MINISTER OF LABOR RECOGNIZES SAVOLA FOR SPONSORING THE BUSINESS ETHICS FORUM
Group, a leading company in the field of food, retail, and plastic industry, for its diamond sponsorship of the Business Ethics Forum that was held recently at the Jeddah Hilton Hotel. Accepting the award on behalf of Savola was Mr. Mahmoud Abdul Ghaffar, Chief of Corporate Affairs and Board Secretary. Savola’s participation in the Forum reflects the importance of work ethics and values with the Group’s various business lines and sectors.
The Savola Group, represented by Mrs. Faten Al Yafi, Senior Executive Director of CSR and PR in The Savola Group presented a paper titled “Transparency, Responsibility, Ethics” underscoring the importance of corporate social responsibly within the Group by activating a series of ethics and values which have enabled Savola to create a strong internal culture and a distinctive way of doing business. Al Yafi said that there are three key factors that support this notion: “Covering a major and diverse part of society, reinforcing a robust internal structure, and building the image of the organization.”
Al Yafi continued, “Social Responsibility in the Kingdom underwent five critical phases that began with realization, then importance, then reinforcement, then development, and finally sustainability.” Al Yafi also indicated that 2006 was a year of transformation for CSR in the Kingdom and his picked up momentum since then.
According to Al Yafi’s presentation, statistics revealed that CSR is growing at an average of 40% per annum where 80% of the support is coming from the private sector. Around 500 companies and organizations in the Kingdom are active in some form or other in various CSR programs.
The presentation also featured Savola Bridges and its main program Makeen which trains and employs persons with disabilities. Through a well thought out mechanism the Makeen Center is built on continuous search for candidates, qualified training centers to train these candidates, and the commitment of the Group’s various operating companies to accommodate the graduates. Supporting this initiative is Makeen’s Buddy and Mentor system which aims at creating a favorable working environment within the Group and Universal Accessibility which prepares the Group’s buildings and factories to become compliant with international standards for the mobility of persons with physical, visual, and hearing disabilities. The project is scheduled for completion by June 2012.
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