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Corporate Social Responsibility(Industry Canada)>
Interested
in partnership?
Contact us!
MOBILA1 is a
concept which links social aspects with good business practices
MOBILA1 creates jobs for people with disabilities and adds
value for employers
It’s Win-Win situation for everyone
Think about the possibilities,
not the disabilities
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Background and
Rational for MOBILA1 Project
Over the past few decades Canadians have become increasingly aware
of the presence of people with disabilities and have become
sensitive to the need to recognize them as an important part of
Canadian society. This emerging social responsibility has been
especially important in the area of employment, as people with
disabilities offer Canada a huge talent potential.
Fortunately, the same technological advances that have restructured
the Canadian workplace in general have expanded the array of options
open to individuals with disabilities. People with disabilities want
meaningful work and the economic independence it brings.
AKAS Virtual Design of Nova Scotia, is pleased to be part of this
movement. Through creative ability and with a profit motive, AKAS is
opening the doors to new employment for people with disabilities.
The MOBILA1, a unique development of AKAS, will produce new jobs
across Canada and US for people with disabilities.
Our employment strategy for people with disabilities is
self- sustainable and profitable, and will not require ongoing
financial contributions from government sources. For this project we
have incorporated a new enterprise called AKAS Virtual Design which
we hope will become a self-sustaining business.
We are inviting you to become a partner and sponsor of this nation-wide pilot project. We are sure that media coverage of this exciting project will enhance your positive corporate image as you will be participating in assisting this job creation effort for people with disabilities. Our existing supporters in non-profit agencies are already excited about the possibilities this project can produce not only in our province, but national wide.
Objectives
The overall objective of this project is to increase employment
opportunities for job seekers with disabilities.
· To establish and operate a success company for mobile digital signage products.
· To design, manufacture and to successfully launch the MOBILA1
series advertising units.
· To establish a advertising network of Mobila1 Operators.
· To provide MOBILA1 units as a means of employment across Canada
for several hundred people with disabilities.
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Hiring people with
disabilities is not a matter of charity. It is good business
practice. In a study released on April 3, 2000 the Royal Bank
suggested that hiring more persons with disabilities is good
economic sense. The report estimated that Canadians with
disabilities have control over twenty to twenty-five billion dollars
in disposable income. This level of purchasing power will grow
substantially over the next decade. In fact, baby boomers born
between 1947 and 1966 will add a further 1.4 million to the
population of working age Canadians with disabilities. The report
concluded that the reputational risks associated with short selling
the needs and interests of this large segment of the Canadian
population are real and will only intensify in the years ahead.
The Royal Bank is not the first corporate entity to conclude that
hiring people with disabilities and members of other marginalized
groups is important to the bottom line. A projected 50% increase in
the number of seniors with disabilities by 2005, a high proportion
of whom will have one or another type of disability, has persuaded
many employers of the need to hire staff who understand and can
respond sensitively and effectively to their needs and wants.
Indeed, the public is increasingly demanding socially responsible
business practices. Even global corporations are being exposed to
new public scrutiny. The Seattle protests of December 1999 give
ample indication of the potential for damage to corporate
reputations and impact on the bottom line.
Market research carried out by Environics International Limited in
1999 revealed in its Millennium Poll on Corporate Social
Responsibility that 20% of citizens worldwide have avoided the
product of a company or spoken out to others against a company not
seen as socially responsible. The 1999 Cone/Roper Cause Related
Trends Report similarly concluded that the influence that consumers
now have on driving business success shouldn't be underestimated. It
found that 54% of consumers consider labour practices, business
ethics, social role and environmental impact when formulating their
impressions of companies. In addition, when price and quality are
equal, 75% of consumers say that they would patronize the company
with a socially responsible record, even if this means switching
from a previously valued brand. Both reports concluded that a
commitment to corporate social responsibility must be communicated
effectively to a widening group of stakeholders that includes
customers, vendors, employees, government and the community.
Corporations that have succeeded in mounting successful diversity
strategies point to a number of tangible benefits potentially
important to the bottom line:
- a vastly enhanced public image based on increased responsiveness
to the needs and expectations of a broader range of important
stakeholder groups such as shareholders or tax payers, customers or
clients, employees and communities;
- increased profitability from developing and marketing a broader
range of products and services needed by the more diversified
customer base the strategy has attracted;
- ability to attract and retain, motivate and use effectively human
assets in an era of critical skill shortages;
- reduction of costly worker turnover and absenteeism based on the
improved morale that flows from planned and effective diversity
management in the workplace; and
- a better and more secure foothold in the increasingly competitive
global economy.
Clearly any organization, public or private, needs to be concerned
about the bottom line. As conviction about the relationship between
workforce diversity and improving the bottom line mounts among
corporate opinion-makers throughout Canada, so does the
attractiveness of adopting a diversity strategy. Making a place in
your workforce for qualified individuals with disabilities is just
plain smart business.
Source: The
Nova Scotia Disability Employment Toolkit
Supported by:
Copyright © 2007 AKAS Virtual Design