The SERAS CSR Awards Unveil Stellar Cast Jury For 2017 Awards

The organisers of the Sustainability, Enterprise and Responsibility Awards, otherwise known as The SERAS CSR Awards Africa, have announced a nine-member list of erudite professionals and global CSR and sustainability industry leading figures, as jury for the 2017 awards.

The list comprises Deborah Leipziger, Tunde Arogunmati, Maria Silanpaa, Jonathon Hanks, Adesuwa Onyenokwe, Dr. Ini Usoroh, Scott Walker, Indira Kartallozi and Olusegun McMedal.

The judges, that would serve a renewable two-year tenure, would be presided over by Deborah Leipziger, author of The Corporate Responsibility Code Book and SA8000: The Definitive Guide to the New Social Standard.

She also advises companies, governments and UN agencies on corporate responsibility issues.

Other members of the Jury are Arogunmati, a specialist in business strategy and former president of the Nigerian- British Association.

He also sits as the Vice President of the panel.

Hanks is founder and director at Incite, an advocacy-based consultancy network in South Africa.

Silanpaa is an internationally recognized corporate social responsibility and sustainability leader and founder of Sustainability Advisory Group (SAG).

In 2011, CSR International rated her third amongst global practitioners.

Onyenokwe, a successful broadcaster who has spent the last 35 years in the industry promoting the rights of girls, women and children, is the publisher of Today’s Woman Magazine.

Walker is the founding Director of N.Y.lon Consulting, which provides public policy, public affairs and corporate sustainability solutions.

Dr. Usoroh holds a PH.D in Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development from Nottingham Trent University, U.K. and currently consults for several organizations in Nigeria and the UK.

Others on the list include McMedal, a media entrepreneur, public relations advisor and current chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), while Kartallozi is the founder and director of Chrysalis Family Futures- a social enterprise that stands for protection and empowering of human and socio-economic rights of vulnerable and marginalized families and children.

Ken Egbas, founder of The SERAS, said, “We set out to up the ante this year and we have shown this with the highest grade of personalities on the judges committee. We have come this far riding on the credibility of our internal processes.

“These outstanding professionals with impeccable industry records have spent on the average 20 years each helping to shape the trajectories of global CSR and sustainability as well as best practices. The onus now rests on them to not only decide the organizations who cart home the 25 prestigious statuettes, but also help the award to retain its rating not only in Africa but also in the world”.

The SERAS CSR Awards ceremony holds on November 17, 2017 at the MUSON Shell Hall, Lagos.