How Does An Organisation Align CSR Goals And Business?

How has your organization aligned corporate social responsibility goals and business goals? IIM Indore alumna Manisha Singh, Head Impact Funding, CSR, Mphasis, was faced with this question at a panel discussion recently.

The discussion that took place at the FKCCI (Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industries) CSR Conference and Awards – 2018 was titled ‘Responsible Business and Purpose Driven Business – Sustainability Leaders, CSR Heads and SDG Champions’.

“The CSR partners working at the grassroots level benefit by leveraging the technological expertise of the company as well as the experience of employees. Employees contribute through volunteering and senior leadership acts as mentors to various NGOs and social startups looking for tech-based solutions,” 

During the discussion, Manisha said Mphasis believes in strategic CSR which is aligned to the core business and values of the firm, that is, technology and innovation.

“Which means we support initiatives that have technology backed, disruptive business models to solve some of the most pressing issues of the development sector. We were one of the first few organizations which started supporting “social enterprises” through CSR funding after CSR law permitted the same from 2014 onwards.

“I was hired for setting up the “Impact Funding (on the lines of impact investing)” vertical within CSR function through which we support promising tech-based social enterprises providing solutions in our focus areas, that is, Education, Livelihood and Inclusion (of People with Disability),” she added.

“We focus on emerging technologies such as cognitive computing, cloud computing, machine learning, IOT (Internet of things) and the like. Focusing on technology, on the one hand, helps us in bringing scale in development sector solutions, on the other, helps us (the organization, employees) participate in the journey.

“The CSR partners working at the grassroots level benefit by leveraging the technological expertise of the company as well as the experience of employees. Employees contribute through volunteering and senior leadership acts as mentors to various NGOs and social startups looking for tech-based solutions,” she said.

During her three-year stint at Mphasis, Manisha has been involved in developing CSR strategy, partnerships, internal and external stakeholder management and the like.

She counts, among her key achievements, the conceptualization and implementation of Mphasis-Uber partnership in developing mobility solution for people with disability. UberACCESS and UberASSIST, the first ever such service in India, was launched in Bangalore on October 31, 2017.

Manisha reworked CSR strategy of Mphasis to align it with the core business of the firm and laid a roadmap for a tenfold increase in CSR budget. She also led incubation (financial modelling), mentoring (technology & business) and seed investments of over $1m in various innovative social startups.