Seven major organisations were presented the Dubai Chamber CSR Label during a ceremony held at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry premises on Wednesday. The awardees were honoured for their efforts to become leading businesses in corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

The seven organisations included Palm Utilities, Unibeton, Global Village, UAE Exchange as well as Nail Spa and QBG, both receiving the honour for second year running, while NBAD became the first Abu Dhabi-based organisation to receive the Dubai Chamber CSR Label in the country.

Presenting the CSR Label to the receiving organisations, H.E. Hamad Buamim, Director General, Dubai Chamber, congratulated the awardees stating that their efforts were a source of inspiration for the entire business community. All the recipients here today are CSR pioneers in the region and are helping to promote best business practices by leading by example, he said.

Happy with the overwhelming response to the CSR Label initiative since its launch in 2010, Buamim said, "This year we more than doubled the number of applicants compared to 2011 and are looking forward to 2013 with equal positivity."

"It's fair to say that Dubai's business community has really taken CSR and sustainability to heart thanks to the efforts of our Centre for Responsible Business. Many organisations now have a sophisticated understanding of its concept and mechanics, and are taking new trends into account and adapting them to meet their organisations' needs," he said.

The Director General further stated that Dubai Chamber, on its part, works to help the business community integrate CSR and sustainability into their strategies as the concept is open to every type of organisation regardless of its size, culture or sector and can make a major difference to a company's reputation, efficiency and productivity.

"This is dependent on how clearly the business sets out its CSR objectives and how well it communicates these to its staff and all stakeholders," said Buamim.

He added that the Dubai Chamber CSR Label allows organisations to learn, assess, monitor and improve individual CSR strategies and practices as they get access to toolkits, networking seminars and training workshops to help them adopt and implement their own CSR schemes. 

The awardees lauded the role of Dubai Chamber in allowing them a toolkit to access their corporate social responsibility performance as well as the opportunity to promote their activities, and to enhance their reputation as leaders in achieving sustainability.

Dubai Chamber's Centre for Responsible Business launched the CSR Label in 2010 and has had an overwhelming response from the business community. The Centre offers a variety of educational, professional training and consulting services that are designed to increase a company's capacity to implement broad CSR programmes including business ethics, sustainability reporting and corporate governance into their day-to-day working environment.