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SHAPING OUR FUTURE WITH CSR
We’ve been hearing a lot about corporate social responsibility (CSR), also referred to as corporate citizenship, and the commitments the concept entails. We’ve heard critics claiming that CSR is just another public relations tool, and proponents hailing the ways CSR can improve the so-called “triple bottom line” – the net gains to people, environment and business profitability.
Next month, when AmCham and the UNDP’s Global Compact team co-host a two-day CSR conference, we’ll be hearing success stories, and ideas about how to better implement CSR strategies. I’d like to urge AmCham members to attend that December 11-12 gathering.
In 1999, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan proposed the Global Compact to advance corporate citizenship on an international scale. Some 2,500 companies from 90 countries (including over 50 Egyptian ones) have since signed on.
For the multinational corporations, the Global Compact formalized the need to follow ethical lines as a matter of good practice and worldwide reputation, but also with business sustainability in mind. Successful businesses rely on integration in the community, which supplies both labor and consumers. For us, CSR is directly linked to the ways in which Egypt is developing, and to the private sector’s role in driving not only economic, but sustainable social change.
We all know Egypt’s shortcomings, including those related to health and education. To achieve our goals, economic reform touching every institution, and affecting every aspect of people’s lives, is under way. So far, governmental efforts to decentralize, privatize and reduce subsidies have by and large maintained stability. But the need for jobs and social services is growing, alongside Egypt’s population. Just as we succeeded in advocating reform to improve the business environment, the private sector must now take the lead on the social front to consolidate our gains.
Without public trust, a government cannot advance its policies. It’s the same for the private sector, whose image has suffered unfairly at the hands of a few greedy players. Corporate social responsibility can correct this perception, and in doing so help motivate our work force, attract new talent, improve customer relations, and consequently reduce overall costs and risks.
Not only do we require the support of a skilled labor force, we need the greater public to stand behind the growth and development our businesses represent. This will happen if we’re active in the community in creative, productive ways. If we fail to maintain this presence, and to deliver the means for people to improve their lives, the gap will be filled with resentment and frustration.
Few individuals would choose violence as a response to social imbalances, but it takes very little destructive energy to erase a great deal of constructive effort. Through CSR, we can stay in touch with our communities, and work together towards mutually beneficial goals. AmCham has a dual role in promoting CSR, both as a business organization representing the private sector’s best interests, and as a seasoned member of civil society, working to serve the community at large.
For over a year, AmCham’s excellent CSR committee has explored the topic, inviting both NGO and private sector representatives to describe their CSR endeavors. The December conference will give us a chance to share our experiences, while helping identify interactive strategies between businesses and NGOs in order to make CSR most effective.
The partnership between government and private sector has matured in the last few years, and had a positive effect on the economy. But civil society is a necessary part of the equation, one that will grow in prominence as more outstanding citizens feel the need to participate in building a better Egypt. CSR provides the perfect interface between business, civil society and the public, a framework for shaping our future in cooperative and genuinely rewarding ways.
OMAR A. MOHANNA
President, AmCham Egypt
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