Sohar Aluminium was recently awarded the Gulf Aluminium Council’s (GAC) “Community Service Award" during the opening ceremony of the 2017 Arab International Aluminium Conference and Exhibition (ARABAL). This prestigious new award was accepted on behalf of the organisation by Said Al Masoudi, Sohar Aluminium’s Chief Executive Officer, for its Employee Volunteering Program. The landmark program saw 175 of its employees complete 884 man-hours of community volunteering last year, setting a record for the Company and receiving major acclaim from the community at large.

“Sohar Aluminium is honoured to receive this award recognising the commitment shown by our employees to the betterment of those living in our community. Since inception, Sohar Aluminium’s mission has been to bring wealth, prosperity and growth to the Al Batinah region through excellence and ownership, and our Company’ Volunteering Program is the embodiment of this mission. We take pride in contributing to the social development of the region and I would like thank our ambassadors of good deeds, our employees, who are continuously bringing great value to our community,” commented Said Al Masoudi, Sohar Aluminium Chief Executive Officer. 

The Sohar Aluminium Volunteering Program is now recognised as one of the most active and outstanding community service programs in the region. Launched in 2014, the success of this program is driven by the employees who come up with ideas for causes that they feel strongly about, and support communities through their areas of expertise. This program is seeing excellent involvement from various departments across the plant and it shows continued growth year on year.

“Sohar Aluminium’s Corporate Citizenship is our recognition that our company, has social, cultural and environmental responsibilities to the community where we operate, as well as economic and financial ones to our shareholders. We continuously engage with the community to share the Company’s best practices, and communicate vital messages about environment, health and safety. Through these activities we hope to establish, and maintain the sustainability of the business for generations to come as part of His Majesty’s Oman 2020 vision for the development of Oman and its people,” commented Dana Geadah, Sohar Aluminium Corporate Citizenship Pillar Champion.

The employees’ initiatives are tailored around their skills and areas of expertise to promote the company’s ‘Zero Harm’ mind-set in the local community, care for the wellbeing of its members, and preserve the integrity of the environment. Some of the program’s projects included maintenance of public facilities, installation of shades in school assemblies, fabricating and fixing cooling fans in school yards, visiting patients in hospitals and providing medical awareness and care to community members in remote villages, cleaning coral reefs on the sea bed, creating awareness about heat stress, road safety, anti-littering and building plastic recycling units for schools.

Through these initiatives, Sohar Aluminium volunteers successfully reached out to more than a million people across the Sultanate.

Presenting the award in Muscat last week was Mahmood Al Daylami, General Secretary of the GAC. He commented: “We wish to congratulate Sohar Aluminium and its employees on its Volunteering Program, which has set a benchmark for community programs across the region. This award demonstrates the commitment to excellence in CSR by all GAC members and highlights both the economic and social contributions of our industry.”  

The GAC Community Award was introduced for the first time at ARABAL 2017 and was open to all GAC members. It was initiated to recognise exceptional service to the community and to acknowledge the outstanding contribution recipients have made in balancing corporate social responsibility with the successful business development.

Sohar Aluminium engages with key stakeholders on a regular basis in a variety of ways to identify social issues that it can support in addressing and mitigating their risks. Major milestones have been achieved in community services, marking the progress of the Oman aluminium industry, building pride in the organization and good will with all stakeholders. 

Employees at Sohar Aluminium always showed interest in Volunteering. Mansoor AL Muqbali who won Sohar Aluminium’s Corporate Citizenship Award in 2017 said: “Our community activities demonstrate our commitment to integrity and transparency and shows pride to be associated with the company. Volunteering provides a sense of personal fulfilment and contributes to job engagement, satisfaction and motivation, as the programme brings together people from different departments and across different functions.”.

Sohar Aluminium officials confirmed that the company’s community engagements and corporate social responsibility projects will continue, with a big focus on engaging employees and their families in social and community events. 

Corporate Citizenship is one of the six Business Pillars of Sohar Aluminium’s Business Strategy. It is embedded into the Company’s core values and forms an integral part of its journey towards excellence. Its CSR program has received local, regional and global recognition as a result of the significant social and economic contributions it has made to the Al Batinah region. The company’s generous annual budget allocation of USD $1 million to USD $3 million reflects the strength of its commitment to this CSR framework.

Sohar Aluminium was formed in September 2004 to undertake a landmark Greenfield aluminium smelter project in the Sultanate of Oman. It is jointly owned by Oman Oil Company, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC - TAQA and Rio Tinto.