The Airtel team made the presentation on the charity’s premises on Tuesday, 24th October, 2023.

Mrs. Franca Nnedum, the Centre for Intellectual and Special Needs, established by the passionate and resilient provides essential services and support to individuals living with disabilities and their families.

Mrs. Franca’s journey, fueled by personal experience, serves as an inspiring testament to the strength of the human spirit.

As part of Airtel’s commitment to supporting individuals and communities in need, the telco has assessed the needs of the centre and has taken proactive steps by providing beneficial equipment to help improve the lives of the children and young adults who receive therapy and life training at the centre.

Speaking during the handover, Mr Carl Cruz, Airtel Nigeria CEO, who was represented by the Chika Obanor, Regional Operations Director, expressed Airtel’s commitment to making a meaningful impact in communities across the country.

“At Airtel, we are passionate about making a difference in the lives of individuals and communities across Nigeria. Going by this mission, our support to the Centre for Intellectual and Special Needs, a great organization that is dedicated to empowering those with special needs, is in line with our main objective which for over eight years has been driven by our Touching Lives programme,” he said.

During the event, Airtel officially presented to the centre a 5KVA generating set, laptops, a photocopying/scanner HP printer, wheelchairs designed for individuals with cerebral palsy, a Canon EOS 7D camera, cabinets, deep freezers, refrigerators, television sets, gas cylinders, sewing machines, and more.

Also speaking during the event, Founder of the Centre for Intellectual and Special Needs Support, Mrs. Nnedum, expressed her gratitude to Airtel Nigeria for the great support.

With an enthusiasm of gratitude, she said “On behalf of the staff of the centre, I appreciate Airtel for this generous support. These contributions are not just items; they are tools that will help us make a positive impact on the lives of people living with disabilities in Amukoko and the surrounding communities. Airtel’s commitment to the well-being of our community is a beacon of hope for us, and we are excited to continue our journey of empowering those in need.”

Airtel Nigeria’s ‘Touching Lives’ initiative has consistently demonstrated its dedication to supporting vulnerable communities and individuals.

The items donated to the Centre for Intellectual and Special Needs reflect the organisation’s commitment to fostering a more inclusive society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

The upcoming episode will feature the story of Eunice Nwokeocha, a young woman living with Albinism.

This genetic condition affects the production of melanin which is the pigment that gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes.

Due to the lack of pigmentation, Eunice has had to face various debilitating challenges such as vision impairment, skin cancer risks, job discrimination, and social exclusion. In her interview for the program, Eunice narrates how social isolation has prevented her from finding a good job, forcing her to start her own business. She also regrets how low understanding and awareness in Nigeria has created an unfriendly environment for people like her.

In the episode, it will be revealed how the telecom giant has intervened to offer relief to Eunice and further grow her business.

The new season of Airtel Touching Lives episodes, which officially premiered on Sunday, 25th of June 2023, feature several humanitarian projects that have benefited a large number of individuals and communities across Nigeria.

Commenting on the new series, Femi Adeniran, Director, Corporate Communications and CSR, Airtel Nigeria, highlighted some interventions that viewers are to expect.

“This season features stories that are not only touching but also eye-opening, such as the ones about an organization that cares for children with autism and learning disabilities, a community with an auspicious plan to train and empower its youth, and an individual who helps to prevent infant mortality,” he said.

This episode will also feature a revisit on the Ahmed story, an eight-year-old boy who is battling sickle cell anemia. Ahmed, born into a family with its own daily economic constraints, was in a degenerative state, requiring costly daily medication, until Airtel intervened to provide financial support for Ahmed’s parents.

Airtel Touching Lives Season 7 airs on Sundays on the following national and cable TV stations: African Magic Urban at 5:00 pm, NTA Network at 6:30 pm, and Startimes Channel 108 at 6:00 pm. Re-runs are broadcast on Tuesdays on African Magic Urban at 3:30 pm, and on Wednesdays on Startimes Channel 108 at 6:30 pm.

All episodes of Airtel Touching Lives are also available to stream on the Airtel TV app.

According to Airtel, the seventh season of the company’s award-winning CSR program, Airtel Touching Lives, will debut at the dinner, which is an event the company has said would highlight Airtel’s charitable endeavors for the year.

