This story began a year ago when Maurits Pesch approached his employer, Davide Nicosia, with a special request. He asked that NiCE LTD—Nicosia’s international design agency—commit to providing SGD$600,000 worth of supplies and equipment to a needy medical center in Senegal … at a cost of five cents on the dollar.
Too good to be true? Not with Doc to Dock, the American non-profit that works hand in hand with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and Project C.U.R.E. to help meet the needs of medical centers in developing countries.
Nicosia didn’t have to think twice. Despite the recession, NiCE LTD’s New York, Tokyo and Singapore offices were enjoying great success, and to Nicosia, this was an opportunity to leverage USD$20,000 (equivalent to SGD$30,000 at the time) to tremendous benefit.
“As an agency leader, I always look for the most impactful result. And Maurits found a way for us to maximize our charitable giving and bring the true meaning of the holiday season to some people who really needed this gift.”
Here’s how it works: Doc to Dock collects donated supplies and used equipment from hospitals in the U.S. These items are then earmarked for distribution to carefully selected recipients. And that’s where the monetary gifts come into play. In this particular case, NiCE LTD’s donation covered all of the delivery costs associated with transporting a fully-loaded, 12-meter shipping container from the Project C.U.R.E. warehouse in Texas to Senegal.
But handing over the check was just the beginning, as far as Pesch was concerned. For him, this was a personal quest, rooted in first-hand knowledge of the difficulties facing the region. The son of Dutch diplomats, Pesch spent four years living in West Africa as a teenager, and returned numerous times as an adult. No doubt, these experiences strengthened his resolve to leave a positive mark on the world’s poorest continent.
So when the container left the U.S., Pesch made arrangements to greet the ship in Senegal in order to personally shepherd the container to its final destination.
That long-awaited rendezvous came on the fourth of October. And after nine tiring days of dealing with customs officials, the freight forwarding agent, the ministry of health, transit authorities and the port of Dakar, Pesch secured the release of the container.
Several days later, he represented NiCE LTD at the ‘handing over’ ceremony—a celebration that received national press coverage in Senegal. After all, in a country where the unemployment rate is 48%, where one out of three people get by on less than $2/day, gifts of this nature don’t go unnoticed. Government officials were in attendance, members of the local community and, of course, the doctors and nurses who operate the health center.
And an exhausted Pesch was finally able to relax—knowing he had successfully completed a project initiated a year earlier … a gift that was, in fact, a lifetime in the making.
Still, the work of Doc to Dock and Project C.U.R.E. is never done, a point that is not lost on Pesch.
“Who is going to do it next?” he asks.
Who indeed. Maurits Pesch and NiCE LTD have left some big shoes to fill.
About NiCE LTD
With offices in New York, Tokyo and Singapore, NiCE LTD has engaged in consumer product development, brand strategy and package design for such global icons as Estée Lauder, Calvin Klein, Tiffany & Co., Valentino, Montblanc, Puma, L’Oreal, CoverGirl, Pantene, and Kraft Foods.
Contact
To comment on this article or request additional information, contact David Balch, NiCE LTD’s Communication Director, at david.b@niceltd.com.
