CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Transcription

1 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

2 Within the last decade since Intimate Places was established, corporate social responsibility has grown enormously in importance, particularly in developing countries such as Tanzania. Through a process of trial and error, our organisation has developed a policy which we feel works well not only for us, but also for the environment in which we operate. The central theme to this policy is one of sustainability. It is our stated aim to make a longlasting positive impact on our surroundings, on the communities in which we operate and on the economy of Tanzania in general. The purpose of this document therefore is to provide readers with a brief insight as to our past and present achievements as well as our goals for the future. Investing in the Tanzanian economy Reasons to invest in a third world country such as Tanzania include contributing towards the growth of her economy and the standard of living of her people. In the 10 years since Intimate Places Ltd. commenced operations at Mount Meru Game Lodge in Usa River, we have seen tourism on the Northern Safari circuit flourish and have watched the standards of living of the people employed in our industry rise exponentially. Whilst we can claim but a minute amount of credit for these developments, it is the philosophy of companies such as our own which have helped to bring about some of the developments that have been seen. In this day and age of the global economy, it is often very easy to forget the importance of supporting local industry and to chase more competitive pricing elsewhere. In the development of all of our projects, Intimate Places has been very careful to source as much of its requirements as possible from within Tanzania. It is a tribute to our commitment to this philosophy that as much as 98% of all investments made have been sourced from within our borders. Investing in the economy also extends to the payment of taxes due to the Tanzanian Government and Intimate Places has severally received recognition from the Tanzania Revenue Authority for its commitment to fulfill its obligations in this regard.

3 Investing in People Intimate Places employs over 100 staff distributed between Buffalo Luxury Camp, Camp Zebra, Intimate Places Camping and Mount Meru Game Lodge. All of these staff have written contracts of employment with the company which afford them both job security as well as other benefits not normally associated with casual or daily paid employment. All of our staff have access to healthcare in designated health centres entirely at the company's expense. In the event that they should be involved in an accident, then not only are they covered by the Statutory Workmen's Compensation Act, but the company has also put into place additional insurance cover which will look after them and their families in the long term in the event of serious injury no matter how serious or howsoever sustained. Intimate Places is mindful of the need to provide employment to the local communities in which it operates. Consequently, at Buffalo Luxury Camp no fewer than 50% of all of our staff are recruited from Ololosokwan, the local Maasai village located 14 kilometres from camp. In order to ensure that our staff attains the standards of service expected by our guests, the company provides a number of different training opportunities for all staff. These can involve recruiting outside professionals who improve our guests experience year around at the same time as teaching our permanent staff the skills of their trade. Or it can involve bringing in local trainers to meet specific training needs from time to time. Or it can involve investing in outside training courses organised by industry professionals to develop employee s specific skills. Intimate Places also attaches a great deal of importance to investing in staff for the future. In conjunction with local hotel schools, we have created training programs which allow their students to gain practical experience in the different departments within our organization in order to supplement the theoretical knowledge which they gain in the classroom. Protecting the environment for future generations Intimate Places is committed to preserving both the wildlife and the environment which play such an important role in attracting visitors to Tanzania.

4 For the past half a century and more, the game sanctuary at Mount Meru Game Lodge has received rescued animals and has rehabilitated them in preparation for their return to the wild. In cases where the animals have been determined to be unable to survive in their natural habitat, it has provided them with a new home in its very safe environment. The Mount Meru Game Sanctuary is the only project of its kind in Northern Tanzania and Intimate Places has continued to finance its operations since taking over Mount Meru Game Lodge more than 10 years ago. Mount Meru Game Sanctuary plays yet another very important role. Since the early 1960's, it has made it possible for local Tanzanians, for whom a visit to the national parks would prove prohibitively expensive, to witness their wildlife heritage first hand. Consequently the sanctuary to this day opens its doors for Sunday outings and organised school visits. A great deal of importance is also attached by the company to protecting the environments in which its properties operate. Nowhere is this more obvious than at Intimate Places Camping. Our policy here is to ensure that our luxury mobile camps enter a national park, provide our guests with the ultimate wilderness experience and then depart leaving no evidence that they were ever there aside from some small patches of flat grass where our tents were located. Examples of how we achieve this are as follows: All of the waste generated by the camp is separated and transported back to Arusha for proper disposal. The hot water for guest showers is heated using eco-friendly Safari boilers which have been specially manufactured for Intimate Places by a local company. These boilers require minimal amounts of energy in order to operate. Briquettes manufactured in Moshi from waste wood products are transported into the national parks to run our boilers. This is to avoid the company playing a part, no matter how small, in the deforestation of our planet. Most of the electricity available at Buffalo Luxury Camp, Camp Zebra and Intimate Places Camping is produced via a system of batteries and inverters so as to minimize the use of generators. Our luxury mobile camps make use of "eco-flush" toilets so as to minimize usage of water in our national parks where water is all too often a scarce commodity. Furthermore, these toilets use special products which render all waste completely biodegradable.

