“Building a strong business and building a better world are not contradictory goals: both are indispensable ingredients for long-term success.” These are words of William Clay Ford Jr. with which we could not agree more. Companies should not only measure their success in economic terms, but also in social and environmental terms. It is everyone’s responsibility to build a more dignified and fairer tomorrow for future generations. We must give back to society what it gives us, especially in difficult times like the present. This conviction has been part of our corporate philosophy since we were established as a company more than half a century ago. That is why Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is very much present at Apolo Seafood.
For these same reasons we cannot close our eyes to the difficult situation that many families in our immediate environment are going through, but also to the harsh reality of the countries we work with. This is the case, for example, of Colombia, where 20 million people live in poverty and seven million subsist in indigence. and seven million subsist in extreme poverty. To try to do our bit in the face of these dramatic figures, we have once again renewed our social collaboration agreement with our supplier in Colombia, Oceanos, a company located in Cartagena (Carretera a Mamonal N.1-504).
Under this solidarity agreement, we allocate 0.60% of total sales to this company every month to be invested for social purposes in the community where it is located, as well as in the farms where the shrimp is farmed. This is a very depressed area of Colombia, so the money raised is of great value in alleviating the shortages suffered by its population.
If we translate this agreement into figures, last year we transferred 13,737.89 euros for this project in Colombia. This 2014 we expect to exceed this amount. Up to July we had collected 8,806.16 euros, so the forecasts are optimistic.
Apart from this agreement, we support other initiatives linked to our immediate reality that we will tell you about in future posts. For the time being, on October 8 we will collaborate with the Red Cross Flag Day which, under the slogan ‘A day to support children’, focuses on promoting school success to meet the educational needs of the youngest children. It is not in vain that betting on education means betting on the future.
The NGO appeals to the need to “raise funds exclusively to prevent any child from being excluded, something urgent and necessary since school failure affects one in four students in Spain”. The economic situation of many families, victims of economic hardship as a result of unemployment or evictions, especially affects children. According to the Red Cross, in this line, the “inability to meet the costs of schooling and feeding their children has a direct impact on their academic performance”.
Hence the need to get involved in this initiative to prevent the future of the country, the children, from having no future.
