Arabia CSR Network awards CSR champions from MENA region at ceremony in Dubai

The event, held under the title 'Embracing Sustainability in Times of Instability', was supported by the UN Global Compact, the world's largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative.

Ms. Habiba Al Marashi, President of the Arabia CSR Network stated, "This year, the Arabia CSR Award brought to the platform over 75 companies operating from 11 different MENA countries that have been shortlisted for their exemplary sustainability vision, strategies and actions. The applications to the Arabia CSR Awards were subject to a rigorous assessment system carried out by an international panel of CSR and sustainability experts. The awards were then conferred for best performance across six categories: Government, Large Business, Medium Business, Small Business, New Business and Corporate-NGO Collaboration."

She said that in the Public Sector Category the winner was Kuwait National Petroleum Company (Kuwait), the first runners up were Dubai Customs (UAE) and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (UAE) and the second runner up was Abu Dhabi Police (UAE). She added that the winner in the Large Category was UAE-based Al Futtaim Carillion, followed by Henkel FZCO (UAE) on first runner up position and The Specialty Hospital (Jordan) on the second runner up position. The winner in the Medium Category was a tie between Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (Bahrain) and DLA Piper Middle East LLP (UAE), the first runner up was again a tie between Canon Middle East (UAE) and Royal Industrial Trading Company (Palestine) and the second runner up was WSP Middle East (UAE).

In the Small Category, Ms. Al Marashi stated that the winner was Bank Sarasin-Alpen (ME) Limited (UAE), followed by Blossom Nursery (UAE) in first runner up position and Tiger Profiles & Insulation LLC (UAE) in second runner up position. There was also an Award for the Best New Business, i.e. organizations under 3 years old, which was conferred upon ABB LLC Oman (Oman). Ms. Al Marashi stated that this year a new category was created that focused on effective corporate-NGO collaboration. In this category the winning position was taken by both Boeing International (UAE) and BLC Bank SAL (Lebanon). The first runner up position was again a tie between Etisalat Egypt (Egypt) and Dubai Customs (UAE). They were followed by Arab African International Bank (Egypt) on the second runner up position.

At the Awards Ceremony, Ms. Al Marashi stated, "In this year - which was the fifth Arabia CSR Awards cycle - there were a total of 58 completed applications from organizations of 17 different sectors in 11 countries from the Middle East, Levant and North Africa region. The sectors include Telecom, Financial services and banks, Oil & Gas, Healthcare and many more. This wide coverage of participation is indicative of the fact that many industries and many countries consider CSR and sustainability as critical for business and economic development. Organizations from countries such as Palestine and Egypt also participated in the Arabia CSR Awards in 2012."

Ms. Al Marashi added, "Participation in the Arabia CSR Awards is not a destination, it is rather a journey towards reflection, assessment and improvement for a more effective and sustained impact, especially in areas of corporate responsibility and sustainability. This is why we encourage participating organizations - even if they were winners or not - to apply every year to see how they are doing against their own previous performance and against the organizations around them."

In the past five Awards cycles, the Arabia CSR Network has received almost 400 applications from hundreds of organizations across the Arab region. This is indicative of the value that the Arabia CSR Awards provides to businesses in the region; after all it is not just the award or the accolade, but also the process of self-evaluation and assessment that helps companies understand how they can improve their performance to become more sustainable and have a positive impact on society and the environment.

Ms. Al Marashi added that since the Arabia CSR Network promotes a low-carbon future, they have made the entire Forum & Awards Ceremony carbon neutral with the support of myclimate, a leading Switzerland based organization that is spearheading climate action and carbon management efforts across the globe.

To shed more light on the critical issue of utilizing sustainability strategies to contribute to business continuity, the Arabia CSR Network invited a number of international CSR experts and though-leaders. These included, among others, Herman Mulder, Chairman of the Board, GRI; Bengt Johansson, Ambassador for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Swedish Government; Lord Michael Hastings, Global Head of Citizenship and Diversity, KPMG; Dr. Mark Boutros, Global Lead Corporate Responsibility, Kreab Gavin Anderson Worldwide. Also present were CSR leaders from organizations such as du, E&Y Middle East, DNV, the Government of Sweden and more.

The esteemed group of international sustainability experts discussed two critical issues that affect CSR implementation across the world: i) how organizations can create shared value through strategic CSR and ii) how companies can adopt and benefit from CSR as a long-term approach. Benefiting from these discussions were hundreds of CSR professionals and senior management officials that were present at the Forum to learn more towards good governance, social development and environmental protection.

This year, the Arabia CSR Forum & Awards Ceremony was supported by the generous sponsorship of organizations such as du, Petrochemical Industries Company in Kuwait, Tristar Transport and Tetra Pak. The Arabia CSR Awards continues to receive the technical support of the Asian Institute of Management and DNV. The media and PR partners included Weber Shandwick, Gulf News and 7 Days.