The Competitiveness Committee drilled public/private sectors actors in Yaounde on Wednesday November 20, 2013.

Stakeholders in the private and public sectors in the country have been told that upholding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the enterprise is synonymous with boosting its productivity, assuring its competitiveness and guaranteeing sustainable socio-economic development. Addressing the stakeholders from a wide-range of sectors in Yaounde on Wednesday November 20 during a capacity-building workshop organised by the Competitiveness Committee, experts said, CSR, also known as sustainable responsible business, is a guide to what the company stands for and will uphold to its consumers.

Elaborating on the theme of the workshop, “CSR: Purveyor for the competitiveness and performance of Cameroonian enterprises in the face of global economies and markets,” Thierry Téné, of the African Institute of CSR, said Corporate Social Responsibility encompasses not only what companies do with their profits, but how they make them as well. He noted that it goes beyond philanthropy and compliance and addresses how companies manage their economic, social, and environmental impacts, as well as their relationships in all key spheres of influence: the workplace, the marketplace, the supply chain, the community, and the public policy sphere.

Other speakers like the President of the Competitiveness Committee, Charles Kooh II, said enterprises in an economy like Cameroon absolutely need to fully embrace CSR not only to stay competitive vis-à-vis others in other societies, but much more so as not to compromise the population’s interest in their usually insatiable taste for returns. Participants noted that for corporate social responsibility programmes to work, government and the private sector must construct a new understanding of the balance of public and private responsibility and develop new governance and business models for creating social value. They said the Competitiveness Committee needs to redouble its effects to ensure the effectiveness of CSR in the country because companies are increasingly facing new demands to engage in public-private partnerships and are under growing pressure to be accountable not only to shareholders, but also to employees, consumers, suppliers, local communities, policymakers and society.