Millions of people are threatened from starvation due to the ongoing drought in large parts of East Africa, particularly in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda.

The alarming news about the bad conditions in the refugee camps has caused great concern amongst the management and employees of bielomatik Leuze in Neuffen, Germany. For several decades, the African continent has been a key market for bielomatik. bielomatik’s main product lines for this region are paper converting machines for the production of excercise books and photocopy paper. In order to help, the bielomatik staff has initiated a fundraising campaign. The amount donated by the employees was generously extended by the company management. On October 24, the sum of 5,000 Euro was handed over to Germany’s relief coalition “Aktion Deutschland Hilft e. V.””.

Dirk Vößing, Managing Director of bielomatik and responsible for the Paper Converting business unit, stated: "The hardship of the people in East Africa, especially the children’s misery, has generated our compassion. With this donation, we would like to contribute our share to help the people in the affected areas. Also, we would intentionally like to establish a symbol of solidarity with the African continent."

The majority of the excercise books used in Africa are produced on bielomatik machines. The first machines were already delivered in the 1950’s to East Africa and later on, in the 1960’s to West Africa. In recent years, the importance of the African markets for bielomatik has grown even further.

The picture at the right side shows ((from left to right, click to enlarge)): Stefan Carstensen / Chief Financial Officer, Dirk Voessing / Managing Director, Kai Pleuser / CSR-Partnerships - “Aktion Deutschland Hilft e. V.”, Manfred Schmalzbauer / Chairman of works council, Ralf Bauer / Managing Director.