With the dramatic increase in its funding for this year, the Aboitiz CSR Group are in for bigger challenges for this. The Group laid out their plans and projects for this year during separate strategic planning sessions held early last month. Guiding the Group during the session were Aboitiz Foundation President Jon Ramon Aboitiz (center) and EVP/Managing Trustee Sonny Carpio (leftmost).
With the accomplishments of the previous year now the benchmark for projects within the Aboitiz Group, corporate social responsibility (CSR) teams of the different business units (BUs) are looking forward to bigger challenges for 2011, especially with the 163-percent increase of its budget allocation from P95 million to P250 million.
“This large increase is indeed very challenging and welcome, but it will put a great responsibility on the different teams towards proper allocation of resources in their respective communities we serve and to maximize their impact on those that need it the most,” Aboitiz Foundation President Jon Ramon Aboitiz said during the strategic planning sessions of the CSR teams of the Group.
“In Aboitiz, we assure that we are a company that shares and serves. CSR is being promoted as an integral part of our brand that is ‘One Team, One Vision.’ We are all brand managers who can either add or detract values,” Aboitiz added.
The first session had a total of 24 participants comprising CSR teams from the Power Group, was held at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City on Jan. 6 and 7. The second batch had 18 participants from the other special business units—land development, construction, banking, crewing and food. It was held at the Casino Español de Cebu on Jan. 10 and 11. Both sessions were facilitated by the Aboitiz Foundation.
During the sessions, Foundation EVP and Managing Trustee Sonny Carpio discussed the directions set by the Board of Trustess for 2011, while Danny Cerence, Aboitiz Foundation Manager for Project Development & Management, talked about new policies and enhancements for project development, guidelines and requirements.
The BUs also reported their plans for 2011 and their 2010 accomplishments, which gave other BUs insights about their success factors and derived impact on the communities. This sharing allowed the participants to learn about how the projects were implemented successfully; they expressed optimism about being able to replicate some of these projects in their areas of operations.
“While 2010 is our new normal, the increase in the 2011 funds emboldens us to widen our horizons in project development, implementation and evaluation. We encourage all to make sure that the projects are well thought out, are in line with the directions set, and that project implementations would (ensure the wise use of) our resources,” Carpio told the participants.