Shahd Alhamdan
JEDDAH — Investing in human capital, focusing on long term plans, concentrating on youth development, and changing the mindset of the people in the society, were some of the factors stressed for having a better Corporate Social Responsibility.
These points were discussed during the first day of the Third Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Summit, which took place at Hilton Hotel, Jeddah.
The founder of Views Unlimited, Bart Burghgraef, opened the summit by providing some of the historical facts about CSR and short introduction about the topic. The three-days summit will end on the Dec. 3.
During the summit, the advisor of Ministry of Social Development, Ibrahim Al-Haidari explained, how the ministry collaborates with key stakeholders to deliver impactful programs that support the development of Saudi’s community and economy.
He provided the audiences with several examples such as, Bupa which provides orphans with medical health care. He said that banks like Al-Jazira bank and SABB collaborated with them in projects that give poor families the chance to work and earn money.
Dr. Haifa Jamal Al-Lail, president of Effat University, mentioned that it is important to focus on human capital investment to have a strong corporate social responsibility.
It is an important step to transfer the reaction to proactive strategy through teaching people about CSR. This teaching should not be provided to people as an educational curriculum in schools and universities. Yet, it is a life long learning strategy that start in the education institute and continue in the corporations and life.
Director of Public Affair Regulatory and Communication at Sanofi, Dr. Mustafa AlJawadi said, “We should always differentiate between long term goals and short term goals, and where we want to go. For example, in the health care it is not about the donation of certain medication in the country, it is about working with your partners in creating programs that is sustained and benefit the patients.”
He added, that in the healthcare pharmacy, the focus is on making sure that they protect the patients and provide them with a better quality of life. They focus also on providing the patient with best medication to prevent them from disease. Therefore, working as partners to reach an effective level is vital and for this long term goal is the most important factor.
One of the points that was discussed during the summit was the impact of the young generation on CSR. Youth is one of the vital factors in any society to develop it. Focusing on employing youth and women and develop there skills by several ways such as, workshops is part of the CSR.
Various government agencies, NGOs, and businesses and the CSR award winners were announced by well-known Saudi host Ahmed Al Shugairi, whose programs focus on developing young people’s skills.
The event is supported by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) and the summit has several sponsors including Al-Zahid Group, Construction Products Holding, P&G, BAE Systems, National Talents Company, and Microsoft Arabia. Sanofi is the official Healthcare Sponsor while Boeing is the awards sponsor and APCO – Saudi Office is the Media Partner.
