Talking CSR with Vodafone and Qatar Airways

Carnegie Mellon Qatar held a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) roundtable event to discuss the key role CSR plays in business strategy, and provide students a deeper understanding of CSR and inspire them to take a proactive role in CSR initiatives.

Students and professors heard views on CSR from the perspective of two major CSR leaders in Qatar — Vodafone and Qatar Airways.

“Through this initiative we aim to connect the dots between our priority for CSR as a company and growing interest from university students in corporate sustainability,” says Luisa Gentile, Vodafone Qatar’s Head of Corporate Responsibility. “We would like to encourage more students to take an interest in CSR as it plays a major role in educating the younger generation about the importance of protecting the environment and the community around them.”

Office of Professional Development and the Office of Personal Development at Carnegie Mellon Qatar sponsored the event. Carnegie Mellon professor George White, Ph.D., moderated the debate, which was led by Gentile and Captain Chris Shroeder, head of corporate social responsibility, environment and fuel optimization at Qatar Airways.

“At Carnegie Mellon Qatar we already offer classes in business ethics and society, and our students are actively involved in community outreach programs,” says Khadra Dualeh, director of professional development at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

“This lecture by Vodafone and Qatar Airways helped further underscore to the students the importance of corporate social responsibility, and the lengths to which big corporations in Qatar will go in using their resources to implement programs in the community to create a better world.”

At the end of the debate, Vodafone Qatar and Carnegie Mellon Qatar unveiled a new CSR program for students called the Vodafone Community Engagement Program (VCEP). Open to juniors and seniors, VCEP invites students to create and present a business plan for a CSR project. The winning student will work a summer internship with Vodafone in which the project will be executed.