Finance Minister honours top giving companies based on PCP’s annual survey of Corporate Philanthropy

Karachi, February 19, 2014: In a ceremony presided over by the Governor Sindh, Dr. Ishrat Ul Ebad, the Finance Minister Mr. Ishaq Dar, who was representing the prime minister, was the chief guest on the occasion. He presented the top giving companies of 2012 with PCP’s corporate philanthropy awards and also addressed the audience. The recipient companies were the highest contributors among the corporate sector to social sector development and poverty alleviation in the country. The award distribution ceremony was organized by Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) and sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and was held at the Governor House, Karachi. This year’s annual event was attended by leading businessmen, senior government officials, civil society representatives, donors and media.

Dr. Shamsh Lakha, H.I., S.I., Chairman PCP Board in his welcome address, shared that the annual event, in pursuance of the Centre’s philanthropy agenda, seeks to inspire and motivate companies to move forward in their philanthropic activities as well as to aid policy making for an enabling environment. PCP instituted the awards to recognize and promote corporate contributions to society. These awards are based on Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy’s research based survey titled ‘Corporate Philanthropy in Pakistan: Survey of Public Listed and Unlisted Companies 2012’. The survey is part of PCP’s ongoing effort to document and encourage corporate philanthropy and to formulate policy level changes. He underlined the importance of an enabling environment in order to optimize the volume and effectiveness of philanthropy. He put forward three requests to the government: to announce a national day of philanthropy in the country, create a senior level committee for enhancing philanthropy, and provide support in organizing an international conference on philanthropy.

The Executive Director of PCP gave an overview of the survey on Corporate Philanthropy in 2012. The Finance Minister appreciated the Centre’s work on Corporate Philanthropy. He stated that the participation of the corporate sector was an invaluable national resource for social sector development and poverty alleviation. He congratulated PCP for completion of another annual corporate philanthropy survey in the pursuit of its goal of advocating the importance of this indigenous resource through quality research. He also appreciated PCP’s role in enhancing the coordination between the government, business sector, and civil society with the goal of increasing the volume and effectiveness of corporate philanthropy in the country. He assured the audience of the present government’s commitment to this cause and expressed interest in all three recommendations put forward by the Chairman PCP. In a gesture of support for the work that PCP was doing, the Finance Minister also announced a grant of Rupees 20 million to the PCP.

He also congratulated the recipients of the awards and appreciated the corporate sector’s contribution in supporting the social sectors and poverty alleviation. He also observed that the growth in corporate philanthropy from Rupees 228 Million in 2000 to Rupees 4.1 billion in 2012 was a phenomenal eighteen-fold increase. He also urged the corporates and the PCP to work on new approaches to philanthropy and stated that they would find the government to be a willing and committed partner.

The representative of the UNDP at the occasion, made a presentation on the development programme of the UNDP, with emphasis on recent efforts towards seeking strong and effective partnerships with the corporate sector.

Awardees ranked top 5 for the year 2012 for the highest volume of donations among Public Listed Companies are (1) Pakistan Petroleum Limited (2) HBL (3) Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited(4) National Bank of Pakistan and (5) Lucky Cement. The top giving Unlisted companies in this category were (1) Yunus Textile Mills Limited (2) Descon Engineering Private Limited (3) Qarshi Industries Private Limited (4) Zohra and ZZ Ahmed Foundation and (5) Fatime Sugar Mills Limited. Awardees ranked top 5 for the year 2012 by volume of donations as a percentage of PBT among the Listed Companies are (1) Mari Petroleum CompanyLimited, (2) Pakistan Services Limited (3) Karam Ceramics Limited (4) J.D.W. Sugar Mills Limited and (5) Crescent Steel and Allied Products Limited. The top giving Unlisted Companies in this category were (1) Madrigal Sports Private Limited (2) M A S Textiles Private Limited (3) Samsol International Private Limited (4) Al Hamra Fabrics Private Limited and (5) Dollar East Exchange Company Private Limited.