Business Minister, AGI and FAGE Presidents Applaud 2018 Ghacea Winners

9^th November, 2018. Accra. The Minister for Business Development, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal applauded winners at the 8^th edition of the Ghana Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Excellence Awards organized by the Centre for CSR, West Africa at the Marriott Hotel in Accra on Friday 9^th November, 2018.

“You have performed well. You have demonstrated that you look beyond profit-making and that you are interested in the development of society. I urge you to consider more partnership opportunities with government and among yourselves as corporates. There is a disconnect between academia and industry, you can help by having organizational schemes that train and groom young graduates as part of your CSR projects. And you can also collaborate with government in doing this and more.”

The President of the Association of Ghana Industries, Dr. Yaw Adu Gyamfi and the President of the Federation of Association of Ghanaian Exporters, Mr. Anthony Sikpa joined the Minister to thank socially-responsible corporates for their social interventions.

The Senior Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA Ghana, Ms. Maki Osawa reiterated JICA’s committed to empowering the private sector and helping it reduce waste, improve quality and maximise bottomlines through the National Kaizen Project and other private sector interventions by JICA.

Prof. Martin Gyambrah, Director of the Ghana campus of the University of Applied Management, Germany agreed with the Minister that the disconnect between academia and industry could be fixed through sustainably-designed academia-private sector partnerships.

Winners at this year’s GHACEA are: CSR Award for Greening and Environmental Protection – Unilever Ghana, CSR Award for Health – MTN Ghana, CSR Award for Safety & Well-being – Guinness Ghana, Agrobusiness of the Year – Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying, CSR ICT Company of the Year – Huawei Ghana, CSR Hospitality of the Year – Accra City, CSR SME of the Year – Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying, CSR Award for Education – Vodafone Ghana, CSR Award for Production Standardization – Unilever Ghana, CSR FMCG of the Year – Guinness Ghana, CSR Insurance Company of the Year - Prudential Life Insurance, CSR Manufacturing Company of the Year – Guinness Ghana, CSR Telecom Company of the Year – MTN Ghana, CSR Practitioner of the Year – Gabriel Opoku-Asare, CSR e-Commerce of the Year – QNET, CSR Initiative of the Year – Ghana Garden and Flower Movement, CSR Company of the Year- MTN Ghana and CSR CEO of the Year- Yolanda Cuba of Vodafone Ghana.

Mr. Kojo Williams, Lead Project Manager of the Centre for CSR, West Africa noted that the Awards scheme seeks to encourage companies to do more for society and when their socially-beneficial activities are given the spotlight, it will inspire others to emulate same or do even better. He clarified that the CSR CEO of the Year is awarded to CEOs that imbibe themselves the best, in their company’s CSR activities and projects irrespective of the magnitude of their company’s CSR activations.

Centre for CSR West Africa is the sub-region’s leading CSR and Sustainability organization. The Centre develops CSR and sustainability plans for corporates, organizes training courses on CSR and Sustainability in collaboration with major universities, organizes the National CSR & Sustainability Conference and the Ghana CSR Excellence Awards.