“This special event, which we are calling An Evening with Airtel, is specifically designed to bring people closer to the sustainability and philanthropic activities of Airtel Nigeria,” said Femi Adeniran, director of Corporate Communications and CSR.

Airtel has also disclosed that viewers should anticipate a new feel in the 7th season of Airtel Touching Lives, as the TV show will be hosted by Michelle Dede, a multilingual presenter and popular Nollywood actor.

Airtel Touching Lives is an inspiring corporate social responsibility initiative that seeks to offer practical relief, succour, hope, opportunities and credible platforms to liberate and empower the underprivileged, disadvantaged and hard-to-reach persons in the society.

The activities of the show are recorded and produced for national television with a view to promoting the spirit of giving, self-sacrifice and love among Nigerians. Since Airtel launched the Touching Lives initiative, it has achieved remarkable successes having restored hope of despaired individuals and families, saved many from the throes of death and empowered many underprivileged Nigerians.

Other prominent guests expected to grace the occasion are,

The Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Noimot Salako-Oyedele; the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah; Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning & Budget, Samuel Egube; Director-General of the Lagos State Pension Commission, Babalola Obilana; the CEO and publisher of Ovation International, Dele Momodu; amongst others.

According to Airtel, after the 7th season has been officially premiered at the CSR Dinner, the TV broadcast schedule will be officially announced.

Airtel as a telecommunications service provider is committed to its purpose of empowering and uplifting people and making a positive and lasting impact in the lives of its stakeholders. This is how Airtel hopes to earn its social licence.

A special purpose vehicle that is helping Airtel to connect with communities and its key stakeholders in Nigeria is the Airtel Touching Lives programme.

Birthed about eight years ago, its mandate is to offer relief and hope to the underprivileged and downtrodden while also inspiring the strong and privileged to support the vulnerable and the disadvantaged in the society.

This year, Airtel premiered the sixth season of the Airtel Touching Lives initiative at the Ebony Place in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital cit. The event, a VVIP occasion, was attended by several dignitaries, community stakeholders, corporate Nigeria, and key government functionaries.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Surendran Chemmenkotil, while speaking on the track record of the initiative, said Airtel Touching Lives has not only recorded milestones but has offered real help to individuals, communities, groups, and institutions since it was launched.

“In Season 6, Airtel Nigeria has helped to rebuild a dream, a life, a hospital. We helped children regain their confidence, get an education; and we provided free COVID testing for millions. We turned tears of sadness into tears of Joy,” he said.

Airtel Touching Lives, Chemmenkotil also noted, is premised on the philosophy that society will excel and triumph at a quicker pace as long as privileged people continue to support the needy.

This is why Airtel Nigeria, through the platform, has taken a step to institute and sustain a programme that will help uplift the underprivileged, the sick, the poor and the needy.

“At Airtel Nigeria, we are inspired to promote corporate philanthropy and sustainability and our Touching Lives platform affords us an opportunity to showcase our efforts and encourage other corporate entities as well as well-spirited individuals to join hands in improving our society.

“So, the philosophy is twofold: One, we are passionate about supporting the underprivileged and promoting Corporate Philanthropy, but we realize that we cannot do it on our own just as we understand that the Government cannot also not do it alone.

“Then, the second leg of our two-pronged approach is to rally important stakeholders across different sectors and geographies to support the needy and underprivileged persons across society.

“Airtel believes that if we are committed to giving and we also collaborate to solve some of society’s problems, we can make a huge difference,” Surendran said.

Airtel Touching Lives takes the format of a reality television show, allowing the public to nominate causes, communities, and underprivileged persons with special needs.

Airtel thereafter evaluates the nominations received from the public and selects the causes to support. The process of delivering on each cause is then filmed and broadcast on terrestrial and satellite television stations with the aim of inspiring other corporate organisations as well as well-meaning individuals to join in supporting the vulnerable across society.

Through the programme, Airtel has refurbished an ICT centre for a large community, built modern water borehole systems for a number of towns, refurbished cancer centres, restored a library for blind people, rehabilitated a clinic facility at a camp for internally displaced people (IDP), set up small scale businesses for underprivileged individuals, paid the hospital bills of indigent children and women, and flown many Nigerians abroad for complex medical procedures.

