Business & Money | Sunday 31 May, 2015 1:58 pm |

SEDCO Holding Group - a leading Shariah-compliant private wealth management organization – underscored the crucial role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in youth development.

During its participation at the 12th Annual CSR Summit in Dubai held on May 18-21, 2015 at The Address Dubai Marina, SEDCO Holding highlighted its efforts in extending corporate social responsibility in the furtherance of community’s development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In the presence of more than 150 speakers and regional and international corporate social responsibility experts, Amr Banaja, VP of Corporate Communications and Marketing at SEDCO Holding Group, emphasized the importance of corporate social responsibility in expanding the youths’ skills and playing a role in education to build a solid generation that is ready to successfully enter the workforce, saying: “Our presence in this Summit grants us the opportunity to highlight our efforts among other professionals in corporate social responsibility”. The Group will be able to communicate side by side with major players to develop and improve social responsibility around the region.”

He went on to say “there are three trends lately in how organizations are adopting sustainability and CSR practices in the region. First, we focus on sustainable projects that create an impact, secondly we seek and sign partnerships and alliances with common goals from the public and private sectors and institutions of the civil community, and lastly there is a more holistic view incorporating programs with impact on the community, the environment as well as the workforce. ”

In a panel discussion around ‘developing the youth and nurturing the future workforce’, Amr Banaja shared his expertise and thoughts around youth development emphasizing the need to build integrated CSR programs. He stressed the value of examining and evaluating the education gaps as well as creating and implementing immediate solutions that should result in building an effective capacity toward successful partnerships between corporations and educational institutions. He shared his experience of the Riyali financial literacy program that aims to improve the skills of youth both in their future employment or should they want to become entrepreneurs. Amr also shared his collaboration experiences with the Saudi Ministries of Labor and Education while shedding light on SEDCO's success with, both, in classroom training as well as online education by using social media as an educational platform to reach youth.

Moreover, Amr Banaja proposed designing and launching innovative campaigns to maximize engagement with the youth and deliver measurable impacts. He pointed out that it is crucial to develop useful and realistic skills so as to equip the youth with solid foundations in facing the real world.

The 12th Annual CSR Summit was aimed at building beneficial partnerships and shedding light on pioneering initiatives to provide organizations with the required practical tools that drive a sustainable future for the business community, society and environment.

This year’s edition of the Summit tackled vital issues such as building social responsibility programs to improve business performance and growth, applying the best practices of corporate social responsibility and turning it to a profitable model, measuring social impact (SROI) and providing a fully integrated perspective of the role of corporate social responsibility in companies, institutions and SMEs.