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The
latest buzzword in the business world is CSR, CSR, and still more CSR.
This acronym stands for Corporate Social Responsibility. It’s the way
the titanic conglomerates, not so gigantic medium and small companies
try and ‘give back’ to the various communities that host them. They
want to improve the conditions of the location, or the people that
reside there. We could also say, that they want to make an impact or
impression on the environs, so that they will be known for doing good
and hopefully, will not be found wanting.

The projects for
giving back to these locales are as varied as the companies are
diverse. Companies in the manufacturing, food and beverage,
telecommunications, banking and financial services, pharmaceutical, the
health service, oil and gas (both upstream and downstream are not left
out!) and we also have faith-based organisations casting in their lot
as well. It must be noted that these players take their commitment
seriously and will go to varying lengths to announce the projects they
have endorsed, committed to implementing, commissioned and completed.

A full page
advertisement in the newspapers, notable mention and video clips of the
event on prominent television stations, are just a few of the ways that
they ensure that their corporate responsibility is heralded to the
world. This is not a bad thing and like all systems that work, it
should be a symbiotic relationship between the host community and
corporations that operate there.

When the business
entity made it’s advent into the community, it was announced one way or
the other, and as such when it decides to invest where it previously
had only a commercial interest it should also be trumpeted, because
this means that the relationship has evolved to the advantage of both
parties.

Education, health,
poverty alleviation, HIV/AIDS, youth empowerment, are just some of the
projects that are making their mark in various societies. Sometimes, a
combination of a few of the aforementioned is incorporated into a
project at different stages of its implementation. The youth, very
young children, women, men, and even the elderly are not left out of
the drive to improve the quality of life they presently enjoy.

A productive way is
found for the youth to utilise their time, immunisation and other
health care may be devised for the children and their mothers;
health-care management and provision of attendant services for the
elderly, destitute and widows. As stated earlier making a mark takes
different routes. In all the betterment of the society and the people
from which they benefit is the driving force of these corporate
citizens.

Self-enlightenment
or interest is the driving force behind these projects, after all, how
can you benefit from your operational environs when there’s
deterioration in these conditions. Ultimately, one or both of the
entities in the situation suffers and most likely may cease to exist in
their original form in that location. Thus, investing in communities
and people ensures the longevity of the companies and their structures,
whilst serving the community that accommodates them.

Although companies
have demonstrated their willingness to be accountable and
correspondingly dependable, they have also made themselves vulnerable
at the selfsame time. This is because with their investment in these
local communities, they have taken identified and acknowledged that
they will no longer be passive and content to watch things happen, but
will be involved in making them happen. It thus, behoves them to ensure
that the CSR projects that they commission and implement in different
locations, be sustainable.

Merely donating
expensive equipment, or building different infrastructures that cannot
be locally maintained by the materials sourced from that community or
its immediate environs should not be initiated at all. This means that
adequate research into what benefits can be derived from a particular
scheme and also how these benefits can be optimised should be of utmost
consideration when our able corporate citizens seek to demonstrate
their largesse once more, after all that is part of being a responsible
corporate entity in the society.