TABLE OF CONTENT------------------------------------------------------------------ 1

Corporate social responsibility and sustainability. --------------------------------2

Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------2-3

Principles of corporate social responsibility-----------------------------------------3

Factors influencing CSR-----------------------------------------------------------------3-4

Historical background of guaranty trust bank plc. (GTB)------------------------5-7

Sustainability and Director’s Report --------------------------------------------------8-13

Conclusion-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------14-15

References.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

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CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY.

INTRODUCTION

Every year around the globe, many nonprofit oriented organisations request the help of

corporate organisations either completely or partially foot bills of projects and occasions

which are seen to be for the best of the society. Many of these nonprofit organisations

are eventually funded with the promise of reciprocating some benefits in return to the

corporate organization in question. Corporate social responsibility (CSR), can also be

referred to as corporate citizenship. It functions as a built-in, self-regulating technique

whereby business follow up and ensure its active compliance with the governing laws,

ethical standards, and international norms of their society within close proximity and at

large. One of the many aims of corporate social responsibility is to embrace

responsibility for the company’s actions and encourage a positive impact on the society

through their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, and

all other stakeholders attached to the corporation.

The growing perception among corporations today is that sustainable business success

and shareholder value cannot be achieved solely through the maximisation of short-

term profits and goals but through market-oriented, responsible behaviour, Mahajan

(May 2011). Companies are aware that they can contribute to sustainable development

by managing their activities in ways that can enhance economic growth and increase

competitiveness whilst ensuring environmental protection and promoting social

responsibility, including all stakeholders’ interest. Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

is has to do with how business organisations align their values and behaviour with the

expectations and needs of stakeholders, not just customers and investors, but also

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employees, suppliers, communities, regulators, special interest groups and society that

makes up the corporation surroundings. CSR describes a company‘s commitment to be

accountable to its stakeholders associated with it both internal and external. CSR

demands that businesses manage the economic, social and environmental impacts of

their operations to maximize the benefits and minimize the downsides.

According to J. Ivancevich, P. Lorenzi, S. Skinner, and P. Crosby (1997), corporate

social responsibility (CSR) as a social obligation to the community is of the opinion that

a corporation engages in socially responsible behaviour when it is after profit only within

the constraints of governing laws and as such because the society (all other

stakeholders inclusive) supports business by allowing it to exist, the business is

obligated to repay the society by making profits.

PRINCIPLES OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The sustainability of a corporation is concerned with the effect which action taken in the

present day or situation has upon the options available to the corporation in the future.

The ability of an organisation to extend its goodwill to the general public is not a one off

project but a life time commitment that must be sustained. It is not just giving to the

society but continuous and improved service to the society for the common good of all.

To enable sustainable development in a corporation and for its society, the concept of

Triple Bottom Line is to be considered. There are three aspect of performance to TBL –

Economic, Social and Environment. This concept is used by corporations to evaluate

their performance in a broader perspective in order to create greater business value for

the benefit of all. It is the pillar that enable sustainable development in business by

gauging a company’s commitment to corporate social responsibility and its impact on

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the environment over a period of time. There are 3 basic view to the principles of CSR

activities which are;

1. Sustainability

2. Accountability

3. Transparency.

Factors Influencing CSR

P. Mahajan, (2011), opined that many factors including the following have led to

increasing attention given to CSR. They are;

 Globalization: coupled with focus on international trade, multinational enterprises

and global supply chains is increasingly raising CSR concerns related to human

resource management practices, environmental protection and health and safety.

 Governmental Bodies: have developed guidelines, principles and other policies

that outline social reforms for acceptable conduct in the discharge of CSR.

 Growth in Modern day Communication Technology: the rapid growth in level of

information and communication technology helps to track corporate activities and

disseminates wrongly passed information about them.

 Consumers and Investors: as these set of stakeholders show increasing interest

in supporting responsible business practice, the demand for more information on

how companies are addressing risks and opportunities related to social and

environment issues arise and this have impact on their CSR.

