MENA CSR REPORT 2021: UAE, KSA RETAIN REGIONAL CSR LEADERSHIP

 The UAE and KSA have emerged as regional leaders in the awareness and adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices based on the findings of the second edition of the MENA CSR Survey Report. The survey was conducted by Cicero & Bernay Communication Consultancy (C&B), a leading MENA agency headquartered in Dubai, in partnership with 3Gem Research and Insights, a global research partner. 

The annually conducted survey studies the understanding and impact of CSR across select countries in the GCC, Levant, and North Africa. In this year’s report, the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia lead the way and emerge as leaders, retaining their position from the report’s previous 2020 edition. 

In total, 263 C-suite government, aviation, automotive, banking and finance, construction & real estate, healthcare, and transport executives and corporate leaders from across the MENA region were surveyed, including the UAE, the KSA, the greater GCC, and Egypt. The respondents were asked a series of CSR-related questions to gauge overall regional perception.

Key findings of the report:

• Nine in ten respondents from the MENA region feel that adopting CSR practices will have a positive effect on a company’s business.
• 81% of UAE managers state that the CSR for their company is either part of their DNA or one of the top priorities, while a soaring 95% in the KSA agree to the same.
• Nine in ten managers in the UAE, compared to eight in ten in the KSA, chose their own country as being the most active in terms of CSR.

Ahmad Itani, founder and CEO of C&B and chairman of PRCA MENA, said: “Our annual CSR Survey report is a way of gauging the comprehension and adoption of CSR among C-suite executives in the region. For us in the UAE, we were privileged to witness firsthand the positive impact of CSR over the past two years, under the guidance of our wise leadership. When we published our survey in 2020, our aim was, and still is, to inspire more regional social responsibility among organisations and highlight the incredible benefit such initiatives have on corporate cultures and their stakeholders on the path towards positioning the MENA at the forefront of global CSR.”

Darren Ryan, global creative director - 3Gem Research and Insights, said: “We were delighted to partner with Cicero & Bernay Communication Consultancy on the second MENA CSR Survey Report. It was encouraging to find that C-suite executives’ understanding of corporate social responsibility in the MENA region is very high, with over half claiming to have a strong understanding of it. It was also inspiring to note that the majority (two-thirds) of MENA companies plan to increase their CSR activities in 2022. This edition’s findings revealed how businesses are approaching corporate social responsibility now and for the future.”

Ahmad Itani concluded: “It is important for all organisations, big or small, to start embedding CSR into their corporate culture and make all possible efforts to deepen their relationship with their stakeholders.”