DURBAN - Businesses should also play a positive role and invest in the communities in which they operate, so says the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) Chief Executive Kaizer Nyatsumba.
Nyatsumba said, "Everything we do as the business community impacts, one way or the other, on the communities in which we operate in. We should, therefore, strive to give back to the members of those communities".
He warned, however, that corporate social investment (CSI) projects should not be carried out as tick-box exercises. Instead, he said they should be meaningful and constructive and benefit community members in a sustainable manner.
To celebrate companies that go out of their way to invest in communities in which they operate, Seifsa will present the CSI Award to a company whose corporate social investment programme/s between July 2017 and December 2018 had a major impact on the lives of its beneficiaries. In 2018, the Best Corporate Social Responsibility Programme of the Year Award was scooped by Schneider Electric complied with legislative and other requirements, but also genuinely gave back to society.
Commenting on this category at the time, the judges said: “In an environment where the struggle to survive and prosper is challenging on its own, giving back to society becomes even more important. There are many companies in the country that have embraced these challenges and go the extra mile year after year to give back to society and make an impact on the communities in which they operate – and it is only appropriate that we honour and celebrate them”.
Other awards that form the seven categories of the SEIFSA Awards for Excellence are:
1. The Most Innovative Company of the Year
2. The Most Transformed Company of the Year Award will be received by a company
3. The Health and Safety Award of the Year will be offered to a company with the
4. Customer Service Award of the Year
5. This is the Decade of the Artisan
6. The Environment Stewardship Award
The Awards are open to all companies in the metals and engineering sector, and not only those that are members of Associations affiliated to Seifsa. Awards winners will be honoured at a ceremony that will take place at the IDC Conference Centre in Sandton on 23 May 2019.