CSR is servant leadership, says Filipino entrepreneur

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is servant leadership, according to an Abu Dhabi resident-entrepreneur.

- Mariecar Jara Puyod, Senior Reporter

"It is not a marketing tool. It reflects how a business treats its people. It operates ethically and contributes to the community it serves," said Rolly Brucales, in the UAE since 2003, initially as a real estate agent of a Philippine-based diversified conglomerate.

He believes that CSR, which had become a buzzword over 30 years back and in the process, had been reported to be misused and abused, such as through green-washing, “must start from within a company,” regardless of size.

The components are “fair treatment of employees and responsible operations,” anchored on value-laden daily decisions.

Genuineness is another absolute factor: “CSR loses credibility when the motivation is company image rather than impact. Sincerity is critical because intention shapes impact.”

“When individuals or organisations like us enter CSR with genuine motives, the focus shifts from visibility to value, from how it looks to whom it truly helps," stressed the salesman-turned-entrepreneur who implements a builtin financial literacy programme for an over 90 personnel of the various food establishments he had founded across the UAE, the incubator of which is a nationwide chain of creole-inspired seafood restaurants, set up as a small business venture IO years back in Abu Dhabi.