CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: NOT APPLICABLE; Well Told Story’s hybrid business placed in Kenya’s Top100 Midsized companies [ARCHIVE]

Kenya’s Top100 awards are organized by KPMG and The Nation Media Group and have become a high profile annual event recognizing success and potential in the SME sector.

“This year’s competition, which was conducted between June and September, attracted 1,900 firms but only about 200 made it to the finalists’ list with half the number feted” Monday’s Business Daily newspaper reports.

The Top100 awards are for businesses with an annual turnover between Kshs 70 million (US$700k) and Kshs 1 billion (US$10 million) and recognize those with the strongest base for sustainable growth, built on exemplary operational and governance practices.

Obviously we are delighted that we have scored so high up in this major Kenyan prize, since it recognizes the investment we have made in the systems and operations at Well Told Story. But what excites us most is the recognition of our hybrid business model – which puts our positive social purpose at the very front of our strategy and our sustainability plans.
This was brought home as we filled in the Top100 application forms: one part asked us to describe our Corporate Social Responsibility plan – Not Applicable, we wrote.

There’s no Corporate Social Responsibility plan at Well Told Story because being socially responsible is central to everything we do, not an option to be tacked on after normal business has been completed.

We believe our competitive advantage and our contribution to solving fundamental social problems go together hand in hand.

Delivering tangible social benefits for our society – and our partners – is our mission, and is the beating heart of our purpose-driven, shared-value business model. So we couldn’t be more proud to win an important award acknowledging that we’re managing to do just that.