47 firms in race for The SERAs 2015

TRUCONTACT CSR Nigeria, organisers of the yearly Nigeria CSR awards, otherwise known as The SERAs, has acknowledged the receipt of 47 entries from participating organisations for the 2015 awards. Some of the companies that made the deadline are ExxonMobil, Nigerian Breweries, Lafarge, Total, Cornerstone Insurance, Etisalat, BATN, Airtel, DHL, Nigerian Stock Exchange, FCMB, Promasidor and First Bank.

As Nigeria’s top CSR and sustainability honour enters its ninth year and designed to integrate principles and framework of global compact, global reporting Initiative and ISO 26000.

The SERAs is reputed to be the major promoter and force behind galvanising businesses across various sectors and industries to imbibe the ethos of CSR and sustainability in the country.

The theme of the 2015 awards, billed for November 14, 2015 at MUSON Centre is ‘Building partnerships for a sustainable future; business leadership as a catalyst for development.’ According to the organisers, “This seeks to highlight the lessons learned from Nigeria’s inability to completely attain the millennium development goals targets and building on the lessons of the MDG’s to begin a move towards attaining the sustainability development goals (SDG’s), and also promoting the vital roles that cooperation and partnerships will play in efforts to achieve the SDG’s.” 

All is set for the commencement of verification and facility visit to projects and locations entered by the organisations. The SERAs involves the production of an annual Nigeria Social Enterprise Report that documents the CSR and sustainability interventions of corporate organisations countrywide.

Meanwhile, the organisers have released a call for entry for the Tunmise Adekunle Awards for CSR reporting, a category introduced in 2009 to promote media excellence in reporting CSR and sustainability in Nigeria. Entries for this category close on September 21, 2015.

To date, the SERAs, which began in 2007, has registered more than 520 applications from 92 organisations from 13 different sectors of the Nigerian economy.