2nd CSR Practitioner Meeting by CSE in Athens

The Center for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) proudly held its 2nd CSR Practitioners Meeting, in Athens, on September 10th 2009. Mr. Nikos Avlonas, Managing Director CSE, welcomed Mr. Ierotheos Papadopoulos, Head of the European Commission Representation in Greece, Mr. Mike Eymorfidis, General Director CoCoMAt, Mr. Yannis Freris, Head of Corporate Communication and Sustainable Development GEFYRA S.A, as well as 25 CSR Practitioners from leading organizations so as to discuss the role of CSR business practice nowadays. Several CSR practitioners, who have already been accredited by IEMA, gathered in order to engage in fruitful discussion on the outcome of the CSR implementation in their company’s bottom line, especially in the midst of an economic slump.

Mr. Avlonas focused his speech on the need to extend the CRS concept throughout the entire organizational plan of a company so as to remain unconditionally sustainable. Mr. Papadopoulos, who elaborated on the relation between the EU and CSR in the midst of the financial crisis, underlined that the EU openly acknowledges the importance of the CSR concept in promoting sustainable development in Europe. Mr. Eymorfidis commented that, first and foremost, it feels good when a company embeds a green philosophy, while Mr. Freris concentrated on the significance to act as a CSR practitioner in everyday business practice. The inspiration-driven discussion held afterwards amongst all the participants featured contributions from members of different organizations representing different sectors (retail, financial, heavy industry, energy, construction, and academia), such as Hellenic Post, Halkor, Motoroil, Korres, Oracle Hellas, Alpha Bank, Jetoil etc.

The concluding remarks of the roundtable can be summed up by saying that, the impetus behind sustainability in business is gaining momentum and becoming more mainstream. The Roundtable Event piggybacked onto CSE’s main event, its Certified CSR Practitioner Workshop. The CSR Practitioner Workshop, which is certified by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), is designed for all professionals who, in one way or another, deal with CSR, enabling them to advance their CSR understanding, acquire the skills and knowledge that will bring added value and authenticity to their company, as well as earn an official business qualification.
To date, CSE, as a top provider of specialized trainings in CSR and Sustainability, in more than 12 countries (Greece, UAE, USA, Spain, Kenya, Cyprus, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Kuwait, Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Hong Kong, Ecuador), has trained more than 4.000 professionals from all industry sectors, such as Retail, Finance, Heavy Industry, Energy, Food & Beverages, Infrastructure, Telecommunications, Government, Construction, Conference and Event Organizers, Construction, Pharmaceutical/ Cosmetics, NGO, Academia, Chemical Industry, Transportation, Real Estate, Media. CSE has certified 83 CSR Practitioners, since January 2008.

CSE will host its next Certified Roundtable discussion in Dubai on November 18th , 2009.