Vodafone Qatar was shortlisted as 1st runner-up in the ‘Medium Category’ at the Arabia Corporate Social Responsibility Awards 2011 held recently in Dubai. 
The award, organised under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, since 2008, has honoured companies across the Arab world that are committed to making a difference by embedding principles of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into their strategies and sustainability in their respective spheres of influence. 
The fourth edition of the awards saw the participation of some 42 organisations from 10 Arab countries, making them ‘trailblazers’ in the field of CSR.
“I am delighted to take this opportunity to congratulate Vodafone Qatar on being shortlisted for the Arabia CSR Awards 2011,” said Habiba al-Marashi, president and CEO of Arabia CSR Network and board member UN Global Compact. 
“The company’s holistic view on sustainability together with a thorough understanding of CSR and sustainability policies, processes and goals, has made the application one of the strongest entries received, resulting in it being shortlisted by our international expert panel of judges,” said al-Marashi. 
Luisa Gentile, Vodafone Qatar head (Corporate Social Responsibility) said, “We are at the beginning of our journey but have a clear idea of where we want to be in future. We engage in self- reflection as a business so that we can realise our ultimate hope of creating a legacy in the way we operate and not embark on corporate responsibility activities that are one-off projects or public relations activities. 
“We ensure that our CSR activities are linked closely to our business, finding the right balance between doing good actions and running the business of a telecommunications company. This ensures that our key stakeholders are happy and allows us to be sustainable as a visionary organisation that uses the values we advertise to function.”