Staff Writer 
Choppies CEO and his Group Companies contributed P 12.15 Million to President’s Covid 19 Relief Fund.
Mr. Ramachandran Ottappathu (as a common shareholder) and his group of companies on Wednesday contributed P12.15 million to the President’s Covid 19 Relief Fund. Mr Ram in his personal capacity contributed P5 million alone to the fund. The group of companies which contributed to the Covid19 Relief Fund include, Choppies Distribution Centre, Far Properties, JB Sports, Reddy’s group of companies, Distron Botswana and agriculture farms Admiral Touch and Adams Apple
In a function held at the Office of the President, Mr Ram Ottappathu, CEO ,Choppies said. “The global situation regarding COVID-19 is evolving quickly. Botswana has been already a model for Africa in democracy and development. And now, we hope our nation will be a role model for the whole world in controlling the virus and reducing the pain of the poor. At a time of great uncertainty, I’m inspired by the energy, resilience, and commitment of our government, specially the health workers, police force and the military force,”
He added that His Excellency and his government need all sorts of support to fight this pandemic. He always encourages and asks the private sector to take the lead. “Our feel is that the private sector should come forward and support the government so that it need not go back to take money from our reserves as that should be for rainy days,”
On behalf of Choppies Chairman Uttam Corea, CEO Ram Ottappathu and Group CFO Vidya Sanooj together handed over
P 3.4 million to the President of Botswana.
Mr Tom Pritchard, Ms.Carol Jean Haward and Mr. Farouk Ismail are the other directors of the company. On behalf of Far Properties, Chairman Willie Mokgatlhe handed over P 1 million. Mr Ranjith Priyalal De Silva, Mr Bafana Kgotla Molomo and Mr Faizel Ismail are the other directors of the company. JB Sports Managing Director Julian Mathew signed the P 1 million cheque on behalf of the company while Reddy’s group of companies’ Managing Director Anji Reddy has contributed P 500,000. On behalf of Distron Botswana Mr Ram Ottappathu, director signed the cheque worth P 250,000. Agriculture farms Admiral Touch and Adam’s Apple were represented by Director Vidya Sanooj (P 1 Million.)