More than a business, what makes being part of this company even more special is how QNET empowers communities.
Right from the start, our dear founders have been steadfast in their view that financial success is merely a means to give back and empower people.
That ideal has since grown into RYTHM, an acronym for ‘Raise Yourself To Help Mankind’; the philosophy that informs all we do.
In a nutshell, QNET believes that true success entails everyone prospering. This is why the company, whether through the QI Group’s social impact arm RYTHM Foundation or other initiatives, continues to invest in communities around the world.
So, in conjunction with our 24th anniversary, here’s a look at some of the ways QNET has strived to work towards a brighter future for everyone.
Educational access and gender equality
Malaysia is the operational home of the QI Group. And it’s there that QNET, through RYTHM Foundation, conceptualised and developed two of our key initiatives to improve access to education resources: Maharani Programme, which mentors girls from underserved communities with their academic lessons and encourages them to develop new skills, and Taarana School, a school for kids with special needs.
Essentially, both efforts aim to provide a safe and conducive environment for two of the most vulnerable sections of society to learn and thrive. These initiatives are just two examples of RYTHM Foundation’s untiring efforts geared toward empowering lives and transforming disadvantaged communities.
Those projects aside, RYTHM Foundation has launched and supported numerous similar community development efforts in the Southeast Asian region.
In Indonesia, for example, we collaborated with ASA Foundation to empower disadvantaged youth through an award-winning sports-based education programme, while our efforts in Thailand saw us launch a collaborative community project, also with ASA Foundation, to transform the lives of vulnerable girls and women.
These efforts were further enhanced in 2022 with the establishment of community adoption programmes in Sabah and Pahang, in Malaysia, which are geared towards uplifting indigenous communities via holistic education.
Community development
Sustainable community development, meanwhile, has been one of our main focus areas, particularly on the Indian subcontinent. Among the most notable of the many efforts launched in the region was our collaboration with the Parinaama Foundation in 2021, which saw thousands of women being educated on health and presented with training opportunities.
In particular, our emphasis in the high-impact projects in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, India — which won us recognition at the CSR Times Awards in 2021 — was on helping disadvantaged families improve their earning and employment capacities while also tackling issues like child mortality, disease prevention and malnutrition.
QNET’s stress on community empowerment, incidentally, has also seen us facilitate growth opportunities for young women in the drought-prone region of Mann Taluka, Maharashtra, India, and work towards bringing solar energy to remote communities in the Himalayas.
Our recent efforts in Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have included seeking to empower differently-abled young persons and women entrepreneurs via targeted development programmes and helping families ravaged by war rebuild their lives.
Health and disaster relief
QNET’s cutting-edge range of health and wellness products clearly already shows just how important we consider health to be. Nevertheless, it’s crucial to note that we’ve also consistently played our part in on-the-ground disaster relief and public health efforts.
In fact, from the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 Turkey wildfires, 2021 Malaysia floods and regular blood donation drives, the company has never failed to extend assistance where it matters.
For instance, QNET was front and centre during the pandemic by, among others, helping to facilitate the vaccination rollout in Indonesia; supplying rice and dry rations to vulnerable people in Malaysia and Sri Lanka; and assisting in the procurement of ventilators and medical supplies for health facilities as well as various other COVID relief efforts all across India.
This focus on health, incidentally, has also extended to raising awareness of the risks associated with female genital mutilation as well as linking hands with various partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East to help bring more attention to the importance of clean water access and water security as well as education for differently abled children.
Inward and outward
While helping mankind is a way of life at QNET, it’s vital to point out that the company’s stress on empowerment is as much internal as it is external.
Indeed, from individual entrepreneurs to employees at QNET’s offices globally, every effort is made to ensure that all persons linked to the company play their part in making the world brighter, better and more sustainable.
The reason for this is simple: sustainable change requires a collective effort, and as the words of one of the most well-known songs of all time go, we all must lend a helping hand.
Happy Anniversary, QNET! Let’s keep on keeping on and striving to heal the world.
