Make CSI work for your small business

COMMUNITY SOCIAL INVESTMENT: SOFT ISSUES HAVE HARD EDGES

Whether or not you believe community social investment is just a PR stunt for big business, it has crept into our legal framework. And that has implications for all entrepreneurs, big and small.

You have probably heard of the acronym CSI – no, not an abbreviation for crime scene investigation as in the movies, but corporate social investment. Another term you may have heard is “corporate social responsibility”. Basically CSI is when a business gives back to a community by helping it in any way it can.

Washing hands

The concept of giving back derives from the notion that, if you set up a business in a particular community and subsequently prosper, that community invariably supported you in some way. So, after success, it is appropriate for you to display appreciation.

It can be argued that it is the communities that benefit the most from the relationship, because where or how else would they purchase goods and services that businesses provide? What about the infrastructure businesses develop when government has neither the money nor capacity to build?

And, of course, there’s the financial risk businesses undertake, which the communities play no part in.

In any case, CSI was initially conceptualised by corporations to change public perceptions, because corporations were being seen as greedy behemoths that entered communities to rob them of their natural resources to enrich themselves.

So, CSI is a PR stunt more than anything else. But whether corporations do it to boost their profiles or because they genuinely want to give back, the recipients of these programmess benefit anyway.

Nonetheless, what does CSI have to do with a small business? Well you are affected in two ways.

Firstly, as a small business you can benefit as a recipient of CSI. Corporations have many different programmes you can participate in, such as mentorship programmes, skills development for your employees, business opportunities through their CSI procurement initiatives, and better yet, some corporations give financial assistance to small enterprises.

Secondly, CSI is not a concern of corporates only. Small businesses, too, in some way require a CSI programme.

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