Corporate social responsibility, often abbreviated “CSR,” is a corporation’s initiatives to assess and take responsibility for the company’s effects on environmental and social wellbeing.

The term generally applies to efforts that go beyond what may be required by regulators or environmental protection groups.

CSR may also be referred to as “corporate citizenship” and can involve incurring short-term costs that do not provide an immediate financial benefit to the company but instead promote positive social and environmental change.

Companies can invest in local communities in order to offset the negative impact their operations might have.

A natural resources firm that begins to operate in a poor community might build a school, offer medical services or improve irrigation and sanitation equipment.

Similarly, a company might invest in research and development in sustainable technologies, even though the project might not immediately lead to increased profitability.

In order to account for the importance of social and ecological considerations in doing business, some organizations advocate the concept of the “triple bottom line”: social, environmental and economic or “people, planet, profit”.

CSR is titled to aid an organization’s mission as well as serve as a guide to what the company represents for its consumers.

Business ethics is the part of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. ISO 26000 is the recognized international standard for CSR.

Private sector organizations adhere to the triple bottom line (TBL). It is widely accepted that CSR adheres to similar principles, but with no formal act of legislation.

Sidoman Investment Limited, for instance, is working with communities in education and sports among other CSR activities.

In 2016, Sidoman through its CSR activities donated Shs 980,000 worth football jersey kits, league sponsor to players in Makadara grounds in Mombasa, Rhamu in Mandera and also formed a league where the players were competing for the 1st and 2nd place spot in the respective leagues.

The donation net is expanded the current year 2017, with more teams on board, a bit bigger budget and demands expected.

Commissioning the league, I noted that the donation of the playing kits is part of a larger entity in working with communities in improving talents.

Our team also noted that other than granting a company the “social license” to operate in a particular market, CSR also impacts a firm’s brand equity and profitability.

Sidoman Investment Limited stand committed to improving the quality of life in our society. In this regard, the company has been supporting needy deserving projects, institutions, and individuals around the county through its Corporate Social Responsibility program and in turn creating long-term relationships.

Examples of good practice of CSR in the country abound, more so with for-profit corporations, pioneered by those affiliated to American, European and Japanese multinationals.

Companies in Kenya have taken to CSR with gusto in the last about five years improving staff welfare and work environment, embracing transparency and accountability in their business transactions, ethically improving profitability, self-regulation and implementing community development programs.

However, it is the community component that is highly visible to most people and gives companies the much sought after enviable public image.

Companies have been involved in various activities in sports, environment, health, education, and training, the needy in society and even national leadership and governance.

CSR, therefore, is not just a goodwill gesture by organizations wanting to look good to the public in order to hike their profits.

It is a prerequisite for good corporate leadership and governance as well as sustained operation and profitability. CSR is, in fact, a corporate competitive marketing strategy that ensures high organizational and product visibility thereby branding the business as an organization that cares about its consumers, the community it does business with and other stakeholders.

That is why in many cases, an organization will prefer to sponsor a CSR activity with one of the company’s products such as “Oldtown Premier League proudly sponsored by Sidoman Investment Limited”.
At Sidoman we continue to lead from the front with innovative products and services that solve our client’s problems. We offer our clients a one-stop shop for all their logistics needs.

Commitment to our clients is excellence in delivery that is what drives every Sidoman employee to deliver beyond the expectation of our clients. The employees form the bedrock of the company. A wealth of experience, constant training and periodic fine tuning of processes keep us efficient and competitive.