The Pearl Initiative held a collaborative event with Chalhoub Group and the American University of Sharjah on 13th February 2018.  The purpose of the event was to unite students and business leaders to discuss the four pillars of Pearl Initiative’s Business Pledge programme, which promotes and showcases the best sustainability practices being implemented by businesses across the Gulf Region and its link to corporate governance best practices.

The session was delivered by Marc Ruiviejo, Senior CSR Executive at Chalhoub Group. Mr. Ruiviejo introduced the topic of sustainability in businesses and highlighted the impact the growth of Chalhoub Group’s talent pool, employee performance, attracting a wider range of customers and acquiring innovative minds has on their long-term sustainability.

Mr. Ruiviejo then went on to discuss one of the four pillars of the Business Pledge titled ‘A more inclusive workplace’ targeted at instilling a culture of diversity, free of gender bias where high potentials, irrespective of gender, can perform and grow.

Mr. Ruiviejo used the event to highlight how Chalhoub has implemented diversity initiatives through a focus on gender-based inclusive policies, such as increases in maternity and paternity leaves, the conscious hiring of women in management and warehouse roles, and anonymizing recruitment. He reaffirmed Chalhoub Group’s commitment to the Business Pledge with the belief that diversity and equality in the workplace will increase employee satisfaction levels and ultimately, profitability.