Corporate social responsibilty loyalists commended

Results of a study to that effect were made public in Douala over the weekend. One of the most important responsibilities of a company is to cater for lives in the community given that every business activity poses a certain degree of damage to the environment. Most companies in the national territory are making lip-smacking profit with little resources while inflicting health risk and environmental damages on communities.

The companies forget they owe loyal customers goods and services like road, schools, potable water, health centres and jobs. They must give back to inhabitants of the area where their companies are planted for developmental purposes. Coupled with the silent disposition of companies to communicate on their social responsibility actions, “Association pour la Communication sur les Maladies Tropicales” (ASCOMT) and “Magazine International de la Santé et de L’Environnement” (MALARIA) carried out a study on the perception of the practice of corporate social responsibility by Cameroonians.

Some 1,728 Cameroonians from seven towns including Bamenda, Bafoussam, Douala Garoua, Maroua, Ngaoundere and Yaounde, through questionnaires, evaluated 30 companies in the education, environment, health and community development domains, among others.

Going by the 2013 results, the Mobile Telephone Network, MTN, hit the summit with 22.56 per cent, closely followed by SABC with 22.47 per cent while the defending champion – Orange - came third with 15.88 per cent. Other giant companies like AES Sonel and Camrail managed 7.06 per cent and 6.80 per cent respectively.

According to the report, SCDP, UCB and Seigneurie are first from the bottom with 0.04 per cent each while the lone refinery, SONARA and the lone airline company, Camair-Co grabbed 0.34 per cent and 0.39 per cent respectively.

The President of ASCOMT, Paul Ntoogue Nyemb who doubles as the publisher of Malaria magazine, said the first study in 2012 saw the ranking of 36 companies by just two towns while the 2013 ranking covered seven towns. The project supervisor, Prof. Gilles Etoundi, said the provision of social goods adds a plus to companies since their actions catches the public eye.