With a population of 900 million which accounts for 25% of the world’s population, an average per capita income of roughly $1 per day,
The Statistics look horrendous, and the biggest question would be “Can Africa ever get out of this rot, will her countries ever live in the predictions of becoming attractive economies by 2020?”
Corporate social responsibility has been inherited by corporate organizations, who themselves use it as a catchall phrase to earn public reputation without any commitment to rid our society of the scourge.
However as it appears that the total disregard might create for all stakeholders an uncomfortable environment to thrive in, some companies are beginning to embrace innovative ways within their core business activities of making better the current situation.
Most interesting is how companies such as NedBank have taken this beyond the traditional cause-related initiative to using new and unique platforms that delivers on Triple bottom line.
Nedbank, a South African Bank wanted to show that they were not just about profit and though they are a financial institution, their proposition was more deeper with a commitment to making a difference in the life of the people.
To reinforce what they’d always stood for “Make things happen” Nedbank didn’t just run a commercial to talk about what they did for their communities, rather they came up with an idea to create the first solar powered billboard that was designed to convert the heat of the African sun to electricity for a school’s kitchen that fed 1100 pupils in a rural South African neighborhood.
It was such meaningful activity that deepened and expanded their scale of operations beyond just providing the functional, and positioned the Nedbank brand as symbol of hope.
It is therefore essential that as brand builders we should not just assume that our jobs end at increasing brand awareness or helping client optimize advertising budgets, but a noble calling of investing our creativity in the most sustainable and significant way.
2 comments:
Mr Ogbonna, this is an article that provokes profound thought. I may not quite agree with every bit of it, but that only means that there is room for constructive discussion. More importantly, your overall argument has a lot of merit.
I agree that sustainable energy development, poverty alleviation, corporate social responsibility; these are approaches that must be adopted if things are to change. It is true "the soul of true and meaningful creativity should be in its humane interpretation". There are few better examples of this, I would dare to add, than those of dynamite and nuclear energy.
Your concluding sentence is absolutely on target. Here in the Western world, the power of the media has grown to unprecendented levels. Increasingly, a lot of social vices that were hitherto unknown in their current proportions (I stand to be corrected on this) are being linked to the unrelenting exposure of young people to the undiluted power and (questionable) influence of the media. May I respectfully suggest that this is not only a matter of investing creativity in sustainable projects, but also that of ensuring that these projects are interpreted in the most responsible way in every possible context.
Now to the issues I do not quite agree with. It appears that you have selectively presented data to suit your point of view. The world's population is between 6 and 7 billion, 50 % of which is roughly 3 billion, not 900 million.
Furthermore, in listing the so-called "horrendous" statistics, you failed to mention that in recent times, World bank data suggest that the economy of Sub-saharan African countries grew at rates similar to global rates. In fact, nations such as Mauritania, Angola, Sudan and Mozambique grew at rates much higher than global. The per capita income value you quoted corresponds more to that of sub-saharan Africa, than of the whole continent.
Overall, I appreciate the work you have done in putting this together. Do keep them coming.
Thanks Zuby,point taken.
so sorry i didn't make this clear, the article was basically focused on the Sub-Saharan region of the continent.
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