Winners of Business in the Community?s Responsible Business Awards 2017 announced

 

[Pictured: Mark Pendlington, Director of Corporate Affairs; Chris Newsome, Director of Asset Management; Peter Simpson, Chief Executive.

 

Anglian Water, which supplies water and water recycling services to more than six million households, plus business customers in the east of England and Hartlepool, won the prestigious Responsible Business of the Year award for its commitment to reducing its carbon consumption and helping customers waste less water through its ‘Love Every Drop’ programme. The water company re-uses resources as much as possible, taking a circular economy approach. For example, it has created a new £25m a year market for bio-solids, a fertiliser created as a by-product of the water-recycling process. This nutrient-rich product offsets the need for inorganic fertiliser in the agricultural sector and has created demand which far outstrips supply.

 

The business also plays a big part in its community – supporting customers in vulnerable circumstances and leading the way on the health and wellbeing of their own employees.

 

Other winners include Tesco, who won The Experian Award for Building Stronger Communities Award for donating over five million meals worth of food to people in food poverty, and National Grid, which won The Unipart Award for Outstanding Employment award for a range of employment programmes supporting former offenders, young people not in education, employment or training, as well as for improving the number of women and people from minority and ethnic groups in their workforce.

 

International business, Cisco won the UPS International Disaster Relief and Resilience Award for its dedicated, full-time disaster response team who can deploy anywhere in the world in three days to get phone lines and internet connections back up after disasters. The team, supported by 350 trained Cisco volunteers, have responded to 39 disasters on six continents and connected more than 600,000 people during acute crises.

 

Another international winner was SunnyMoney, who won The Unilever Global Development Award. They are a social enterprise with a mission to eradicate the kerosene lamp from Africa by 2020, said to be responsible for more deaths then HIV and Malaria combined. The company has introduced affordable solar light to the continent where 600 million people still do not have access to electricity – benefitting 10 million people to date.

 

Amanda Mackenzie OBE, Chief Executive of Business in the Community, commented: “Congratulations to the 2017 Responsible Business Award winners for being inspirational yet practical examples of the difference business can make to address some of society’s biggest issues. The winning businesses are all different, they span sectors and continents and range from large high street names to small start-ups. What unites them is a belief that with courage vision and leadership, business can do remarkable things for good.” 

 

The Awards Gala took place at the Royal Albert Hall last night and was presented by broadcasters Jeremy Vine and Emily Maitlis. It celebrated and championed the hundreds of inspiring businesses who entered the awards and who make a difference by taking action to build more inclusive workplaces, stronger communities and address global challenges such as sustainability.

 

This year’s Gala was hosted by Veolia, the UK’s leading resource management company and Business in the Community’s Responsible Business of the Year 2016.

 

Estelle Branchlianoff, Senior Executive Vice-President for Veolia UK and Ireland, comments: “The calibre of businesses at last night’s Responsible Business Awards and Gala Dinner was outstanding, and proof that both global multinationals to SMEs can be a powerful force for good in society. One year after our own ‘Responsible Business of the Year’ recognition, my conviction is that ‘people, planet, profit’, often referred to as ‘The Triple Bottom Line’, is stronger than ever, as people want to buy from, work and partner with socially responsible businesses. I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the entries from this year’s awards and wish Anglian Water every success as we pass the baton on.”

 

The headline sponsors of the 2017 Responsible Business Awards are Experian, Unilever, UPS, Aviva, Barclays, Fujistu, UBS, Unipart Group. The full list of winners is available here.  

 

 

For more information about Business in the Community or the Responsible Business Awards finalists contact Alex Delaney, 020 7566 8694 / 07766 161419 or email alex.delaney@bitc.org.uk.

 

 

Responsible Business of the Year: 

Winner: Anglian Water    

Small company winner: We Are Vista         

 

Aviva Award for Championing an Ageing Workforce:

Winner: Barclays               

 

Barclays Award for Building Resilient Business

Winner: Adler and Allan   

 

BITC Award for Environmental Leadership, supported by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Winner: National Grid      

Small company winner: Lakes Free Range Eggs Co.   

Highly commended: British Sugar

        

Experian Award for Building Stronger Communities

Winner: TESCO   

Highly commended: Engie

 

Fujitsu Award for Responsible Business in the Digital Age

Winner: Unipart

Small company winner: Parcelly      

 

UBS Award for Education

Winner: ESH Group           

Small company winner: Dragon LNG SME

Highly commended: British Land

    

Unilever Award for Global Development supported by Business Fights Poverty

Winner:  SunnyMoney     

Winner:   WaterHealth International            

 

Unipart Award for Outstanding Employment

Winner: National Grid      

 

UPS Award for International Disaster Relief & Resilience Award supported by DFID

Winner: Cisco     

Small company winner: what3words    

Highly commended: Dr Zigs and  EY

          

 

Business in the Community is the Prince’s Responsible Business Network. Our members work together to tackle a wide range of issues that are essential to building a fairer society and a more sustainable future.

 

We engage thousands of businesses through our programmes driven by our core membership of over 800 organisations from small enterprises to global corporations.

 

 

Business in the Community’s Responsible Business Awards brings to life how businesses are creating innovative and sustainable solutions to our most pressing challenges, inspiring thousands of others to make a lasting difference and adding value back to their own business.

 

Now in its 20th year, the awards, rigorously assessed by independent business peers, are widely acknowledged as one of the most respected endorsements of responsible business in the UK and abroad. Open to companies of any size, sector or scale, a wide range of businesses enter, demonstrating the breadth and depth of responsible business.

 

Each year, over 250 business peers assess the entries, endorsement planters are used by companies to profile their achievement, inspiring thousands of people to be a motivated part of the Prince’s Responsible Business Network.

In 2017 Business in the Community received 249 entries for the Responsible Business Awards, 72 were shortlisted, and 48 companies were named finalists and there were 16 winners.