Sustainability & CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, is a concept that enables us to evaluate our impact on society. As part of CSR, we ask ourselves whether we are behaving responsibly towards our employees, customers, shareholders, and the wider societies in which we operate. At Savola, we have always believed that profits should go hand in hand with ethical business practices. It is a philosophy we summarize in our brand purpose: “Value Built on Values.”

VALUE BUILT ON VALUES

Like any other company, we work tirelessly to secure growth and profits for our shareholders and investors. But at Savola we never put figures on a balance sheet before our people. By prioritizing transparency, accountability and responsibility, we believe that we are building a stronger business. That is what we call “Value Built on Values.”

Key CSR Initiatives

At Savola, we are constantly forging partnerships and devising new initiatives to improve our company and the world around us. We are immensely proud of what we have already accomplished in this field, and committed to ensuring that this continues in the months and years to come.

MAKEEN

The “Makeen” program focuses on the training and employment of persons with disabilities at Savola and in other companies. Savola has already provided training and career opportunities for around 911 people with disabilities since the start of the program until 2016.

As part of this project, we are also improving accessibility for disabled people at our facilities and doing everything we can to ensure that our company culture is welcoming and inspiring.

https://www.makeen.savolaworld.com//

Negaderha

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, 1.3 billion tonnes of edible food is wasted globally every year (FAO.org, 2016). This staggering amount not only puts food security at risk, but also spells out dire economical, social and environmental consequences.

It is for this reason that we at Savola World are working passionately to decrease food wastage by raising awareness about the threats it poses and by adopting internationally proven practices to drive behavioral change toward optimal food resource management among our consumers and stakeholders.

Savola’s Negaderha project is a food waste prevention and reduction program developed to address food waste as a national issue. The project works on developing and implementing programs that research, prevent and reduce food wastage. The aims of the Negaderha project are: obtaining an in-depth understanding of the drivers, actors, and volumes of food waste at a national level; putting up an action plan for change in food waste generation; engaging consumers in reducing food wastage by promoting campaigns that are based on the most effective global experiences; creating a framework for tracking food waste data and measuring progress towards the final strategic objectives.
Negaderha tackles food waste issues on different levels that include three modules targeting two main segments of society: households and the HORECA (hotels, restaurants, and cafes) sector.

https://negaderha.savolaworld.com/ar

https://negaderha.savolaworld.com/en

BE HEALTHY

Launched by Panda in 2013, “Be Healthy” is designed to encourage Panda customers to lead a healthy lifestyle. The campaign included tips on social media, healthy recipes, how-to video tutorials and even live in-store workshops.

FRIEND OF THE ENVIRONMENT

The “Friend of the Environment” initiative started as converting all plastic shopping bags into Biodegradable bags replacing more than 300 million bags a year. The initiative expanded to include other venues one of which was partnership between Panda and the National Water Company (Saudi Arabia). The original aim was to improve water conservation in Panda stores and to raise awareness of this key issue among customers. Other crucial projects included, focused on issues such as decreasing paper waste and protecting human health.

LEAVE THE CHANGE FOR THEM

“Leave the Change for Them” encourages Panda customers to donate small change during their weekly shop. Thanks to the generosity of our communities, we have raised SAR 66,408,457 in donations since 2006.

History

2010

The Savola Group has adopted many corporate social responsibility programs and since 2010, which included a variety of programs and initiatives to support the local communities and the social developmental field.
2017

The Group had then in 2017 re-launched its social responsibility and sustainability programs under a unified strategy and platform called “Savola World.” Savola World aimed at creating value by promoting socially and environmentally responsible practices. It also worked on developing strong partnerships to promoting socially responsible behavioral change across the sustainability pillars, including society, employees, the environment, sector, and business. Savola World is considered a major player in the sustainability industry in the MENAT region
2018

Over the years, we have published the key CSR & sustainability strategy and updates through sustainability reports, which were released on an annual basis, in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) index. We also disclose our sustainability performance in the Savola Group’s annual report, as well as on Savola World’s website and a dedicated section on sustainability, on the Group’s website.
2019

At the end of 2019, and in line with international developments in the field of corporate foundations, Savola Group formalized the importance of Sustainability and CSR by transforming Savola World -from a department- into a standalone private foundation, called Savola World Foundation (a private foundation under the supervision of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development). Savola World Foundation has a unique opportunity to make an even greater impact.