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Sensitization of business leaders to the opportunities offered by the Global Compact in Côte d’Ivoire

Abidjan- Ivory Coast –

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Business leaders were made aware of the opportunities represented by the Global Compact, during a forum organized in Abidjan-Plateau, at the initiative of the Ivorian Patronat, for companies joining the initiative and to define the next steps for the establishment of a network.

This forum, which took place Thursday, April 13, 2023, in plenary session, recorded the participation of the Vice President of the General Confederation of Enterprises of Côte d’Ivoire (CGECI, Patronat Ivoirien), Vallassiné Diarrassouba.

This activity was punctuated by communications and panels around the theme “Contribution of the private sector to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Côte d’Ivoire.

The United Nations Global Compact is the tool of the UN institution to support companies in CSR. It was set up in 2000 by Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, with a view to encouraging the private sector to question the environmental and social issues facing the planet.

The resident coordinator of operational activities of the United Nations System in Côte d’Ivoire, Philippe Poinsot, stressed that this initiative now brings together the private sector around the Sustainable Development Goals. “We have 18,000 companies in the world that are active members of the Global Compact, which make commitments each year and report their contribution to achieving the SDGs. They are committed to sharing their experiences,” he said.

Among these 18,000 companies worldwide, “there are 800 in Africa and in Côte d’Ivoire, there are five, including four that are quite small, SMEs and one that is larger, Nsia Bank, a member of the Global Compact,” said. Mr. Poinsot.
Continuing, the resident coordinator of operational activities of the United Nations System in Côte d’Ivoire, stressed that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not only limited to the preservation of the environment, water life, welfare, assistance to a community or a cooperative, but it is also the heart of its social reason.

For him, “the paradigm shift is to say that achieving the goals of the SDGs is that CSR is the business model. It is not a CSR activity where we release a small budget to do some activities that give good conscience, it is my main activity in the sense that it works to implement the SDGs.

For his part, Felix Baengenga, multi-country manager at UN Global Compact for Francophone Central Africa, said it is vital that companies assume their fundamental responsibilities in the four areas covered by the UN Global Compact, namely human rights, international labor standards, the environment and the fight against corruption.

“The Global Compact allows companies to consolidate their market through good practices, to benefit from capacity building programs on the issues of Corporate Social Responsibility,” he said.

As for the representative of the Minister of Trade, Industry and SME Promotion, Emmanuel Tra Bi, also Director General of Industry, he invited companies operating in Côte d’Ivoire to voluntarily commit to this Initiative because by integrating the principles of the UN Global Compact into their strategies, policies and procedures, and by establishing a culture of integrity, companies not only fulfill their fundamental responsibilities to society and the planet, but they also pave the way for sustainable success in business.

With its 2021-2023 strategy for Africa, the UN Global Compact aims to develop networks of responsible businesses across the continent and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

More than 60 local UN Global Compact networks are established around the world and include 138,000 employees. Of the 18,000 engaged entities around the world, more than 3,800 are non-business participants.