Special report.

Recently, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) centre set up by Etisalat Nigeria, one of the GSM services providers in the country clocked one. The centre located at the Lagos Business School of the Pan African University, Lekki, Lagos is a CSR initiative of the GSM Company.

The Etisalat CSR Centre is the first of its kind in Nigeria and it focuses on CSR and related issues. The key functions of the Centre are knowledge creation, dissemination and application.

In the area of knowledge creation, it focuses on research in relevant areas of interest including corporate governance, work-family balance and business ethics. As a knowledge disseminating agent, the centre runs in-house seminars and workshops on CSR as well as integrates CSR modules in MBA and executive programs.

Obviously the company has noticed the dearth of knowledge and clear understanding of the concept of CSR in Nigeria by those who should know and drive the concept, the top executives.

Of course, explaining the rationale behind the initiative, Mr. Steven Evans, Etisalat CEO, making a presentation at the last CSR training for journalists said that the centre is designed to shape CSR opinions and understandings of present and future business leaders as well as key policy and decision makers. According to him, “We believe that a CSR strategy has both a top-down and bottom-up dimension that empowers the different socio-economic levels. We believe that because CSR is an evolving concept and most organizations as well as experts in this part of the world tend to view CSR from the lowest philanthropic terms, focusing only on the lowest socio-economic levels such as the less-privileged people will not produce maximum impact or enhance sustainability. We believe that focusing initiatives on those at the top socio-economic levels can also help create the desired impact and drive sustainability in the right direction. It is for this reason that after a lot of soul searching, we decided to provide leadership on the development of a Corporate Social Responsibility Centre here in the Lagos Business School.”

The reason most companies in Nigeria especially the indigenous ones fail in their CSR activities or do not even engage in one at all is the fact that the corporate affairs departments usually charged with CSR functions do not get the support of the top management because the CEO sees such ventures as a waste of funds.

In its first year of existence, 142 professionals of different companies have had enriching experiences from the Centre’s activities. Of this number, 52 are top executives.

102 MBA students are currently being trained on CSR due to the integration of CSR into the MBA program. The CSR modules are mandatory.

Just recently, the centre organized CSR training for journalists. The idea behind this according to Dr. Chris Ogbechie, director of the centre is that journalists being opinion moulders need to understand the concept of CSR very well so that they can present better reports in their coverage of CSR activities.

This training for journalists is especially necessary because the low reportage of CSR issues including analysis and features in the Nigerian media is a direct result of lack of basic knowledge of the concept and how it ties with the profitability of an organization.

In coming up with the idea of the centre, Etisalat has shown that it is a thinking organization, an organization that understands its operating environment and an organization that is desirous of attacking a problem from the root and ready to do more than the ordinary.

Evans noted that Etisalat has started to put in place a long-term plan to implement its CSR initiatives based on international best practices. According to him, “Some of the best practices we have identified and built on include stakeholder engagement which involves internal stakeholder creative inputs as well as external stakeholder involvement. There is also the value based self regulation which is simply our Code of ethics that guide our behavior in business dealings with all stakeholders. All these form part of the sustainability bedrock upon which our initiatives are built. We are equally aware that a good CSR strategy and sustainable initiatives are built on basics such as meeting our legal and regulatory commitments, both to the letter and in spirit.”

Ismail Omamegbe, manager, CSR & Internal Communications, Brands and Communications Division of Etisalat, said in a chat, “Our CSR strategy has taken into cognizance what we consider the rather peculiar Nigerian situation; CSR and philanthropy are mostly used interchangeably when in truth both terms and concepts have clear differences. It is a fact of life in Nigeria that corporate bodies and government officials misunderstand what CSR truly represents and its potential to drive sustainability. These, combined with other factors, provided the bedrock upon which we conceptualized and defined our CSR strategy. This strategy focuses on varied socio-economic groups which include decision and policy makers in government as well as business leaders such as the chief executive officers of corporate organizations.”

He said the CSR partnership with LBS is focusing on people at the top end of the socio-economic ladder with the objective of making even bigger impacts on society because “we are able to shape the opinion of decision-makers. For us, this was a huge motivating factor in our decision to partner with LBS on the development of the CSR centre. The program, which is included in the MBA curriculum, is designed to address the challenges associated with the theory and practice of CSR,” Omamegbe said.

As part of Etisalat’s various ongoing CSR projects, the company partners with the Lagos State Government on its Adopt a School Initiative (ASI) which includes provision of all forms of support to secondary and primary schools. Three schools; Akande Dahunsi Memorial Secondary School in Ikoyi, Edward Blyden Primary School in Okesuna, Lagos Island and Rabiatu Thompson Primary School in Surulere have so far benefited in the provision of upgraded infrastructure with a plan to continually provide support in areas including but not limited to infrastructure, leadership/management and direct support for students and teachers’ development.

Etisalat has also instituted a Merit Award that includes scholarships for university students with the highest CGPA in Electrical Electronics Engineering, Computer Science and Management Sciences. About 150 students have so far benefited across the country.