A Fruitful Partnership – KLCBT, GIZ & PUM

The Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business & Tourism (KLCBT) hosted Monica and Simone, two Dutch senior experts from PUM, for a very special corporate social responsibility (CSR) project. PUM is a senior expert service which sends professionals out into the world to assist businesses in their growth and development.

The ladies visited 18 Lowveld businesses over two weeks, ranging from agriculture, business coaching, arts & crafts, security, fashion design & education, jewellery design & manufacture, to hotels, guest houses, lodges and safari tour operators.

What exactly did they do during their visits? The experts took a look at each business, asked questions about customers, suppliers, the environment, employees and staff, as well as about the businesses community involvement. They then gave on-site recommendations about how to improve their social responsibility impact and how to use certain measures to the advantage and profitability of their businesses.

Some of the general feedback given to participants included: collaborate and cooperate more amongst each other, for instance by supporting the development of local suppliers or by getting together and sharing the costs when buying more energy efficient equipment. Businesses will save money when they source locally and at the same time grow the economy by assisting to establish new suppliers.

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Why did the KLCBT embark on this adventure? As part of the Hand on my Heart Integrity Campaign (www.integrity.org.za) which aims to raise awareness about, and to increase social responsibility & ethical business practices in the Lowveld, this was the perfect way to utilise the available European expertise and inform small and medium enterprises about international best practice. We are putting (and keeping) the Lowveld on the map!

The KLCBT will be sharing the recommendations made by the experts in the weekly newsletter. There are some wonderful and very easy ideas that any business can implement. Also, due to the fruitful collaboration between the KLCBT and PUM, there will be a new partnership dedicated to social media at the beginning of next year. Watch these pages for more information.