Business & Money | Thursday 9 June, 2016 4:26 am |

Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the region, has launched its Sunglasses for Labourers campaign this summer for the second consecutive year. Working in partnership with La Moda Sunglasses and the Smartlife Foundation, Emirates NBD staff volunteers will collect and distribute over 2000 new and donated sunglasses to Dubai labourers during the holy month of Ramadan.

After a successful charitable drive last year that saw over 1000 sunglasses collected by the bank internally, Emirates NBD and La Moda Sunglasses agreed to expand the campaign, encouraging the public to take part in the initiative. Collection bins have been installed at 17 locations1 across Dubai until July 4 where people may donate their old sunglasses. As an incentive, donors will receive a voucher entitling them to a 40% discount off the purchase cost of a new pair of sunglasses at La Moda Sunglasses stores across the UAE. Once collected, La Moda will repair the donated sunglasses, sanitise and put them in protective cases before distributing them through the Smartlife Foundation to labourers.

The aim of the campaign is to ensure that labourers in the UAE receive protection for their eyes from harmful exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays that can lead to cataracts, slow blindness and cancer. By encouraging employees to play an active role in the campaign through flexible volunteer leave days, the bank also seeks to promote a culture of balance between work, life and service. To foster public participation, the bank has promoted the campaign across various social media channels as well as communicating directly to relevant customer bases. With the tagline “Give your old sunglasses a new life”, Emirates NBD hopes to encourage people to consider the value of their waste and promote reuse through charitable donation.