Local businesswomen discovered the tax benefits of giving and the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This was during the South African Council for Business Women (SACBW) Nelspruit networking event hosted on Wednesday July 19 at Southern Sun Emnotweni.

The businesswomen and members of SACBW Nelspruit meet once a month for a networking event. During the recent event, Karin Weideman of BVK Group and Estelle Roe of Junxion Communications were the speakers. Roe did a presentation on CSR and shared her experiences.

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“CSR is about giving back. Your life and your business will be so blessed if you give back; it does not matter how big or how small. The reason why CSR has become so big is because there has been an ethical shift. Every single consumer is concerned when they buy a product, and they wonder how it was made, did it hurt the environment and will it hurt me? Consumers are starting to judge companies. People do not see you doing good, but a competitor is planting trees, collecting books, educating the community or feeding children. There is a worldwide change and everyone is looking at which companies give back,” she said.

Roe said even if a company does not want to do CSR to impress stakeholders or clients; it can do it for itself, just to be ethical and to do the right thing.

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Weidenman talked about corporate CSR and the tax benefits that go with it. “CSR can increase your BEE rating and we all know how important that is today. Get an expert to determine if the expenditure will increase your rating,” she said.

Weidenman said you cannot just donate to any company because not all donations are tax deductible.

For more information, contact SACBW at nelspruit@sacbw.org.