Walking for Bibles when not making medicine

Forty eight people working for Fabupharm in Otjiwarongo joined the local Walk for Bibles last weekend, making them the winning team in the Walk for Bibles national corporate challenge.

Fanie Badenhorst (Snr.), Managing Director of Fabupharm, explained: “A few months ago the Africa Evangelical Bond (AEB) visited Fabupharm and addressed the employees. One of the employees asked for a Bible, which they provided, but the AEB did not have enough Bibles to distribute to everyone. At Fabupharm, we then requested employees to give us an indication of who would like to receive a Bible.” Fabupharm ordered a total of 47 Bibles for their employees, but Badenhorst (Snr.) also challenged them to participate with him in the Walk for Bibles.

“Each of the employees who completed the Challenge received their own personal Bible from Fabupharm. We are very proud of our team’s achievement and would like to encourage other corporates and businesses to participate in next year’s Walk for Bibles initiative. We are challenging the business community to beat our record of a total of 48 entries,” said Badenhorst.

The Walk for Bibles is an initiative of the Bible Society of Namibia. The event took place in 19 towns countrywide with a total of 2500 participants. The funds raised though this initiative are used for Bible translation and distribution, and for the Trauma Healing Network.

Fabupharm is a local manufacturer with an official manufacturing GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) License from the Namibian Medicines Regulatory Council (NMRC) allowing them to manufacture scheduled medicinal products. Receiving this license also means that Fabupharm complies with World Health Organisation standards.

Fabupharm recently received the National Quality Company of the Year Award in the SME category from the Namibian Standards Institute (NSI). This year Badenhorst Snr. was inducted as a Laureate to the Namibia Business Hall of Fame.

Fabupharm was registered in 1989 and started to manufacture certain products and repackaging some oils in 1990. Since the commencement of the pharmaceutical factory it has shown significant growth. Today, it is distributing products to retailers and pharmacies nationwide and delivering pharmaceutical products to Government through the official tender process. The manufacturing plant is regularly inspected by the Registrar of Medicines of the Ministry of Health and Social Services.