Celebrating Mothers by deeds, not words; The APM Terminals Liberia example

The second Sunday in May every year has become an important calendar day all over the world and especially in Africa. It is dedicated to celebrating mothers and the mother figures in our lives. Because of the recognition of the role mothers play in our society, corporate brands also join in this celebration with solidarity messages and social media activations perhaps in an attempt to demonstrate how important mothers are to them. But how should corporate brands demonstrate their love for women, mothers, and potential mothers all year long beyond the pomp and pageantry of Mothers’ Day? APM Terminals Liberia, port operators of the Freeport of Monrovia through their company culture and corporate social initiatives set the right examples for the corporate world to follow.

As part of its core principles and values, this global leading port-operating company is using the power of diversity and acknowledges the gains a gender-balanced workforce can chalk for any contemporary organization. For this reason, the company has purposefully committed to developing a gender-balanced staff role, despite the sector being a male-dominated one. This global principle trickles down to all APM Terminals across the world and in Liberia examples abound of the many Liberian female professionals who have developed their practice working at APM Terminals Liberia at the Freeport of Monrovia. This culture is backed by the belief that women are equally capable as their male counterparts.

Outside of the work environment, APM Terminals Liberia has demonstrated its leadership in acknowledging the role of mothers in society at large by making corporate social responsibility contributions to aid women in society.

Every year, APM Terminals Liberia visits maternity wards during the Christmas holiday period to celebrate with newborn babies and mothers. Care packages are given to these mothers and in the past two years, more than 500 mothers at the Redemption and John F Kennedy Memorial Hospitals, Duport Road Clinic, St Joseph Catholic Hospital, ELWA Hospital, and J&J Memorial Clinic amongst others have benefitted from this program. The company has done this with the belief that outside the work environment, women, as our mothers, nurture the next generation and must be given all the help necessary to deliver on this mandate. By making these donations, the beneficiary mothers are able to get a head start on their journey as mothers.

But APM Terminals Liberia does not stop there. Under its community outreach program dubbed the Go-Green campaign, the company purchases food supplies on a yearly basis from local vendors and distributes them to the vulnerable in society, majority of whom are women. Acknowledging the challenges some of our mothers face in their old age, the company provides food supplies to aged women, many of whom are living on their own and may not have access to the resources they need.

As we celebrate Mothers’ Day this year, it is important to acknowledge the important role that motherhood plays in our society. APM Terminals is setting an example for other companies by actively supporting the empowerment of women in a number of ways.

The company continues to lead the way in acknowledging the important contributions of mothers and women and as we remember and celebrate mothers, corporate brands are reminded of the need to channel interventions specifically at women and our mothers to improve their well-being.