Sirdar and Social Enterprise
Sustainability and Social Enterprise is core to Sirdar’s Global business. Indeed Sirdar’s vision is “Sirdar delivers business growth and empowers communities through sustainable enterprise”. This fundamentally means that while we focus on the growth and development of business, we utilize a portion of our profitability to directly benefit communities. We do this through supporting enterprise development in the communities that require it the most around the globe. We believe strongly in building emerging economies by developing local small to medium enterprise.
Sirdar activates its Social Enterprise policy on the basis of transactional giving which is defined as the act of constructing your businesses financial system so that every single transaction made in your business makes a positive difference in our world. This transaction-based giving movement is now inspiring and transforming our world. It is a new and immediately effective form of philanthropy, serving the world’s underprivileged with practical and sustainable upliftment from every sale in every business globally.
By 2017 Sirdar will be considered by organisations such as the United Nations, Oxfam, New Zealand Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as the leading private contributor to enterprise growth and development in developing nations globally, giving back 10% of pre-tax profit from every Sirdar business and equity partner globally. Sirdar Group consolidated will be contributing over $100 Million to social enterprise every year. Our sustainability report will be the global standard for sustainability reporting and the annual winner of both the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants and the global accountancy award for sustainability reporting. Sirdar will do this via its transactional giving policies.
A culture of social enterprise
Sirdar’s culture is one of social enterprise and thus it is demonstrated through everything that the business undertakes globally. From each business unit having a clearly identified social enterprise partner and structure for transactional giving, to the expectation on our equity partners and the encouragement we put into the business community adopting social enterprise policies, Sirdar truly believes that “enterprise exists for purpose beyond profit!” Sirdar also engages in social enterprise projects that support the achievement of Sirdar’s vision to “grow business and empower communities through sustainable enterprise.
There are five key pillars to Sirdar’s social enterprise policy:
- Selection of social enterprise partners for Sirdar Group companies
- Structuring of transactional giving for Sirdar Group companies
- Expectations on equity partners and business partners regarding transactional giving
- Specific Social Enterprise Projects
- A culture of social enterprise and the bottom line financial commitment
Sirdar and the selection of Social Enterprise partners
The criteria for the selection of the social enterprise partners for Sirdar requires careful consideration. It is critical that the selected social enterprise partner is working in an area of social development that supports the achievement of the Sirdar vision of “…empowering communities through sustainable enterprise.”
A vital aspect to this policy is what the social enterprise uses the financial contributions from Sirdar to achieve. This has to be able to occur on a transactional basis. Sirdar has a bottom line commitment that all Sirdar Group companies contribute a minimum of 10percent of their pre-tax profit to empower underpriviledged communities across the globe.
