Business regularly groups together at the Malta Chamber to discuss ideas and best practice in responsible entrepreneurship. In fact, voluntary actions taken by business to address the wider interests of society and their own competitive positions are at the core of the Malta Chamber’s objectives.
To this end, it has a track record of promoting the concept of corporate social responsibility – having participated in various EU-funded initiatives led by Eurochambres over the past decade. During this time, Malta Chamber staff received the necessary training to develop the internal capacity to encourage SMEs to adopt CSR practices, which would, ultimately, add value to their business.
In the past two years, the Malta Chamber teamed up with Bank of Valletta for a project aimed at mapping out the conduct and development of CSR initiatives by Maltese companies with the intention of giving additional promotion to the concept among the business community and to maximise the benefits of CSR to both business and society.
Through this project, the Chamber embarked on building a database of the CSR activities performed by local business. The activities were categorised according to their aims – the environment, employee motivation and society at large. Consequently, special working groups were formed for business to come together and discuss their practices and experiences in the field.
This discussion culminated in a national conference on the subject, which was held at the Malta Chamber on October 31. The event was very well attended and was addressed by former PwC Malta senior partner John Bonello, Playmobil Malta environment, health and safety manager Adrian Vigar and by Charles Borg and Vanessa Macdonald, Bank of Valletta’s CEO and head of PR, respectively.
The conference confirmed that responsible entrepreneurship was most prevalent among local businesses both large and small, even if the business may have been unaware it was performing an activity that fell into the CSR definition.
Moreover, it emerged responsible entrepreneurship is not the exclusive domain of large companies and is a critical ingredient to build a sustainable business in today’s world.
The conference highlighted that responsible entrepreneurship is a corporate state of mind, as Bonello aptly put it. It weaves itself into the fabric of everything a company does and the corporate winners will ultimately be those that are governed properly and act responsibly.
CSR is equivalent to responsible entrepreneurship. It is also a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. It should function as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby a business would monitor and ensure its adherence to the law, ethical standards and international norms.
Responsible entrepreneurship typically results in higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, improved brand and product reputation, more motivated and productive employees, better relations with the community and public authorities and increased cost savings. Properly communicated, it can help a firm stand out from competitors.
We concluded at our conference that responsible entrepreneurship creates a win-win situation for business and stakeholders. At the same time, we insisted CSR should remain voluntary and not be regulated. Furthermore, no additional specific reporting rules should originate from legislation and no additional costs and burdens should apply for firms.
While maintaining that all businesses should be encouraged to embrace CSR, we emphasised they should do so in the correct manner. The conference certainly served its intended purpose in terms of suggesting measures towards proper governance, delivery and communication being amply discussed by the speakers and participants.
The Malta Chamber took much encouragement from the feedback from its members since embarking on promoting CSR. It is convinced CSR is beneficial for a business to operate with a conscience for the people and environment around it. The Malta Chamber shall remain committed to promoting and contributing towards the development of this worthy cause.
President of the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry