As an active member of the CSR community in the United Arab Emirates, The CSR Division of Ahli Holding Group hosted the CSR Sustainability Majlis gathering on Monday 10th of September 2012 at the Dubai Marina Yacht Club.

The event gathered more than 40 of the most active CSR practitioners in the country representing government, academic, non-for-profit and private sector entities exchanging best practices, experiences and most importantly, giving one another the chance to form partnerships that will help direct mutual efforts towards unified goals.

The keynote speakers for the evening were Lina Hourani, Director of CSR Al Ahli Holding Group, Ammar Shams, Regional Head of Corporate Sustainability, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited and Mr. Mohammed Tayem, MD of Entourage Marketing and Events.

Speaking about the power of partnership during her welcoming speech, Lina Hourani Director of CSR Al Ahli Holding Group Said "We are very proud to host this gathering as we strongly believe that it is our duty as a private sector to create and develop initiatives, programs and events that will help contribute to overall CSR development and understanding in the UAE."

She added, "One of the main pillars we are working on is joining efforts and expertise toward mutual goals, amplifying the results and benefits of different CSR initiatives. There are many initiatives that can compliment each others in a very positive and constructive way, and with this networking event, we are trying to create an window for different CSR stakeholders to find a link between those initiatives." 

"When it comes to partnership, we have great experience in the CSR sector. To spread awareness about Autism, we teamed up with ENOC, Union corp and Kassab Media to rollout the campaign and raise funds for Dubai Autism Center. For ADIB, we reached out to 10,000 members of the community during the holy month of Ramadan. We distributed carefully selected nutritious food at the time of Iftar to the less privileged members of the community," said Mohammed Tayem, Managing Director of Entourage.

Ms. Hourani went on to explain about the different CSR projects and initiatives created and implemented by CSR Al Ahli Holding Group, one of them is the "CSR in Action" initiative, which was born in UAE as a partnership between Al Ahli Holding Group and The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), to develop and enhance the practice and awareness of CSR among practitioners and students in the region and help them formulate strategies that are more responsive to community needs.

Another initiative that CSR Al Ahli Holding Group is greatly proud of is The Global Business Opportunities (GBO), which is an unprecedented educational and cultural project aiming to create a working group among youth from two (or more) distant and different cultures, to identify business opportunities and develop entrepreneurship skills.

Al Ahli Holding Group also works on a number of initiatives via its Corporate Social Responsibility division focusing on the development, support and empowerment of Arab youth and on the dissemination of thought leadership in the region through different internship and fellowship programs.