Saudi- Businesses focus on youth empowerment programs 

(MENAFN - Arab News) As consumer awareness continues to grow, what businesses do and how they behave is becoming supremely important the world over.

In such a scenario of balancing societal demands against profit generation, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development provide alternative approaches to doing business albeit in a way that has a positive impact on all stakeholders.

Multinational companies in the Middle East are now waking up to the potential that corporate social responsibility has in making their own practices more sustainable and bringing about real and measurable change in their communities.

Although it is still lagging behind, the Kingdom is now witnessing a shift in its business landscape as leading corporations and businesses such as Rawabi Holding vow to incorporate a more responsible attitude toward the environment, the economy and society as a whole.

Driven by initiatives like the Rawabi Talent Exhibit, annual internship programs and the Rawabi Career Guidance Program to name a few, Rawabi Holding has had a long history of community investment owing to the philanthropic interests of Chairman Abdul Aziz Alturki.

Group President and CEO Osman Ali Ibrahim says CSR has always been a part of the company's culture because of its shareholders.

"This strategy can be traced back to the 1980s when the chairman took on several charitable causes and once Rawabi Holding began restructuring and putting in place clear systems, a clear CSR strategy became ever more important to streamline our work. Moreover, from an Islamic point of view too, it is important to give back to society in a way that is beneficial in the long term," said Ibrahim.

Furthermore, it is important to differentiate a company's charitable donations from its long-term community investments and to recognize the two as having different aims.

Corporate social responsibility seeks to make an investment in the community to exploit its full potential in a way that is positive and self-sustaining such as the various youth empowerment programs that Rawabi Holding has in place to help Saudi youth gain skills and find employment.

Hanaa Al-Moaibed, group corporate communications manager and CSR unit head, elaborates on this further by saying: "Our current community focus is on youth self-discovery in which we have designed and launched programs that assist youth in making better choices for their careers from an early age, thereby enhancing the country's productivity and competitiveness."

The Rawabi Talent Exhibit, for instance, scheduled for April 1 this year at SciTech, is an annual event that seeks to bring together experts from various careers to motivate and guide young students from schools all over the country to make the right choice of major at university.

Prominent speakers are also invited to give the students a sense of all their available options and to assist them in making informed decisions. Moreover, these initiatives have long-lasting impact on the human resource base of the country and its development.

"I am very optimistic about the potential influence that our programs will have on other companies when they realize that investing in one cause can bring about effective and measurable sustainable change, rather than continuing with fragmented philanthropic giving that perpetuates a culture of dependence and stagnation," she said.

Slow as it might be though, the increasing incorporation of corporate social responsibility by Saudi companies in their business practices is clearly a positive sign for the country looking to become one of the 10 most competitive economies of the world this decade.