Corporations have been urged to partner in the quest to strengthen their social impact initiatives aimed at addressing issues such as injustice and environmental challenges.
Firms have been scaling policies and practices to enhance their competitiveness, while advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities they operate in.
Sustainability, environmental, social and governance disclosures now form part of key requirements for both public and private sector firms, with markets regulators like the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) for instance making it a requirement for listed entities in Kenya.
Kenyan firms and those on the continent at this year’s African Shared Value and ESG Summit, urged for collaborations to improve social impact.
“To date, we have been able to recycle nearly two billion Pep plastic bottles and transferred close to $2 million (Sh258.3 million) into the hands of the bottom of the pyramid. These are people doing the collection of the waste products which has allowed us to create a linkage within the value chain, transfer capital directly from the private sector to a value chain marginalised from the financial sector,” Joyce Gachugi, the chief executive at the Packaging Producer Responsibility Organisation Limited said.
Nation Media Group (NMG) Chief Operating Officer Monica Ndung’u says the media has embraced partnerships by presenting the stories of entrepreneurs and innovators on the continent and their social and environmental outcomes.
“At the end of the day, it is Africans who will fix Africa but on the other side, Africans must also give their stories at every given point in time by finding opportunities for partnerships that facilitate the telling of these stories and that is where NMG comes in, having built the capacity and experience over time to tell these stories,” she said in an address at the event where giant mobile company Safaricom launched its sustainability report.
The CEO and Founder of Shared Value Africa Tiekie Barnard said collaboration is the key to a more prosperous continent.
“The power to create the Africa we want lies in our ability to collaborate. We must work together, honestly, with respect, and without ego. This is the time for real partnerships where no one takes more than they give,” she noted.
