Emirates Environmental Group unveils Arabia CSR Award trophy

The Awards is instituted by the Emirates Environmental Group; under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, and also supported by the United Nations Global Compact.

Being considered as one of the most significant searches for CSR best practice in the region, the Awards has witnessed tremendous response from all sectors of corporate organizations across the entire Gulf Cooperation Council; representing diverse sectors ranging from construction, retail, food and beverage to consultancy and logistics.

From this, only 40 companies were shortlisted for evaluation by an elite panel of international experts.

The winners of this event will bring home the honor and the distinction of being the winners of the first cycle of the Arabia CSR Awards.

EEG shall be publicly announcing the winners of its Arabia CSR Awards on 26 October during a Gala Dinner and Awards Night at the Burj Al Arab.

The ceremony will host senior executives and CEOs of participating companies, professionals from the government, civil society and media.

At the press conference, EEG Chairperson Habiba Al Marashi said:

"The whole hearted participation of companies within the GCC coming forward to showcase the CSR initiatives within the region has aided in the recognition of the many good efforts in the Arab business community to align strategies and operations with universal social and environmental principles. This process has really opened up our eyes to the status of CSR in the region. We are extremely excited! It is like being given a map - for us to now plan the next phase".

Joining Mrs. Al Marashi on the panel were: Dr. Michael Hopkins - Head of the Jury Panel; Mr. Rashid A. Al Ghurair - Director of Abdulla A. Al Ghurair Group; Ms. Kate Mullen - CSR & Internal Communications Manager of Zabeel Investments and Mr. Arshad Pathan - Vice President of Marketing from Khaleej Times.

The much awaited awarding ceremony is the culmination of 7 laborious months of an extensive campaign to search for CSR best practices from small, medium and large scale enterprises from across the region.

The Arabia CSR Awards is supported by Platinum Event Sponsor - ETA Star Group (member of Abdulla A. Al Ghurair Group), Platinum Award Sponsor Zabeel Investments, Gold Award Sponsor Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority, Silver Award Sponsor HSBC Middle East, Media Partner Khaleej Times, Technical Partners MHC International and the Asian Institute of Management, Communication Partner Percept Gulf and Website Partner Filance.

Amina Taher, Executive Director of Zabeel Investments, Award Platinum Sponsor, added: "As an organization with a commitment to corporate social responsibility across our company, we can understand the need to acknowledge the efforts of everyone who is playing their part in making the UAE a better place to live, work and grow. With this inaugural ceremony, the Arabia CSR Awards will further highlight the continued need for grassroots initiatives and education programmes across the economic and social spectrum. The CSR programmes and initiatives taking place in the UAE and the GCC deserve to be recognized, as it will help them grow and expand, providing benefits to more people, and directly impacting the communities which need them most."

Hameed Salahuddin, Director of ETA Ascon Star Group, said: "CSR today is increasingly moving from ad hoc contributions to a strategic approach in building community partnership. The ETA Ascon Star Group recognizes society as an important stakeholder and therefore, it is part of our responsibility to practice good corporate citizenship."

Earlier this year, EEG launched the Arabia CSR Awards as a natural progression from having established an active interface with the business and corporate sector for over a decade.

This award will give much-deserved recognition to companies who are leading the CSR movement in the Region.

Setting itself apart from other CSR accolades in the Region, the Arabia CSR Awards targeted the core of CSR practice rather than individual projects.

The entries were classified under small, medium and large categories and were judged by an international panel which was headed by Dr. Michael Hopkins, Managing Director of MHC International Ltd, who is an economist specializing in Labour Market issues and CSR in Emerging Markets; and included Dr. Gracia S. Ugut, Associate Dean of the Asian Institute of Management; and Dr. Vijay Rao, EHSQ and CSR specialist of Det Norske Veritas.

The winners were selected on the basis of the company's CSR activities, particularly good governance, sincerity and on-going commitment in incorporating ethical values into their business, compliance with legal requirements, involvement in community related activities and protection of the environment.

The companies were evaluated for their overall CSR best practices and not for one-offs or short-term projects.

This process ensured that the CSR initiatives of the company as a whole, and how deeply CSR has been embedded into the core of its business, were considered.

Overall the benchmarks set by the examples of the company provided a well rounded view about the CSR initiatives in the region.