The concept of the Victoria Lily Foundation originates from the giant Amazon Water Lily, Victoria Amazonica.
This is truly an amazing plant with some rare qualities. The immense leaves are the largest of all known aquatic plants and float on the surface of ponds and lagoons deep in the forest tributaries of the Amazon River.
The leaves can span up to 3m in diameter and the plant structure is so strong, that they can even support the weight of an animal or person.
The leaves float on the surface of the water with long stretching roots providing a solid anchor. The stems can reach as much as eighteen feet from the river bottom and grow with the rising waters which can rise up to 30 feet during the rainy seasons in the Amazon. These large leaves provide a solid sanctuary from which animals above can safely settle on, and aquatic creatures below can shelter from the sun and other predators.
The plants are armed with thorns almost everywhere, except the top surface of the pads. The undersides of the leaves are a marvel of nature’s structural engineering, providing support for the highly buoyant pad surfaces.
This plant also produces a remarkable flower, which is admired for its size and beauty. All Victoria Amazonia’s are night blooming, scenting the evening air with their pineapple-like fragrance in anticipation of the first night flower, the huge and white rose. These magnificent white female flowers open in the evening and are pollinated by beetles. When a day becomes hot, the flower closes with the beetles inside where it they remain cool and feed while the flower releases its pollen onto the beetles. Then in the evening the petals open as a beautiful pink male flower and release the beetle.
This beautiful story of nature encapsulates the vision we see for the role the Victoria Lily Foundation will play in communities. As our goal is to bring about financial, social and economic support and upliftment to children, women and education, where we achieve this by applying these same principles of nature.
We as a foundation, provide the platform from where we can support charities, and support initiative which teach and mentor businesspeople to create economic upliftment in their lives, and in those of their families and throughout their communities.
We endure to create long lasting, self-sustaining businesses bringing job creation to where it is most needed and whilst we achieve these goals, like the flower protects and nourishes the beetles, we will protect our beneficiaries and people through effective personal and business risk management and nourish their minds through educating and empowering them to continue achieving future goals and successes.
Finally, yet importantly, this balanced system cannot be successful without the sturdy root system that supports the top structure.
In order for the Victoria Lily Foundation to survive and thrive, like its plant counterpart, there must be a solid support structure in place that equips and enables the Foundation to achieve these objectives.