Egypt's Qalaa Holdings (formerly Citadel Capital), an African leader in infrastructure and industry, announced Tuesday its membership in the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). UNGC is the world's largest voluntary corporate social responsibility initiative with over 12,000 business and non-business participants from 145 countries. The adoption of UNCG's globally recognized framework for environmental, social and governance polices reaffirms the company's commitment towards governance and transparency As an active participant in the forum, Qalaa Holdings (CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Exchange, is in the process of aligning its business operations with the UNGC's Ten Principles which will become part of the company's strategy, culture and day-to-day operations, not just at the holding level but throughout its subsidiaries. "This new participation moves in tandem with our efforts to align our corporate governance framework with a responsible investment philosophy and global best of breed practices," said Ahmed Heikal, Qalaa Holdings' Founder and Chairman. "Adopting the UNGC's established and globally recognized policy framework for the development, implementation, and disclosure of environmental, social, and governance policies and practices compliments our belief that developing the communities in which we do business is our fundamental duty," he added. Joining the vast network of UNGC organizations and companies will provide Qalaa Holdings with a pool of ideas and recommendations to help promote sustainable development across its footprint, in addition to granting access to the United Nation's extensive knowledge of and experience with sustainability and development issues. "We are excited about what this exchange of ideas between Qalaa Holdings and other global UNGC participants will yield," said Hisham El-Khazindar, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Qalaa Holdings. "We look forward to sharing our best and emerging market practices to advance practical solutions and strategies for social, economic and environmental challenges in Africa and the countries where we operate," he added. The UNGC is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. "Our membership encapsulates our corporate citizenship strategy as well as our focus on education and human capital development," said Ghada Hammouda, Qalaa Holdings CMO & Head of Marketing Communications. "The Qalaa Holdings Scholarship Foundation has grown into one of Egypt's largest private-sector funded scholarship programs. So far, the Foundation has assisted 122 of Egypt's most talented and promising students to achieve their potential by providing them with the opportunity to pursue graduate studies at some of the world's most prestigious universities." Qalaa Holdings will be communicating annually with its stakeholders on its efforts to implement the UNGC principles, and will post this Communication on Progress (COP) on the UNGC website. The company is also in the process of adopting the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework, which outlines comprehensive sustainability reporting guidelines that are widely used around the world. The report will not only focus on social investment but will also include other non-financial KPIs such as human rights, gender, community impact, environmental performance indicators as well as governance and committee structure. Qalaa Holdings (CCAP.CA on the Egyptian Stock Exchange) is an African leader in infrastructure and industry. Formerly known as Citadel Capital, Qalaa Holdings controls subsidiaries in core industries including Energy, Cement, Agrifoods, Transportation & Logistics, and Mining. To learn more, please visit qalaaholdings.com. Forward-Looking Statements Statements contained in this News Release that are not historical facts are based on current expectations, estimates, projections, opinions and beliefs of Qalaa Holdings. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, and undue reliance should not be placed thereon. Certain information contained herein constitutes "targets" or "forward-looking statements," which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "seek," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "intend," "continue" or "believe" or the negatives thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. Actual events or results or the actual performance of Citadel Capital may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such targets or forward-looking statements. The performance of Qalaa Holdings is subject to risks and uncertainties.