 Citizens: in different countries in the global market, citizens are making it clear

that corporations should meet standards of social and environmental care, no

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 matter where they operate which serves as a means of giving back to their

community.

Historical background of Guaranty Trust Bank plc. (GTB)

Guaranty Trust Bank plc. Is a foremost African financial institution with extensive

business operations in Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda,

Sierra Leone, Uganda and the United Kingdom. GTB has a strong service culture and

bias for innovation that have led to consistent year on year growth and numerous

accolades since its incorporation in 1990. GTB is of the belief that CSR embodies an

ardent commitment and social pact with all stakeholders which makes it committed to

creating enduring partnerships for sustainable development while adding great value to

the diverse communities in which it operates.

A significant part of the bank’s annual earnings are committed towards supporting

structures and initiatives across diverse areas of community development, education,

environment and Art. Driven by the developmental challenges of its host communities

where it operates, the bank’s CSR philosophy compels it to proactively meet and

exceed the social, environmental and growth expectations of those it shares common

goal. In order to ensure optimum impact and sustainability, its CSR strategy focuses on

four major pillars;

 Community Development

 Education

 Environment

 Health

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This research shall be aided by GTB’s Corporate Social Responsibility report for the

year 2018. This featured several factors;

1. Sustainability report

2. Director’s report

The bank have 4 major area of focus (full details in the attachments) which are;

A. Arts

 Days of Dorcas

 African Drum Festival

 International Museum Day

 Art 635 Virtual Reality Exhibition

 Summer Weekend

 Art Gallery

B. Education

 Dusty Manuscripts

 Children’s Day Celebration (Books Rocks)

 Conrad Challenge

 Mobile Library

 GTBank Adopt A school Project

C. Health Care

 Autism Focus Group Meeting

 EDWIN

 Christmas Party

 Autism Conference
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 D. Sports/Youths Festival

 GTBank Principal Cup

 GTBank Master’s Cup

 Camp GTBank

With the above CSR programs incorporated by the bank, it has helped to impact and

enrich the lives of those in their community and ensure that the world is a better place

for long term success. GTBank has a history of investing in the communities in which it

operates and as such is regarded as one of the best run African Financial Institution.

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CONCLUSION

From the findings and figures gotten for this research, it is seen that Corporate Social

Responsibility have a positive effect on the growth and acceptance of corporation as it

keeps the stakeholders abreast of the happenings in the organisation and promotes

organisational image. It also project the goodwill of the organisation. Increasingly,

organisations are moved to become more socially responsible because their most

important stakeholders expect them to understand and address the social and

community issues that are relevant to them. Understanding what is of utmost

importance to employees is usually the first priority because of the many interrelated

business benefits that can be derived from increased employee engagement (i.e. more

loyalty, improved recruitment, increased retention, organisational goodwill, great

customer service, higher rate of returns, higher productivity, and so on). Important

external stakeholders are customers, consumers, investors; communities in the areas

where the corporation operates its facilities, government, academics, and the media.

Basically, CSR concerns a company‘s business model which should be socially

responsible and environmentally sustainable. By socially responsible it concerns the

company‘s activities being beneficial to the society at large and by environmentally

sustainable, it means that the activities of the company should not be harmful to the

environment and climatic conditions. Garret and Heal (Dec. 2004), insisted that

corporate social responsibility is an unavoidable feature of corporate strategy in sectors

where inconsistencies arise between corporate profits and social goals, or

discrepancies and disagreements can arise over fairness issues. A well laid down CSR

Program can make executives aware of these conflicts and commit them to taking the

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social interest seriously. It can also be critical to maintain or improving staff morale, to

the stock market‘s assessment of a company‘s risk to negotiations with regulators.

REFERENCES.

Garret, P. and Heal, G., Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility,

Columbia Business School. Dec. 2004.

GTBank 2018 CSR Report.

Ivancevich, P., Lorenzi, S. Skinner, and P. Crosby (1997). Management Quality &

Competitiveness, (2nd ed.). Chicago. Irwin.

Mahajan, P. (May, 2011). Corporate Social Responsibility: A new wave of corporate

governance.

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