Dubai Women's College inaugurates a CSR Forum on Social Entrepreneurship

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Sponsored by the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), the Forum focused on Social Entrepreneurship: Embracing social change through education and was attended by local and international policy makers, leaders, innovators and CSR practitioners.

The objective of the Forum is to promote CSR and encourage partnerships with organizations to enrich the educational experience of Emirati students through community projects.

The CSR Forum aims at developing the relationship between the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) and the business community in order to prepare students for the challenges of global leadership.

In his key address speech, His Excellency Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nehayan emphasized the significance of empowering youth through global leadership initiatives.

The role of CSR in modern business development-a global perspective on social entrepreneurship and innovation was addressed by Jeremy Parrish, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank (Abu-Dhabi and Al Ain).

'At Standard Chartered, we refer to corporate responsibility as sustainability. Operating in more than 70 countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, it is fundamental we take a long-term view on the consequences of our actions, knowing that we can make a difference to the communities we operate in by using our core skills and global distribution network,' he noted.

The issue of bringing education and corporations together for a shared purpose was also addressed by Dr. Lizbeth Goodman, Director of SMARTlab Digital Media Institute and Magic Gamelab at the University of East London.

Michael Nates, Senior General Manager at Nakheel attended to CSR in the Middle East in general and the Nakheel CSR vision in particular.

Last year, DWC initiated a leadership program with Injaz Al Arab-UAE with the aim of developing leadership and entrepreneurial skills amongst students and enabling them to gain social entrepreneurial skills by building creative solutions to serious, real-world problems and have the opportunity to experience global citizenship.

The Injaz-DWC CSR initiative entails DWC students adopting a female secondary school called Starehe Girls Centre in Kenya, Africa.

The school was started in 2005 to promote education and leadership in talented female students in Africa coming from destitute families and orphanages.

The school has passed all government risk assessment tests and is supported by Mrs. Lucy Kebaki, the First Lady of Kenya.

DWC's Information Technology students will set up a computer lab for the school with the necessary hardware equipment and software programs to develop Kenyan female students' computer literacy skills.

Mr. Sam Al Schamma, County Manager of the Gulf Countries Council Intel Corporation briefed the audience on the Intel DWC Kenya project partnership as a model of highly effective social entrepreneurship initiative currently under development.

The Forum included a panel discussion on education for a better future during which experts discussed various aspects to the role education plays in encouraging social entrepreneurship especially among the young generations.

In a video link with Duke University, Dr. Gregory Dees, Professor of the practice of social entrepreneurship and nonprofit management at the Fuqua School of Business, discussed the emergence of social entrepreneurship and its impacts on societies.

Mounir Bouaziz, Vice President of Shell International spoke about the role of social entrepreneurship in developing communities while Dr. Zaki Khoury, Gulf Citizen Lead at Microsoft, addressed the issue of developing global corporate citizens.

Vineetha Mathew, a CSR Trainer at the Center for Responsible Business at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, talked about CSR in education.

DWC's inaugural CSR Forum comes timely as it responds to a growing local and international interest in the field of CSR.

Earlier this week, the Department of Planning and Economy (DPE) issued a report urging the wealthy in the UAE to give to the local communities.

The report criticized companies that have been gaining significant financial growth in the UAE and have not been helping out the local communities.

In her closing remarks, Dr. Behjat Al Yousuf, Associate Director at DWC noted that CSR helps in increasing businesses' sustainability without the need for additional resources.

She added that 'social entrepreneurs act as change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss, improving systems, and creating solutions that change societies for the better.'