With season 6 of the Airtel Touching Lives programme coming to an end only last week, Airtel has demonstrated that it will not rest on its laurels and will continue to inspire others to also embrace the ideals of corporate philanthropy. And, judging by the Airtel’s pledge, we can be sure that the company will return with Touching Lives Season 7 sooner rather than later.  

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Erhumu Bayagbon is a Corporate Communications/PR | Sustainability|Product Marketing| Change & Crisis Communications specialist. He writes from Airtel Nigeria

This episode will focus on the travails of Ahmed Ahmed an 8-year-old Sickle Cell Anemia patient, and how the condition has impacted his indigent family.

Ahmed has sickle cell disease, a degenerative condition he receives medication for daily. Due to financial constraints on the family, Ahmed is presently unable to manage his fragile health status as his parents cannot afford the medication.

To make a bad situation even worse for young Ahmed, a domestic fire accident left him badly burnt leaving the family to grapple with the challenges of managing his Sickle Cell and treating burns.

To support Ahmed’s family, Airtel donated the sum of N500, 000 to clear up existing and current medical bills, they also donated N1.5 million educational scholarship for Ahmed and his siblings, and rented a two-bedroom apartment for 2 years, as well as provided home appliances for the family.

Episode one showed the story of a Kidpreneur by name Zita, a true example that anyone can make a difference no matter how old you are. Zita’s vision is to make sure no child on the street is hungry. From her sales of Shea Butter, Zita has being able to reach out to other kids by way of charity. 

Every episode features a revisit story from the past season, and the upcoming episode will revisit the story of Cole Evans, a fitness trainer who benefitted from season 5.

The 28-year-old fitness trainer who had lost all hope following a tragic accident that killed five people on the scene, was supported by Airtel with N8,000,000 (Eight Million Naira) for a corrective surgery in the United Kingdom.

As viewers would wonder how Airtel has had a sustainable impact on past beneficiaries, episode two will also show the current state of Cole Evans, and how his life was truly changed through Airtel’s intervention.

To follow up on the touching lives episodes visit here or download the Airtel TV App on IOS and Android play stores to watch this upcoming episode.

Viewers can also watch Airtel Touching Lives by tuning in to Magic Family Channel 154 and GOTV Channel 2 from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The same episode will air from 7:00 pm to 7:30 pm on AIT Channel 253 on DSTV. On Sunday, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., a rerun will be broadcast on Africa Magic Family channel 154.

The programme will however break exclusively on Airtel TV today, 9^th June, allowing viewers to catch a foregleam as well as the full episode 1 of the show via the following link here or they can download the Airtel TV App on IOS and Android play stores.

According to the broadcast schedule released by Airtel Nigeria, the first episode will air on Africa Magic Family Channel 154 and GOTV Channel 2 from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The same episode will air from 7:00 pm to 7:30 pm on AIT Channel 253 on DSTV. On Sunday, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., a rerun will be broadcast on Africa Magic Family channel 154.

Airtel Touching Lives season 6 was premiered on Friday, 13th May in Lagos at an exclusive event that was attended by several dignitaries.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Surendran Chemmenkotil, while speaking at the event said Airtel Touching Lives has not only recorded milestones but has offered real help to individuals, communities, groups, and institutions since the launch of the initiative.

“In Season 6, Airtel Nigeria has helped to rebuild a dream, a life, a hospital. We helped children rebuild their confidence, get an education, and we tested millions for COVID. We turned tears of sadness into tears of Joy.”

He further encouraged other corporate entities as well as well-spirited individuals to join hands in improving the society, as collaboration to solve societal problems can make a huge difference, and if the privileged people continue to support the needy, society will excel and triumph at a quicker pace.

Airtel Touching Lives takes the format of a reality television show, allowing the public to nominate causes, communities, and underprivileged persons/people with special needs.

Airtel thereafter evaluates and selects the causes to support, and the activities are filmed and broadcasted on terrestrial and satellite television stations with the aim of inspiring other corporate organizations as well as well-meaning individuals to join in supporting the weak across society.

The governor who was speaking during the premiere of the 6^th edition of the company’s ‘Airtel Touching Lives’ programme last Friday (13^th May) in Lagos, lauded Airtel for being an example to individuals and organizations.

