Has funded 250 eye procedures
Guðni Albert Einarsson with his wife, Sigrún M. Sigurgeirsdóttir.
In October, Gudni Albert Einarsson, CEO of Klofningur ehf., sponsored the Tulsi Chanrai Foundation, an eye care hospital in Calabar, Nigeria, for approximately $15,000, which is about 255,000 Nigerian naira.
Declined traditional birthday gifts
In a conversation with Morgunblaðið, Einarsson says that the amount was the result of birthday gifts he received for his seventieth birthday on August 31. He declined all traditional birthday gifts but pointed out to his friends and family that he had an account they could donate to if interested.
He intended to sponsor 100 operations for the anniversary, but together, the birthday donations and his contribution funded 250 eye operations on people who, without the funding, probably would never have been able to undergo such an operation.
Drying fish in Iceland. Morgunblaðið/RAX
Has funded the same fund for a long time
When asked how it all came together, Einarsson says that Klofningur ehf., where he is the CEO, has been funding this same fund for many years.
Klofningur produces dried fish products for the Nigerian market. The company, along with other Icelandic and Faroese producers and carriers, has supported this hospital in the past. He says that the support came when a large buyer from Nigeria at the time introduced them to the fund.
The Indian owners of the fund have had a variety of projects in both India and Nigeria, including this eye care hospital in Calabar, Nigeria, which has since been sponsored by the makers of the dry fish.
Wanted to give back
Einarsson says that Klofningur wanted to give back to the market, adding that most Icelandic and Faroese makers support this same fund. “We came in, these makers of dry fish, and sent them one container of dry fish annually at no cost,” he says.
The contents of the container are then sold and the proceeds are used for this project. Since the beginning of these grants, which according to Einarsson started in 2003, approximately 50,000 eye procedures have been performed at the hospital.
“Every single cent that has come in has been used to these operations,” Einarsson concludes.
