Anglo receives major international responsibility award for contribution to African development

18 July 2005

Anglo American plc has received the UK's Business in the Community first International Award - sponsored by Oracle.

This year the award focussed explicitly on the role of companies in supporting development in Africa. The company's entry benchmarked its initiatives against the Millennium Development Goals and were built around the commitments featured in Anglo's 'Good Citizenship' Business Principles. The entry featured, in particular, its work on HIV/AIDS, community engagement through the SEAT process, local business development initiatives, community social investment - including the work of the Chairman's Fund, training, involvement in good governance initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and partnerships, such as the Business Trust in South Africa. 

Business in the Community is the UK's leading corporate responsibility organisation and the judging panel also included representatives from the International Business Leaders Forum and the UK Department of Trade and Industry. Business in the Community described Anglo as being a 'pioneer in understanding both the social and business imperatives of their operations.'  The award, highly topical in the run-up to the G8 Summit, was presented by Rt Hon Paul Boateng, until recently Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Britain's new High Commissioner to South Africa.

The other short listed companies for the International Award were Glaxo SmithKline's programme for eliminating Lymphatic Filopisis in Africa, SAB Miller's HIV programmes and their Eagle Lager programme in East Africa, Merchant's 'A Future for South Africa's Youth' project and a programme from CitiGroup. The awards were presented at a joint dinner, with 1,700 guests, between Business in the Community and the G8 Business Summit.  It was a good night for extractive companies with fellow ICMM member, BHP Billiton, winning the 'Impact on Society' award.