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Coffee & Council with Adonis Michael

It might come as a surprise to some, but the corporate sector and the local community aren’t always worlds apart. Adonis weighs in on the good that can be done when business and community come together

words by Adonis Michael

I recently read an article on the Italian Football Club, AS Roma and their collaboration with The National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children in the US and Telefono Azzurro in Italy. This was to use the club’s social media channels to raise awareness about the plight of missing children.

It’s not often you see something like this, I was intrigued. Basically, with each player-signing announcement the club made, a video was released that featured the faces and details of a number of children who are currently missing – with the goal of generating publicity that could result in someone, somewhere, offering valuable information about the whereabouts of the missing child. 

The club subsequently partnered with a dozen charities and organisations around the world, tailored to which player they signed. This has so far resulted in six missing children being found, three of the now-found children were from London, two in Kenya and one from Belgium. This made the headlines, with media outlets such Sky Sports News, Talksport and the BBC reporting in glowing terms about the campaign. One of the Kenyan children was featured in the transfer video for England’s Chris Smalling, when he joined on loan from Manchester United.

A wonderful and heart-warming story, but what would be the value of such goodwill to a company or a brand? Of course, I am not suggesting that the football club started this campaign with anything other than altruistic reasons in mind, but it has been hugely positive for them. Which takes me to one of the buzz phrases that we often hear when we discuss business and community engagement “Corporate Social Responsibility “(CSR), a broad concept that can take many forms depending on the company or industry. Essentially, the idea is that through CSR programs, charity, and volunteer efforts, businesses can benefit society while boosting their own brands.

Community engagement is one of the key pillars of CSR and it can be implemented at any level, from a small independent restaurant to a huge corporation like Coca Cola, from supporting a small local charity to a huge international initiative.

For most businesses, it makes commercial sense to get involved in community-based CSR related to your product or service. This lets you use your expertise and show the human face of your business at the same time. For example, some restaurants provide food to local homeless groups, Law firms (including yours truly, MRB) have taken part in initiatives such as Will Aid, offering free Wills to people for an entire month (November each year!), or free advice at Citizens Advice bureaus for a few hours a week.

This type of engagement is morally rewarding but also mutually beneficial to the business and to the community. Working with your local community can bring a wide range of benefits. For example, for many businesses, local customers are an important source of sales. Demonstrating commitment to your community can also improve your business reputation and, in turn, make it easier for you to recruit or retain employees. A good relationship with local authorities can also help. For instance, some local authorities prefer to award contracts to businesses with a record of community involvement. I like to look at it a little bit like Karma. Namaste. AM