"SABIC" reviews its experience in social responsibility in Asharqia Chamber
The Director General of the International Social Responsibility of the Saudi company for the Saudi Industries (SABIC), Yarub bin Abdullah Thunayyan,has confirmed the occurrence of a direct proportion between the performance of companies in the social responsibility and its rising indicator in the stock market, advising those who want to invest in the stock market to focus on high performance companies in social responsibility, pointing that the performance of companies in social responsibility has become among international standards that indicate the sustainability of the business of companies
Thunayyan said that the Social Responsibility beside it enhances the sustainability of the business of companies, it also acts as a break point in the sustainability of human resource, with an increase of loyalty and belonging rates among employees, pointing that more than 60% of individuals prefer to work with companies that elevate the value of social responsibility, pointing to the importance of convergence between the company strategy that aims at business improvement and its strategy towards social responsibility.
This was during the evening, that was held by Asharqia Chamber represented by the Social Responsibility Center on Wednesday evening, within of a series of successful experiments in social responsibility, in order to review the experiences of successful institutions in the field of social responsibility and convey them to others, amid a big attendance of interested people and specialists in community affairs and business charity and volunteer work pioneers and officials of departments and administrations of social responsibility in the private sector companies.
Thunayyan talked about SABIC experience in the social responsibility, saying that SABIC experience lies in the work according to specific strategy that upholds and improvement and quality goals to progress, pointing that the social responsibility in SABIC is not just an administration that direct its services to the community, but it is a culture spread among all employees in the company, by participating them to contribute in this aspect with their skills, referring to the new SABIC strategy of social responsibility, which starts under the name (RAISE) and includes four basic priorities that are: education, science, technology, environmental protection, health, water and sustainable agriculture.
He continued, saying: (RAISE) aims in engaging employees in the efforts in this field; where the councils of these company's employees in different regions around the world suggest community investment projects and evaluate them according to the company's strategy for 2025, in addition, the concentrating social responsibility fields with a priority and needs of local communities, mentioning that the support of these programs is through the company's initiatives, charity donations, care programs and volunteering efforts for employees and partners.
Thunayyan has counted the programs offered by SABIC to serve the community, like return to school program, which embodies SABIC's keenness in supporting education, targeting last year supporting more than 80 thousand students of primary and middle school in 16 countries around the world, headed by Saudi Arabia.
Thunayyan went on, saying: There are other programs that have been accomplished in partnership such as SABIC caravan for Sciences, which targeted spreading enthusiasm for learning science and technology in the soul of more than 25 thousand male and female students of young people in seven major Saudi cities, where caravans have interacted with students through a series of programs and workshops and practical experience in the fields of chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, innovation and information technology.
This is unlike community initiatives that SABIC participated in such as an environment without waste initiative started by the Union Gulf for the producers of petrochemicals and chemicals (GPCA), aiming to encourage waste reduction values and reusing and recycling of waste materials.
Thunayyan, pointed to the company's programs in psychological health, referring to the cooperation launched by the company with the Saudi Ministry of Health in order to design and finance a specialized hospital for psychological health and addiction treatment in Riyadh, in order to provide specialized health services for people with psychological illness and drug addicts, the hospital includes prevention, diagnosis and treatment and rehabilitation services .
And regarding water and sustainable agriculture programs, Thunayyan explained that SABIC signed a 2015 agreement with the Saudi Ministry of Agriculture, that aims to enhance awareness, satisfaction and experience of farmers and technicians working in the agricultural sector, as the company continued to work in the first stage of the Agricultural Research ISTIDAMA Center, which aims to improve creative ways to ensure the sufficiency of water use, and increasing food production and transferring modern agricultural techniques and improve them.
Thunayyan concluded, saying (The speeding up in the work of community programs may not lead to good results), advising companies that want to make programs for the community responsibility to slow down and the extensive study to all aspects with concentration on sustainability factors, and at the end of the evening, the Secretary General of Asharqia Chamber, Abdulrahman bin Abdullah Al Wabel, presented a memorial shield to Mr. Yarub bin Abdullah Thunayan.
