|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Institute of Corporate Governance Uganda (ICGU) in collaboration with Grant Thornton Uganda have officially launched the 3rd Corporate Governance Awards 2024 under the theme; “Recognizing Resilience and Sustainable Impact” scheduled to take place on Friday, 18th October, 2024 at Sheraton Kampala Hotel.
The Awards are as a result of voluntary corporate governance self-assessments submitted by over 200 organizations from different sectors, and also form a broader strategy to facilitate corporate governance adherence and observance in both the public and private sector.
Geoffrey Kihuguru, the IGCU President said, the 3rd Corporate Awards aim at assessing organisations representative of the economic sectors, including; manufacturing, telecommunications, agri-business, Non-Governmental Organizations, insurance companies, banks and Microfinance Deposit Taking Institutions.
“We believe that these awards, which are in their third edition, play an important role in enhancing corporate governance principles and practices in both the public and private sector. Ultimately, this accelerates the achievement of sustainable businesses in the economy,” Mr Kihuguru said.
Donald Waigumbulizi, the ICGU Vice President & Managing Director, Concentrix Technologies noted that the selection process to arrive at the category winners will be subjected to a carefully crafted criterion with responses submitted by participants vetted by professionals in the field and assured by Grant Thornton.
A three-member panel will also scrutinise the recommendations of the vetting process to arrive at the final winners. Rest assured of the credibility of the selection process.
“Allow me to claim a quick credit to mention that the process has also benefited from ESG technical assistance from Concentrix Technologies which employs me,” Mr Waigumbulizi explained.
ICGU, in a press statement acknowledged that the business environment is changing fast, and therefore there’s need for public institutions and the private sector to be resilient so as to sustain their impact on stakeholders.
Mr Waigumbilizi in a rousing speech envisioned a world where financial markets serve all members of society and where organisational capital plays a central role in solving the social and environmental challenges facing the global community, such as poverty, inequality, and climate change.
He believes investors have to integrate impact considerations into all decisions, including – building strong communities, a healthy environment, and a sustainable future for all people.
“ We see this as the future of capitalism, and impact investing is one path to drive towards this future, and there are others,” he noted.
Waigumbulizi cited the 2024 Financing for Sustainable Development Report (FSDR 2024) estimates the SDG financing and investment gaps at between USD 2.5 trillion and USD 4 trillion annually, while Impact Europe indicates a USD 1.13 trillion gap in impact investing. He called upon investors to boldly answer to this call.
Relevance of the Assessment and Awards to Uganda
As Uganda moves towards achieving vision 2040, and the national aspirations towards SDGs Vision 2030, the Corporate Governance Assessment and Awards speak to two important aspects;
- How resilient are the sectors that make up our economy?
- What is the impact of these sectors and is it sustainable?
To Private Sector: We operate in a very dynamic and fast changing business world, with new frontiers of Artificial Intelligence, a younger workforce, virtual operations, competition, depleting resources, activists and active stakeholders among others.
It is now more important to understand;
- How do you rank against your peers in the sector?
- How resilient are your operations?
- How sustainable is your impact to stakeholders?
To participate visit the ICGU website www.icgu.org under CG Awards and click to fill the Corporate Governance Self-Assessment Form.
The awards have also attracted different sponsors such as Deposit Protection Fund, Centenary Bank, NSSF, Diamond Trust Bank, Roofings Group, Post Bank, UAP Old Mutual Insurance, Housing Finance Bank, Concentrix Technologies, Uganda Breweries Ltd, Uganda Civil Aviation Authority and Next Media Services.
The Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda (ICGU) was instituted in the year 2000, at the onset of privatization by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) with support from Bank of Uganda (BOU) and the World Bank.
ICGU is a membership organization with over 1025 individual members and 123 corporate members. Our mandate is to create awareness, promote and engrave adherence and observance of good Corporate Governance practices in both the Public and Private sector in Uganda.