LOCKDOWN LEADER: Roque Sevilla
Philanthropist, environmentalist, businessman, politician… Ecuadorian Roque Sevilla wears many hats. But whether he’s running a company, chairing a charity or governing a city, the former Mayor of Quito is deeply committed to his country.
When the Covid-19 crisis spread to Ecuador earlier this year, the Metropolitan Touring chairman took matters into his own hands and set up Por Todas, a country-wide emergency initiative supporting the country’s most vulnerable people. Sevilla initially set his sights on the particularly vulnerable Galápagos Islands, whose eco-systems are already under threat.
He took USD $200,000 of his own money and set up a virtual health centre for inhabitants of the remote archipelago, run by medical officers from Metropolitan Touring’s expedition vessels. He also sent vital testing and medical equipment to the islands. When it became clear that the Covid-19 crisis was going to impact the entire country, Sevilla rounded up a group of influential entrepreneurs and set up Por Todos, a national emergency fund aimed at mitigating the impacts of the pandemic for the most vulnerable in Ecuador.
The initiative, which has already raised almost US$ 8 million, provides food and essential items to those in need, plus protection and support for health workers and their families, virus detection tests and respiratory support equipment to medics. One project supplied food packages to 25,000 Galápagenos living on Isabela Island who were experiencing mass shortages due to no flights entering the islands, giving inhabitants a vital lifeline. A similar initiative saw supplies sent to remote Amazonian tribes who otherwise had no access to basic supplies. And their work is only just beginning. “At this moment, Ecuador needs us more united than ever.
Each person is an important link in this fight against the coronavirus pandemic in the country. The Por Todos initiative seeks to mitigate the crisis with timely responses to save life, health and our future,” Sevilla says. Por Todos, which is a community-led fund run solely by volunteers, hopes to raise US$ 20 million, 100% of which will be used to support the cause and fight the Covid-19 pandemic in Ecuador.