“Airtel is leading as an example for individuals and institutions. They have exhibited the true Lagosian spirit of working in unity, by joining the Government in raising a sustainable nation…. Therefore, as individuals and organizations, let us also make efforts to reach out and empower the less privileged as Airtel is doing,” said the governor who was represented by the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Sam Egube.

Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun, wife of the governor of Ogun state, who was also present at the event, lauded Airtel’s efforts in providing relief for the vulnerable and sustaining a robust campaign to encourage other organizations to embrace philanthropy.

“I would encourage Airtel to keep doing what they do as well as expand the Airtel Touching Lives programme for an increased impact. I would like to implore Airtel and other entities to keep sharing these inspiring stories for the world to emulate. I am proud to be associated with Airtel Touching Lives, and I look forward to partnering with Airtel”

Also speaking at the event, Ibukun Awosika, Former Chairman, First Bank Nigeria Plc, thanked Airtel for going the extra mile to take a bit of the burden away from some hardworking Nigerians through its CSR Initiative.”

A beneficiary of Airtel Touching Lives Season 5, who survived a ghastly accident that damaged his urinary tract until Airtel intervened by supporting him with N8,000,000 (Eight Million Naira) for corrective surgery in the United Kingdom, commended Airtel for giving him a second chance at life.

He said, “I have always heard about stories like this on Television and Radio, but I never knew such an opportunity would come to my doorstep for free. Airtel gave me a second chance without wanting anything in return.”

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Surendran Chemmenkotil, while speaking on the track record of the initiative said Airtel Touching Lives has not only recorded milestones but has offered real help to individuals, communities, groups, and institutions since the launch of the initiative.

“In Airtel Touching Lives Season 6, Airtel Nigeria has helped to rebuild a dream, a life, a hospital. We helped children rebuild their confidence, get an education, and we tested millions for COVID. We turned tears of sadness into tears of Joy.”

In his closing remark, he further encouraged other corporate entities as well as well-spirited individuals to join hands in improving the society, as collaboration to solve societal problems can make a huge difference, and if the privileged people continue to support the needy, society will excel and triumph at a quicker pace.

Airtel Touching Lives takes the format of a reality television show, allowing the public to nominate causes, communities, and underprivileged persons/people with special needs. Airtel thereafter evaluates and selects the causes to support, and the activities are filmed and broadcasted on terrestrial and satellite television stations with the aim of inspiring other corporate organizations as well as well-meaning individuals to join in supporting the weak across society.

Airtel Touching Lives is aimed at providing succour to the underprivileged, hard to reach, vulnerable and disadvantaged in the society.

The programme takes the format of a reality television show, allowing the public to nominate causes, communities, and underprivileged persons/people with special needs.

Airtel thereafter evaluates and selects the causes to support, and the activities are filmed and broadcasted on terrestrial and satellite television stations with the aim of inspiring other corporate organizations as well as well-meaning individuals to join in supporting the weak across society.

Commenting on the premiere of the sixth edition, Surendran Chemmenkotil, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, said, “We are excited to be premiering the 6th season of Airtel Touching Lives in line with our commitment to create more opportunities, platforms, and access for vulnerable and underprivileged persons across communities in the country.

“It is our hope to continue to inspire more corporate organizations to adopt the culture of giving and seek more opportunities to support the underprivileged,” he said.

The premiere will be graced by top government functionaries, captains of industries, royal leaders, NGOs, media partners, and other distinguished guests from all walks of life.

Airtel Nigeria, through the Airtel TouchingLives platform, is taking the bold step of instituting and sustaining a robust programme to uplift the poor and underprivileged and rallying other corporate organizations as well as influential persons to also contribute their own quota in bridging the gap that exists between the rich and the poor.

Airtel Touching Lives is about real people, real stories, and the real effort of a corporate organization to uplift the needy and underprivileged, emancipating thousands from the shackles of poverty, despair, and hopelessness.

Through the programme, Airtel has refurbished an ICT centre for a large community, built modern water borehole systems for large communities, refurbished cancer centres, refurbished a Library for Blind people, rehabilitated an IDP Camp clinic facility, set up small scale trade for underprivileged persons, paid medical bills of underprivileged children and women and flown many persons abroad for treatment, among others.