By Sheila WILLIAMS
Leading socially-responsible companies in Ghana are rendering account of their social responsibility projects as the Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) West Africa keeps pushing for more sustainable social investment from the private sector.
Leading socially-companies participating in the 8th edition of the Ghana CSR Excellence Awards, GHACEA, will render account of their social stewardship and contribution to society in Accra on Friday November, 9 2018.
In India and a few other parts of the developed world, CSR reporting by companies is a mandate backed by public regulations and policies. Though, Ghana has developed a National CSR Policy, companies are yet to fully embrace their obvious responsibility to society beyond profit-making.
The Ghana CSR Excellence Awards, launched in 2011, remains the biggest CSR gathering in Ghana. It brings together, different stakeholders within the CSR spectrum; top CEOs and CSR Managers from local and international companies based in Ghana, international development partners, civil society organizations, government agencies, academia and the media. It is designed like the European CSR Awards with multi-stakeholder jury.
According to Co-Founder and Lead Project Manager for the Centre, Kojo Williams, “Over the past 8 years, we have succeeded in helping corporates demystify the concept of CSR. Now, many companies in Ghana, both local and international understand that it is no longer fashionable to think or believe that businesses are in existence just to make profits. They are gradually embracing the reality that they need to invest in people and the planet. These investments end up building goodwill for them and in some cases contributing to their competitive advantage naturally.”
Socially-responsible companies such as Unilever, MTN, Guinness Ghana, Vodafone, Nyokopon Cocoa Buying, QNET, Prudential Life Insurance, Access Bank, Stratcomm Africa, Accra City Hotel, Huawei Technologies and others will have their CSR projects showcased at the 8th GHACEA.
The Centre for CSR West Africa, in collaboration with notable universities will soon roll out premium training programmes for Managers on how to develop, manage and sustain CSR initiatives and projects.
The 8th GHACEA will be graced by dignitaries from the Ministry of Business Development, Ministry of Trade & Industry, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Federation of Association of Ghanaian Exporters, Association of Ghana Industries, the media and other local and international partner organizations.