5 At Buffalo Luxury Camp and Mount Meru Game Lodge where permanent structures exist on privately-held land we ensure that the natural environment is allowed to flourish. Supporting worthwhile causes In a country such as Tanzania, there are literally thousands of worthwhile projects in need support. It would be impossible for an organisation the size of Intimate Places to assist them all. During the course of the last 10 years and through a process of trial and error, the company has adopted a number of causes which it currently supports as follows: 1. Seeway Tanzania. Seeway Tanzania provides a home to orphaned and vulnerable children in Imbaseni village, Maji ya Chai Ward, close to Mount Meru Game Lodge in Usa River. In 2009, they started a chicken project with 50 layer hens. This project has gradually grown to the point where they now have capacity for 350 chickens. Intimate Places are pleased to lend them our support by purchasing all of the eggs served to all of our guests at Buffalo Luxury Camp, Camp Zebra, Intimate Places Camping and Mount Meru Game Lodge from Seeway. The profit made from the purchase of these eggs plays an important part in meeting the running costs of the orphanage as a whole. In addition, we directly sponsor the upbringing of one of the children who lives at the orphanage. Intimate Places have also arranged for young volunteers to work at Seeway to help build a playground and classroom as well as to help teach the children English. 2. Ololosokwan Maasai Widows. The boutique at Buffalo Luxury Camp is used to support a group of 16 Maasai widows and their families living in Ololosokwan village. 80% of the display area available in the boutique has been given to the widows group in order to enable them to offer their traditional handcrafts for sale to our guests. The remaining 20% is used by the camp to

6 provide guests with items of clothing, toiletries, stationery and any other conveniences they may require. Each of the 16 areas in the boutique carries the name and picture of the widow who "owns" it and guests who purchase items from one of these sections may request to meet the person who made them. For all of the widows involved in this project, the boutique represents the sole source of income for themselves and their young families. 3. Small Holder Coffee Farmers. Intimate Places are also pleased to lend their support to a group of 25 small holder farmers who grow Coffee on the slopes of Mount Meru, a short distance away from Mount Meru Game Lodge. The beans which are grown are classified as 'Arabica grade AA' and therefore make some of the best Coffee in the world. Small holder Coffee farmers do not have access to large markets where they can sell their products at a fair price. They are compelled therefore compelled to sell their beans to middlemen who then sell it on again, normally at the international Coffee auction in Moshi. It is not unusual for the price that the farmers fetch to be substantially lower than the price that their Coffee is sold for at auction thereby turning a handsome profit for the middlemen. By buying all of the Coffee which we serve to our guests at Buffalo Luxury Camp, Camp Zebra, Intimate Places Camping and Mount Meru Game Lodge directly from these farmers at fair prices, we allow them to derive the maximum benefit from their labors and to enjoy a higher living standard than they would otherwise. We also enable our guests to enjoy some very fine Tanzanian Coffee. Guests who stay at Mount Meru Game Lodge are also able to visit these small holder farmers in order to see their Coffee and to learn about the processes through which the beans are put before being ready to drink. These guests can also buy Coffee to take back with them to be enjoyed at home with family and friends.

7 4. Maasai Honey Maasai Honey is a beekeeping project located on the eastern border of the Serengeti National Park in the small village of Ololosokwan close by Buffalo Luxury Camp. With the recent cycle of droughts and growing populations, the Maasai of Ololosokwan are finding their traditional cattle herding no longer able to sustain their livelihoods. The Maasai Honey initiative represents an important income source to Maasai families who alternatively would find it difficult to make ends meet. Once again, Intimate Places supports this project by purchasing all the honey for all its properties from the Maasai in Ololosokwan. Furthermore, this natural honey is also available for purchase by our guests in the Buffalo Luxury Camp boutique. Our Vision for the Future It is only by having a clearly defined program of social responsibility in place that Intimate Places can look to the future and take decisions which will enable it to continue to contribute positively towards an ever-changing and dynamic environment. The central theme to our program is one of "sustainability. We have learned over the years, through both our successes as well as our failures, that it is preferable to encourage self-help groups to produce something which we can then buy from them - even at inflated prices - than it is to donate funds which can all too easily be squandered providing no long-term benefit to the intended recipients. Intimate Places are extremely fortunate to be in the service industry and to require a wide range of products on a daily basis in order to be able to deliver the services which our guests desire. Consequently, we find ourselves able to help a wide range of groups and to make a difference to the lives of many ordinary Tanzanians. The importance of technology has grown in the last decade and will in our opinion continue to do so in the coming years. We believe that we will need to continue to embrace technological advances fully in the future in order to be able to improve our offerings and to pursue our policy of protecting the environment in which we exist. One of the areas where we are already concentrating our efforts is in the use of clean energy generated through natural phenomena. We have set a goal to halve our carbon

8 footprint over the course of the next decade, even taking into consideration organizational growth. Given that the hotel industry is a labour intensive one and the fact that the quality of our products is dictated by the quality of the staff that we employ we see a need to be even more active than we currently are in the areas of education and the training of our staff both present and future. This will likely require that we develop even closer ties with hotel schools whereby we integrate our properties as part of the curriculums which are offered to their students. As our organisation continues to grow, we may even decide to venture into the area of education ourselves in order to enable us to create a talent pool which we can then use to feed our future human resource needs. If you would care to learn more about Intimate Places in general and our Corporate Social Responsibility program specifically then please do not hesitate to contact Marc Lawson at mail@intimate-places.com. P. O. Box 2747, Arusha, Tanzania Tel Fax mail@intimate-places.com Skype intimate.places.tanzania GET CLOSER. BE CLOSER. EXTRAORDINARY SAFARI EXPERIENCES