More regional companies getting involved in corporate social responsibility

Dubai: More companies in the Middle East are investing in corporate social responsibility (CSR) due to it ability to improving a corporate reputation and positively impacting a company’s bottom-line, according to Aglaia Ntili, managing director of Greece-based advisory firm sustainability Knowledge Group.

“They have seen the direct benefits they get from CSR and sustainability,” she said on the sidelines of the CSR Summit in Dubai on Tuesday

“Some of them have implemented methodologies on social return on investment, where they can calculate the financial benefit that CSR activities are creating for the community and for them,” she added.

Peer pressure, she said, is another reason why companies in the region are taking part in CSR activities.

Around 62 per cent of companies in the Middle East and Turkey view CSR programmes as part of their company’s founding mission, according to the Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Programs, Policies and Practices survey by Mercer, a human resource and related financial services consulting firm.

“We look at CSR as not good deeds that you do on the side of your business. We look at it as something that must go hand in hand with our performance,” said Noha Hefny, corporate affairs director for the MEA at PepsiCo, a global food and beverage company.

Regional CSR trends

On CSR trends in the region, Ntili said that organisations are launching initiatives that support entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as empower women.

“Also, there are partnerships increasing, meaning companies are not going for one initiative for one year and then go for something else. They are establishing long-term partnerships with other companies, institutes or NGOs [non-governmental organisations] to support a cause that is related to their core business for a long-term,” she added.

She said that companies in the region could learn from successful CSR initiatives launched by global companies that are ahead in adopting CSR practices.

“We’ve seen huge mistakes done by companies in Europe and the United States that companies from the region do not have to reinvent the wheel. There are many good examples that they can adopt and use and there are bad examples that they should avoid. There is so much knowledge out there that they can tap into and create something that has value and impact,” she said.