ABOUT THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE REPORTS AND AWARDS.

The Social Enterprise Report and Awards was born out of a deep conviction that the success of Public Relations (PR) in the present millennium and in the future,   will be increasingly dictated by the level and degree that a company or organisation can effectively and convincingly engage its stakeholders. This assertion is supported by the reality that, whether we like it or not, we are witnessing the downward spiral of advertising as PR continues to take a more prominent position in the life of firms and organisations.  

We live in a global, information age, where nothing can remain hidden for long. Consumers are becoming more sophisticated, more critical and more demanding of corporate organisations. They choose to make their purchases from firms that are perceived to be more client-friendly and client focused; firms that show that they care and who are more environmentally friendly and are seen to give back to society. Even children these days, call to question the veracity or authenticity of some advertorials that they encounter in the mass media; even when these  advertorials have children as their core target audience.

We foresaw these technicalities that would change the face of corporate and marketing communications, many years ago as we planned to establish a strategic, research- and customer-focused and responsive public relations and marketing communications consultancy. In fact, stakeholder engagements held such a place of prominence in our visioning and thinking that it featured prominently in our Vision statement – “To build leading, sustainable brands and organisations where economic and professional growth is matched by corporate social responsibility”.

Now, when we surveyed the corporate landscape in Nigeria, we also found that many organisations did not quite understand the term Public Relations nor what it embodies. There was this pervading belief that PR was about taking a client out for drinks and at best, many limited PR to media relations and the disbursement of “brown envelopes” to journalists.  Though Public Relations as a discipline has become better known, accepted and practised in Nigeria, we still find a lot of companies limiting the impact of their business activities because they will not allow themselves time to explore and enjoy the bountiful and longer-term  rewards that PR can bring to their business and bottom line.

We really had out work cut.  What strategies would increase public awareness about PR as a legitimate discipline?  The first idea we had was to publish a biennial or quarterly online journal or magazine that would explore  the depth, texture and dimensions of public relations in Nigeria. This sounded really good at the onset but as we further deliberated on this, digging deeper into the advantages and disadvantages, we realised that this type of publication would largely appeal to those in corporate practice.  What strategies would be all-inclusive, we pondered? What strategies would enable us involve the people, communities, NGOs, government and other stakeholders? We went back to the drawing board.  Here, we would need to acknowledge the impact of friends of TruContact who brainstormed with us looking for that functional idea.

When we emerged from this round of brainstorming, it was obvious that we would need to expand the concept beyond just publishing an online report.  This marked the birth of the SERA award ceremony as we know it today - where participating organisations showcase their work around corporate social responsibility (CSR) to society and society in turn assesses and rates the performance of participating firms. Thus, both corporate organisations and stakeholders together  set the agenda and plot the way forward for mutually beneficial future encounters.  

This thinking gave birth to the glamorous and grand SERA ceremony. Though the actual ceremony takes place for about four hours on a single night, the countdown to the D-day spans many months of activities and preparation. The highlights of these activities include the call for entries, submission of entries by participating organisations, the field trips to cited CSR projects, voting by the general public  and the meetings of the judges who make the final decisions about the winners.

The report component now fits in nicely as a way to draw public attention to PR and corporate social responsibility practice in Nigeria in a format that firms and their stakeholders can access long after the award ceremony closes. The report also provides the platform for documenting the best practices that we encounter yearly during our field trips around Nigeria to capture the very essence of corporate – stakeholder engagements; in as far as these engagements enrich and improve the lives and wellbeing of the peoples of Nigeria and simultaneously impact on the bottom-line of organisations perceived as good and responsible corporate citizens.