The Pulse of QI Group: Unpacking the RYTHM Foundation's Role in Driving Social Change

QI Group has committed to allocating 10 percent of its revenue to the RYTHM Foundation, its dedicated social impact arm, every year since 2005, with operations spanning over 30 countries.

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As a diversified multinational conglomerate founded in 1998, QI Group is headquartered in Hong Kong, with business interests in wellness and lifestyle products, education, travel and hospitality, and direct sales, all guided by the philosophy of RYTHM, meaning Raise Yourself To Help Mankind.

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The RYTHM Foundation puts this philosophy into action, differing from many corporate foundations that run philanthropic programs in an episodic and brand-adjacent manner, instead operating with a focus on outcomes and accountability.

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Each partnership undertaken by the RYTHM Foundation carries a minimum three-year term, with support disbursed in installments tied to measurable targets, rather than one-time checks, as stated by founder Vijay Eswaran in a 2019 interview with Alliance Magazine.

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Vijay Eswaran emphasized that every corporation should contribute to the society it comes from, a philosophy reflected across the organization, with the foundation being an integrated part of QI Group's community development work.

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This approach is evident in the over 125,000 volunteer hours contributed by employees across 30 countries since 2013, demonstrating the organization's commitment to community development.

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The RYTHM Foundation organizes its work across three areas: education, empowerment, and environment, having run 115 sustainable community development projects with over 145 partner organizations, reaching more than one million beneficiaries.

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One of the foundation's programs, the Maharani Programme in Malaysia, has reached over 8,000 girls from underserved communities since 2011, providing confidence-building camps and academic coaching.

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The Panai 3M literacy programme works with indigenous Orang Asli Semelai students in Negeri Sembilan, focusing on reading, writing, and arithmetic, demonstrating the diversity of the foundation's programs.

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The RYTHM Foundation partners with established local organizations, rather than deploying in-country teams, recognizing the importance of local trust and knowledge in effective community development.

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Two recent programs, the Community Adoption Program in Kedah, Malaysia, and the partnership with Plan International Indonesia, illustrate the foundation's connection to QI Group's "Raise Yourself to Help Mankind" ethos.

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The Community Adoption Program in Kedah, launched in 2024, targets education and sustainable ecotourism, providing youth with training in hospitality, tour guiding, and conservation skills, with a long-term plan to develop Taman Warisan Kensiu as a cultural and economic hub.

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In Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, the foundation partnered with Plan International Indonesia to train 200 young farmers in climate-smart agriculture, with 60 percent of participants being women aged 18 to 29, developing business strategies alongside farming techniques.

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Both programs address persistent structural gaps, with multi-year commitments and measurable deliverables, demonstrating the foundation's focus on creating lasting impact.

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In its 2024 year-end impact summary, the RYTHM Foundation reported 7,081 children impacted, 650 women uplifted through skills and empowerment programmes, and 78 communities engaged, showcasing the foundation's reach and effectiveness.

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A December 31, 2025 update provided further programme-level results, including 1,147 students enrolled in North Bengal, 678 students supported daily in Nepal, and 172 children engaged through the Chepang initiative, among other achievements.

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The RYTHM Foundation's design prioritizes lasting infrastructure over charity, with a funding mechanism tied to a percentage of company revenue, ensuring program continuity and accountability.

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The foundation's alignment with seven UN Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 4, SDG 5, and SDG 8, provides external accountability alongside internal targets, demonstrating its commitment to creating lasting change.

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Umayal Eswaran, who chairs the foundation, leads a network of over 100 grassroots partner organizations across at least 30 countries, with a horizontal architecture that emphasizes partnerships and local expertise.

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The RYTHM Foundation's model is based on the theory of change that consistent, long-term investment in communities with measurable accountability produces better outcomes than sporadic giving, regardless of the dollar amount.

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For QI Group, with a direct sales network reaching millions of people in emerging economies, social impact that reaches those communities reinforces the relationships on which the business is built, distinguishing RYTHM from a typical CSR initiative.