More than 50 people interested in CSR attended the seminar, including executives and board members from Civil Society Organisations. The seminar was the first of its kind in Mozambique, providing an opportunity both to kick-start the discussion around CSR, and also to provide an arena for networking and interaction among leaders from the corporate world, civil society and academics interested in CSR.
A presentation was made by Professor Einar Flydal touching upon CSR historical developments, CSR assessment and reporting tools as well as the current CSR paradigm behind the standard ISO 26000. This was an excellent compact lecture that provided the historical perspective and the conceptual framework.
Furthermore, three concrete cases were presented: KENMARE (mining), MATANUSKA (agriculture), and PETROMOC (petroleum products distributor). A following discussion provided participants with some good practices and potential benchmarks.
Indicating high interest, significant comments and inputs into the discussions came from representatives of a variety of business areas such as SAL e CALDEIRA (consultancy), CITRUM (agriculture) and CIMENTOS de Moç. (Cement factory) The debate was further energised with examples from SMEs on how small firms can pursue a CSR agenda. Service providers in areas such as telecom, financial services, tourism, and engineering were present.