SEKEM Group 3, Belbeis Desert Road 11777 Cairo Egypt PO Box 2834 El Horreya, Heliopolis Tel: +20 (2) 6564124 Fax:+20 (2) 6564123 regina.hanel@sekem.com www.sekem.com Managing Director: Helmy Abouleish
SEKEM Group, 3, Belbeis Desert Road, 11777 Cairo
Cairo, 19 July 2012
SEKEM Report on Sustainable Development 2011: Reworked Concept Reaffirms Success of Business Modell Based on Holistic Sustainability The SEKEM Group has just published its fifth comprehensive annual report on sustainable development based on new data and containing detailed information on the advancements of the initiative in sustainable development. Significant changes this year include the “Sustainable Development Flower Framework” which has been reworked to include cosmic influence. The report is compiled in accordance with international GRI guidelines and depicts four dimensions of sustainable development: cultural life, societal life, economic life, and ecology. It presents the key facts and figures of 2011 – ranging from SEKEM’s relationships with its suppliers, the structure of the workforce and the consumption of resources to investments in land reclamation and education, and the assessment of the “CO2 footprint” of the companies. The new report also reaffirms the success of SEKEMs holistic business model based on a unique and all-encompassing concept of sustainability and sheds light on the resilience of the initiative during the year of 2011. SEKEM’s Holistic Business Modell Proves More Resilient The document reports on the importance of holistic development in increase resilience in times of crisis. It shows how the close interplay of social, economic, and environmental aspects deliberately strengthened by the SEKEM business model has played a substantial part in ensuring SEKEM’s performance under the challenges of the Egyptian Revolution. It demonstrates that this model gave rise to a sense of identity with the sustainable business practice and the caring mission towards the country and its people motivating staff to protect the SEKEM Initiative at great risk to personal security. “The Sustainable Development Flower Framework is a model to overcome the old systems in which the crises of our times root. Everyone working with it will experience the strength and inspiration that comes from it”, states Helmy Abouleish, CEO of the SEKEM Group. The Unique SEKEM Model of Reporting In the course of a revision of the Sustainable Development Flower in cooperation with SEKEM’s partners from the International Association for Partnership (IAP), a cooperative of European and international growers, distributors, and resellers of organic products, and the Soil & More Foundation, this year’s report contains new and changed performance aspects and indicators. A new structure better highlights the advancements SEKEM has made over the years. It also uses advanced graphics to outline changes made to the Flower by including the cosmic influences. New key performance indicators will be developed over the next months and years. The next step is to apply the Flower to farmers with a view to integrating the value
1
chain partners into a coherent assessment framework in order to improve their performance and resilience. Report Helps Build Global Responsibility The publication is the result of an extensive data collection and evaluation exercise. It is carried out not only for informational purposes. The annual reporting helps to critically evaluate the activities of the SEKEM companies, to set targets and to identify room for continuous improvement. SEKEM demonstrates with its comprehensive reporting how businesses can assess the created value for the society. With its work and report, SEKEM aims to serve as a role model for sustainable development, not only for Arab business leaders and in the MENA region. Its holistic business model sets it apart from other businesses engaging in efforts to advance sustainable development. The report can be downloaded at: http://issuu.com/sekem/docs/rsd_2011?mode=window&viewMode=singlePage Background: SEKEM – A Community for Sustainable Development The SEKEM-Group of companies is a part of the SEKEM Initiative founded in 1977 by Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish to strengthen sustainable development in Egypt by producing, processing, and marketing organic and bio-dynamic foodstuffs, textiles, and phyto-pharmaceuticals in Egypt, the Arab World, and on international markets. SEKEM has been widely praised as an “Egyptian organic pioneer” and has received the 2003 Right Livelihood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) as a „Business Model for the 21thCentury” and an “economy of love”. With part of their profits the SEKEM companies co-finance the social and cultural activities of the SEKEM Development Foundation that runs, among others, several schools, a medical centre, an academy of applied sciences, and other institutions in Egypt. To receive SEKEM’s monthly newsletter via email, please visit http://news.sekem.net Reprint free of charge, copy requested. Please contact us anytime for any inquiries and further information: SEKEM Gruppe & SEKEM Europe GmbH Hr. Bijan Kafi Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit Gotzkowskystr. 15 10555 Berlin bijan.kafi@sekem.info +49 (30) 22410288 www.sekem.com
2