Despite the economic recession, which has affected businesses’growth and made many firms to cut down on corporate social responsibility (CSR) spend, Nigerian Breweries still takes CSR as a priority, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.
Experts have identified poverty, lack of portable water, corruption, poor basic health care facilities, ill-funded and equipped educational system, environmental degradation and pollution, militancy and insurgency as some of the social problems facing Nigeria.
Their hope that the government would tackle some of these challenges has remained elusive over the years. While they wait for manna to fall from the seat of power, most corporate organisations offer some respite, despite tough operating environment.
According to an investor, though companies are not saddled with providing basic amenities like the government, “as people in the world of business, we cannot look away. The world of business can lay claim to many fantastic achievements, but we must not forget our involvement in many of the problems. We must commit ourselves to finding solutions. I believe that the role of business is to make the world a better place for everyone”.
The investor explained that while businesses must make sense economically, it must also be environmentally and socially responsible.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development, in a recent report noted: “Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large.”
According to Social Enterprise Reporting and Accountability (SERA), the total spend on CSR by companies in Nigeria increased from a little over N600 million in 2006 to N30 billion in 2013, while over N27.8 billion was spent in 2014. Though figures for last year were not available, they are not likely to be less.
For Nigerian Breweries (NB), there are no better ways to support the society where it has continued to benefit immensely from.
Its yearly Golden Pen Award; Maltina Teachers Award; Beer Academy and Summit, among others, are some of its CSR programmes.
Driven by a vision to “win with Nigeria” and be responsible to its stakeholders, the company has been supporting national development aspirations.
These have earned for the giant brewer several awards. For instance, the brewer was named the Best Company in Responsible Consumption and Production in the year. It clinched the honours at this year’s Nigeria CSR Awards – The Social Enterprise Report and Awards (SERA) held in Lagos.
In 2014, the company was also named the Overall Winner, Most Socially Responsible Company in Nigeria. In that year, it won four awards – The Best Company in Infrastructure, Best Company in Supply Chain, CSR Practitioner of the Year and the overall Best Company in CSR, confirming its position as the most socially responsible corporate citizen in the country.
Besides, NB has also embarked on promoting responsible beer consumption.
To do this the brewer brought microbiologists, dieticians, nutritionists, medical doctors, and sociologists, among others, to its National Beer Summit to address the issues.
This year’s symposium entitled: ‘Beer and culture’ was attended by top celebrities which held at Eko Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos.
NB Managing Director, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde said the aim of the symposium was to share knowledge on beer consumption.
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, lauded NB for its CSR intervention in employment through investment in agriculture and corporate backward integration.
During a visit to NB, he said agriculture, which is once the mainstay of the economy, would only thrive when backward integration is encouraged by not just the government, but corporate organisations, such as NB.
“With the thousands of jobs you have created through your sorghum and cassava value chains, it is clear that we can use agriculture and backward integration to revive and reflate this economy. We would like to partner with you in this regard to increase employment in Nigeria,” the governor said.
He lauded the management of the company for taking the initiative to engage over 250,000 farmers in its sorghum and cassava value chain, saying that it has gone a long way in providing jobs for the people.
“I am excited that you are employing about 250,000 farmers in your value chains and that you also have 4000 direct employees.You create jobs for Lagosians and we are very happy that you are part of the success story of our Lagos. People employed in all the beer parlours and restaurants are part of the indirect jobs that you have created for Lagosians,” he said
The governor congratulated the company on its 70th anniversary and praised it for being a responsible corporate citizen, adding that it had done better than other firms in CSR in the state.
The governor pledged the continued co-operation of the state for NB. “We are part of this partnership and we shall do all to support it,” he said.
NB Technical Director, Mr. Henk Wymenga, listed the company’s socio-economic impact in Lagos to include job creation, compliance in taxe payment, local sourcing of raw materials, including the company’s sorghum and cassava value chain as well as its long-term sustainability agenda, “Brewing a better world.”
As a result, Lagos signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nigerian Breweries on the ‘One Lagos Fiesta’.
Also, recently the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and NB restated their commitment to reduce road crashes, particularly those caused by drunkenness.
Announcing the commencement of the eighth yearly ‘Don’t drink and drive’ campaign, an initiative of NB with FRSC in Lagos, the organisations said there was the need for effort on responsible consumption of alcohol.
The company is also collaborating with about 12 global alcohol business in five key areas, such as: under-age drinking, marketing code of practices, consumer information and product innovation, drink-driving and retailer support.
Two years ago, NB and the FRSC organised a “Don’t drink and drive” campaign in four states, covering 1,080 commercial drivers.
The company’s deal with the FRSC had, in the last six years, been directed at communication to change drivers’ behaviour towards alcohol. Also, in collaboration with the International Centre for Alcohol Policy (ICAP), the company had embarked upon an evaluation of previous enlightenment programmes directed at the primary target groups.
Meanwhile, not a few industry watchers consider NB’s bold steps at leading moderate drinking a huge risk. They argued that for a product that requires huge volume sales to make profit, educating the public on risks associated with beer abuse may be considered counter-productive.
However, for a company that believes that decisions should be based on the knowledge of their environment, products and services, NB has decided to continue to win the consumers by advocating moderation in alcohol intake.
