29 June 2020
Dr Malini Saba founded the Anannke Foundation to provide medical and healthcare facilities to underprivileged women and children. The efforts are funded by her privately-held company, Saba Group Holdings.
Self-made businesswoman, psychologist, fitness enthusiast, author, passionate culinarian, single-mom, social rights activist, global advocate for women and girls, and most importantly, philanthropist, Dr Malini Saba enunciates the quality of using one’s business to serve humanity.
She has helped millions of underprivileged women and children in South and Southeast Asia, South America, Africa, and the US to gain access to life-saving medical, educational services and achieves economic stability.
Dr Saba launched the ‘Anannke Foundation’ (previously known as Saba Family Foundation) to serve as the umbrella organisation for all of her philanthropic efforts and activities which focus on healthcare, education, and human rights.
“Growing up, I was upset about the bias that existed in the society,” says Dr Saba. “There were and still are, two worlds created because of one’s financial status. I want to bridge that gap between these worlds.”
In a conversation with Social Story, Malini Saba underscores her passion to create a world devoid of poverty and hunger. Business for philanthropy When asked about how she would identify herself, Dr Saba says, “I am a philanthropist first, businesswoman second.”
Dr Saba grew up in a family of modest means in Seremban, Malaysia, with parents who were compassionate towards the less fortunate. As a child, she would bring clothes and books to shelters and spend time there.
Soon, she began volunteering at hospitals to give back to the society. However, having a soft spot for children and seeing their plight in order to help their families, she decided that she would be in a position where she could fund her own social cause.
“As I grew older, I got a calling to be a voice for the underprivileged, and a catalyst for change,” says Dr Saba. “In the early 90s, being in a male-oriented world and the snobbishness of an Ivy League school, I was often undermined for being a psychologist. But with the economy doing well at the time, I could find my way through to a successful business.”
With achievements and recognitions in investment, real estate, commodity, and PC industries, Dr Saba repeatedly produced sustained revenue and growth in dynamic and changing markets. She continues to build her businesses – rice, natural resources, ship breaking, mining, while also mentoring, teaching and funding local initiatives. She currently heads a global commodity which employs around 3,750 local workers.
Malini Saba regularly donates funds towards building schools in Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. She also funds scholarships, and has till now fund the education of over one million students.
To honour her father who played was a role model to her philanthropic efforts, Malini Saba laid foundation to Anannke, an umbrella organisation for all her philanthropic works. The organisation aims to improve the health and wealth of the marginalised communities around the world. With a goal to help at least one billion people, the foundation analyses the root causes of socio-economic challenges in developing countries.
Saba Group Holdings Saba Group Holdings is Malini Saba’s privately-held company, headquartered in Asia. The group has an affinity towards agriculture, and trades in the businesses of rice and natural resources. It also operates cashew farms and wheat farms, as well as also operates in the mining, ship-breaking and hospitality industries, across the world.
The company has been financing the Anannke Foundation, making it a self-sustained organisation, with its employees directly involved in the functioning of the foundation.
“The company is directly involved in the foundation, be it the admin work, technical work or fieldwork,” says Dr Saba. “Sometimes, we even have university students volunteer for our cause, with a lot of fire in their belly.” Since there is no additional cost in running the foundation, the money received by Anannke entirely goes into the philanthropic work.
Anannke has donated Rs 1.9 crore and 20,000 kg of dry white rice bought from its local partner Navbharat Mills to ‘Save the Children’ COVID-19 response, in its first series of donations. The donation aims to enhance outreach of food baskets, hygiene kits, clothes and offer support to 20 lakh children and their families living on streets.
https://yourstory.com/socialstory/2020/06/businesswoman-malini-saba-philanthropy-coronavirus