Muhith extols virtues of CSR
Friday, 2 March 2012
FE Report
Three firms of high repute - Renata Ltd, DBL Group and Nestle Bangladesh -- won Standard Chartered-Financial Express CSR Award 2010-11 in recognition of their excellence in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Finance Minister AMA Muhith handed over crests to the award winners at a function at a city hotel as chief guest Thursday evening.
Majority of the shares of Renata Ltd - 51 per cent - is owned by Sajida Foundation, a non-profit organisation engaged in microfinance and social uplift activities.
The CSR activities of Renata include comprehensive healthcare benefits for its staff and their families, healthcare and livelihood support, various scholarships and donation programmes.
A sizeable portion of the garment sector unit, DBL Group's profit is channeled into CSR activities reflecting their commitment to social development.
This enterprise provides wide-ranging support to the fields of education and health, especially back-up to the general ward of the burn unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Nestle Bangladesh is a renowned firm in Bangladesh, which is engaged in the laudable job of water conservation, recycling and rain-water harvesting being their major initiatives.
It supports the community by providing drinking water to neighbourhood schools as well as extending support to sanitation, computers and large-scale training.
Speaking as the chief guest, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said giving something to others is inherent in human nature.
"People give even if they do not have much to give," he said adding, "I was a minister 30 years ago, when we didn't care about CSR."
CSR is something which has been practised to boost cooperation, he said.
It is an encouragement to various enterprises for varied public-oriented initiatives that people undertake, he added.
"This is the fourth round of CSR award, although it is not the fourth calendar year of its origin," said eminent economist professor Wahiduddin Mahmud, while announcing the names of the awardees.
"But we hope that this award from now on will be given annually as the practice of CSR is gaining ground in Bangladesh and the number of deserving winners is increasing," said Mr Mahmud, who is also the chairman of the CSR Award Committee.
"Merely setting aside some funds routinely for philanthropy is not enough," he said.
"The first prerequisite is that it has to be a good business entity in terms of standard of business, good business practice, transparency of accounts, tax payment, labour and environmental standards and so on," he said.
"It is important for companies not to treat CSR as a necessary detraction from maximizing shareholder-value, but they have to incorporate it into strategic longer-term business pulse," he added.
Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank Jim McCabe said CSR and corporate governance were supplementary.
"No company can ignore CSR now-a-days," he said adding, "In Bangladesh many companies are doing exemplary works."
CSR can benefit Bangladesh for sustainable economic growth, he added.
Editor of The Financial Express Moazzem Hossain said an independent committee has selected the awardees.
"It was not an easy job given the melee of Bangladeshi businesses," he said.
"We, The Financial Express, do highly value our partnership with the Standard Chartered Bank in this particular endeavour," he said.
"We strongly believe that CSR takes hold, businesses do become increasingly part of the solution rather than the cause of problem," the FE editor added.
He also recalled the valuable contributions of late Samson H Chowdhury, the former Chairman of Square Group, who was one of the distinguished members of the CSR Award Committee.
The Standard Chartered-Financial Express CSR Award recipients - Kaiser Kabir, Managing Director of Renata Ltd, MA Jabbar, Managing Director of DBL Group, and Laurent Therond, Managing Director of Nestle Bangladesh - expressed gratitude for selecting their firms for the prestigious award.
Three firms of high repute - Renata Ltd, DBL Group and Nestle Bangladesh -- won Standard Chartered-Financial Express CSR Award 2010-11 in recognition of their excellence in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Finance Minister AMA Muhith handed over crests to the award winners at a function at a city hotel as chief guest Thursday evening.
Majority of the shares of Renata Ltd - 51 per cent - is owned by Sajida Foundation, a non-profit organisation engaged in microfinance and social uplift activities.
The CSR activities of Renata include comprehensive healthcare benefits for its staff and their families, healthcare and livelihood support, various scholarships and donation programmes.
A sizeable portion of the garment sector unit, DBL Group's profit is channeled into CSR activities reflecting their commitment to social development.
This enterprise provides wide-ranging support to the fields of education and health, especially back-up to the general ward of the burn unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Nestle Bangladesh is a renowned firm in Bangladesh, which is engaged in the laudable job of water conservation, recycling and rain-water harvesting being their major initiatives.
It supports the community by providing drinking water to neighbourhood schools as well as extending support to sanitation, computers and large-scale training.
Speaking as the chief guest, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said giving something to others is inherent in human nature.
"People give even if they do not have much to give," he said adding, "I was a minister 30 years ago, when we didn't care about CSR."
CSR is something which has been practised to boost cooperation, he said.
It is an encouragement to various enterprises for varied public-oriented initiatives that people undertake, he added.
"This is the fourth round of CSR award, although it is not the fourth calendar year of its origin," said eminent economist professor Wahiduddin Mahmud, while announcing the names of the awardees.
"But we hope that this award from now on will be given annually as the practice of CSR is gaining ground in Bangladesh and the number of deserving winners is increasing," said Mr Mahmud, who is also the chairman of the CSR Award Committee.
"Merely setting aside some funds routinely for philanthropy is not enough," he said.
"The first prerequisite is that it has to be a good business entity in terms of standard of business, good business practice, transparency of accounts, tax payment, labour and environmental standards and so on," he said.
"It is important for companies not to treat CSR as a necessary detraction from maximizing shareholder-value, but they have to incorporate it into strategic longer-term business pulse," he added.
Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank Jim McCabe said CSR and corporate governance were supplementary.
"No company can ignore CSR now-a-days," he said adding, "In Bangladesh many companies are doing exemplary works."
CSR can benefit Bangladesh for sustainable economic growth, he added.
Editor of The Financial Express Moazzem Hossain said an independent committee has selected the awardees.
"It was not an easy job given the melee of Bangladeshi businesses," he said.
"We, The Financial Express, do highly value our partnership with the Standard Chartered Bank in this particular endeavour," he said.
"We strongly believe that CSR takes hold, businesses do become increasingly part of the solution rather than the cause of problem," the FE editor added.
He also recalled the valuable contributions of late Samson H Chowdhury, the former Chairman of Square Group, who was one of the distinguished members of the CSR Award Committee.
The Standard Chartered-Financial Express CSR Award recipients - Kaiser Kabir, Managing Director of Renata Ltd, MA Jabbar, Managing Director of DBL Group, and Laurent Therond, Managing Director of Nestle Bangladesh - expressed gratitude for selecting their firms for the prestigious award.