Concerned about the Ebola outbreak in Western Africa, ABAX, a global business company, launched a national fund raising initiative in Mauritius in favour of Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontières), the first humanitarian organization on the ground to fight against the propagation of this virus.

The motto of ABAX being “Everybody’s talking about Africa. We’re walking with Africa”, the fund raising campaign for Ebola was a true reflection of the company’s mission to help the continent in its fight against this pandemic.

The challenge: Conceptualize a PR Led Campaign that will engage 1.3 million inhabitants who were more interested in the general election which was taking place during the same period.

With that, “Kass Konté Ebola” was born. Dual in its meaning, the Creole phrase translates to both: “Fight Against Ebola” and “Every Cent Counts”. With a shoestring budget of 25,000 US $, the campaign succeeded in mobilizing a whole nation against a remote epidemic by smartly using PR, traditional advertising, social media, street activations and influencer engagement.

CEOs of the top 100 local companies, celebrities, artists, opinion leaders, health practitioners, the mainstream media and even the newly elected prime minister joined hands to make this campaign a huge success. More than 2.2 million rupees were raised, which helped Doctors without Borders save the lives over 2300 persons.

Dual in its meaning, the campaign line KASS KONTE EBOLA translates to

both “Fight Against Ebola” and “Every Cent Counts”.

The fundraising initiative was launched during a Press Conference hosted by ABAX and the Doctors Without Borders Director for the Southern Africa Region. This PR exercise aroused the interest of all the mainstream media which responded positively by donating wide coverage to the initiative. During this event, the logo and the campaign theme were revealed.

The next day, the advertising campaign together with the website and Facebook page were launched.

Street activations followed within one week of the launch and lasted several weeks in high-traffic zones throughout the island.

CEOs, celebrities, artists, opinion-leaders and influencers joined the bandwagon which gave wider coverage to the initiative and encouraged further donations.

Conversations on social media soared, while earned media gave even more visibility to the campaign.

The whole campaign lasted for two months.

More than 2.2 million rupees were raised which represented almost two rupees per inhabitant for a population of 1.3 million. This helped Doctors Without Borders save over 2300 lives.

The campaign raised national awareness about the Ebola epidemic and boosted online conversations with an 800 % increase in the number of Facebook page likes alone.

The campaign facilitated the development of a protocol between Doctors Without Borders and Mauritian health practitioners, if the epidemic were to ever reach the island's shores.

Mainstream media gave extensive coverage and donated free airtime to the initiative,

with free media earned totaling US$50,000.

The newly elected Prime Minister of Mauritius officially praised this private initiative, and the local government donated a $100,000 for the eradication of Ebola in Africa.

Finally, our client positioned itself as a thought leader in the business community,

taking the lead as one of the first African enterprise to be directly involved in the

battle against Ebola via a small but yet significant contribution to Doctors without Borders.