Nestle Finance Director Mandeep Chadwal accepts the Best Corporate Citizen award from British High Commissioner Peter Hayes. The Best Corporate Citizen Awards were organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and held at Cinnamon Grand yesterday (Pic by Rukshan Abeywansa)

CSR key in times of economic crisis

By Nizla Naizer
British high Commissioner Peter Hayes explained that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity is the key to survival in times of economic turmoil and commended local corporations that have succeeded in making a favorable impact on society.

Speaking at the Best Corporate Citizen Award Ceremony held last night, at Cinnamon Grand, he stressed, “CSR is important now, more than ever. When times are tough, it’s the values of the organization that keep it going,” The event was organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) where Nestle Lanka Ltd emerged the winner.

“Its good business to do these activities,” Hayes pointed out, “Your customers, your employees have more faith in a company that sticks to its values and ethics and looks beyond business,” he said addressing the gathering of the private sector’s biggest names at the awards ceremony.

Hayes presented the awards to the top three Corporate Citizens in the country; Nestle Lanka Ltd followed by Aitken Spence PLC and Sampath Bank Ltd.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne addressed the gathering and said that it is not easy to do business in Sri Lanka but the corporate sector still managed to juggle their economic activities with ‘innovative and inspiring’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) accomplishments. “In this time of credit tightening, market shrinking and the government intervening in unpredictable and innovative ways, responsibility is considered a ‘luxury’ by some,” he informed, “but it has become vital to the private sector, in order to become ethical and value adding corporate citizens.”