to these children, whose smiling faces always make our day.