CSR Sri Lanka partners CSR Netherlands to create new business model
As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative USAID supported CSR Sri Lanka collaborated with CSR Netherlands (MVO Nederland) supported by the Netherlands Embassy and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency conducted a three-day workshop focusing on transforming businesses in ways that are socially responsible.
The workshop was held in Colombo and designed to assist Sri Lankan industries in the agriculture, tourism and apparel sectors in adopting international sustainability best practices in business.
As a first step, discussions were held with business leaders on a number of different topics: Sustainability challenges and solutions, co-creating sector sustainability agendas, and defining opportunities for international collaboration.
During these discussions, lead by Dutch experts Gerard Teuling, Senior Advisor in Sustainable and Inclusive Business (Food and Agriculture) and Michiel van Yperen, Senior Sustainable and Inclusive Business Developer (Textiles and Garments) of MVO Netherlands, CSR Netherlands shared with Sri Lankan Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) business owners international best practices and innovative solutions to various sectoral challenges in the areas of sustainability and inclusiveness.
Discussions focused on soliciting inputs from the private sector and other experts about how SMES can have a positive social impact, especially on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. As a result of these discussions, CSR Netherlands and CSR Sri Lanka will help facilitate joint ventures between the Dutch and Sri Lankan companies in order to implement sustainability best practices.
A key focus of the collaboration between the two organisations is creating sustainable and inclusive Sri Lankan SMES that can then tieup with like-minded businesses in the Netherlands and Europe, which will help the Sri Lankan SMES to better be able to compete in the international market place.