This week, Profile spoke to Christine Ramela, an experienced Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility Executive with a career marked by commitment and innovation, who shared her perspectives on how companies can align their business strategies with social impact initiatives, turning challenges into opportunities.
Profile Mozambique: Who is Christine Ramela as a professional? Could you summarize your background and experience in the field?
Christine Ramela: I am a professional with extensive experience in Marketing, Public Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility. My career began in advertising agencies, where I worked as an account executive and later as commercial director in two agencies that still operate in Mozambique.
After that, I took on responsibility for Marketing and Public Relations at a bank, where I stayed for around four years. For the last six years, I have been on a new journey, always linked to Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations. More recently, in the last two years, I’ve been focusing more intensely on corporate social responsibility.
PM: How important is Corporate Social Responsibility to Mozambican companies?
CR: Regarding the relevance of corporate social responsibility in the Mozambican context, there has been significant growth in the involvement of companies. Although there is still room for progress, awareness of the importance of sustainable development has increased substantially.
It’s not just about donations, but about actions that have a positive impact on the country’s social and environmental conditions. Today, corporate social responsibility is seen as an essential tool for promoting sustainable development in Mozambique. Large organizations and others have shown greater commitment, moving on from mere donations to structured projects with short, medium and long-term plans. This is remarkable progress that we have witnessed.
PM: What are the main areas in which companies have made significant progress?
CR: I wouldn’t identify a single area of greatest relevance, as all companies seek to contribute to fundamental pillars of society, such as education, health, and, more recently, the environment. Projects such as urban cleaning and mangrove planting show a growing environmental awareness. In addition, there is a focus on female and community empowerment initiatives, often through microfinance, considering that the majority of the population is made up of women, and, as the African saying goes, by helping one woman, you help an entire community.
These pillars, which focus on education, health, the environment and community empowerment, are fundamental to corporate social responsibility. Communication plays a crucial strategic role in this context, as it is through communication that companies can demonstrate the impact of their sustainable actions.
PM: In your opinion, how is the business sector using the power of communication to show the impact that sustainability has?
CR: The growing interest in social responsibility practices over the last 10 years is largely due to effective communication, whether through sustainability reports or storytelling, which is deeply rooted in our culture.
And communication has the power to tell success stories, both internally and externally, and this helps to make investors, employees and the wider community aware of the importance of social responsibility actions. With the advent of social media, it has become even easier and quicker to communicate these impacts, allowing for more targeted and effective communication, including through community radio stations.
In general terms, strategic communication not only strengthens social responsibility initiatives, but also makes the positive impact of companies’ actions more visible and understandable, encouraging greater receptiveness on the part of the community and investors.
Without communication, corporate social responsibility would lose its transformative potential.
PM: Considering the vast experience you have in this field of activity, are there any major, successful actions in which you have been directly involved that you could highlight? Perhaps they could serve as a model for other companies in Mozambique.
CR: I have had the privilege of working on various pillars of social responsibility, such as education, health, well-being and the environment. Among the projects I’ve been involved in, two particularly stand out for me.
The first involves secondary schools, where a group of students, from seventh to tenth grade, are selected to take part in a challenge. They have to propose ways of improving their community or school, using recyclable or environmentally sustainable resources.
One notable example was a school initiative in which students created reusable sanitary towels to help girls whose families couldn’t afford the monthly purchase of these products. They set up a workshop at the school to produce and sell the pads at affordable prices, and all profits are reinvested in the purchase of materials. This project not only met an urgent need, but also empowered the students and their families, while promoting sustainability and financial education.
Another innovative project was the development of a welding machine powered only by solar rays, water and salt, created by students from another school. The investment required was minimal, and the students learned how to manage costs and resources efficiently. And now they plan to share their knowledge with other schools, thus promoting education and innovation in their communities.
So these projects exemplify how simple but creative solutions can have a profound impact when the community is directly involved in the creation and execution process. It’s initiatives like these that show the true power of social responsibility combined with education and community engagement.
PM: How can business leaders in Mozambique be encouraged to integrate CSR into their corporate strategies?
CR: Not all companies incorporate social responsibility actions into their corporate strategies, but this integration is essential. For this to happen, it is essential to promote awareness within the company, involving employees, investors and senior management. However, the challenge is that social responsibility is often treated as a way of improving the company’s image, rather than as a strategic pillar.
Currently, social responsibility is often inserted within the marketing or communication areas, without being recognized as an independent and vital function for the organization. This scenario is reminiscent of the beginnings of marketing and advertising in companies, which have only recently begun to be valued as essential areas.
As companies, especially large corporations, align themselves with global practices, the need to demonstrate social responsibility in a concrete way is growing, whether through sustainability reports or employee engagement.
Involving employees in social actions not only creates a sense of belonging, but can also push management itself to adopt a more responsible stance. Often, the pressure to act socially comes from comparisons with other companies, which can lead to unnecessary competitiveness. However, true social responsibility should not be a question of quantity, but of impact. Even small actions, such as donating food baskets in times of need, can make a significant difference.
Unfortunately, this external competitiveness can lead companies to implement projects without proper prior analysis, resulting in initiatives that don’t correspond to the real needs of the community. The focus should be on actions that really bring lasting benefits, regardless of their scale.
PM: Finally, how can companies balance the creation of economic value with social and environmental responsibility?
CR: Companies always prioritize profits. In some larger organizations, especially in certain sectors, there is already a budget earmarked for social responsibility, often allocated as a small percentage, such as 1% of profit or of the annual budget. However, as with marketing, in times of crisis, social responsibility can be the first area to suffer cuts. To avoid this mistake, it is crucial that actions are measurable and that their impact is clear to management.
Simple practices, such as installing timers in bathrooms to save energy or keeping the temperature constant in offices, can demonstrate environmental benefits and, at the same time, generate financial savings. In some countries, there are tax incentives, such as the Patronage Law, which has not yet been implemented here, but which can also add value to social responsibility actions.
It is possible to convince management that these actions are not just expenses, but investments with a return, especially in strengthening the brand. Although the value of a brand is intangible and difficult to quantify, it becomes evident in times of crisis, when prior support for the community can help mitigate negative impacts and strengthen the relationship with the public.
Explaining to management the financial benefits and brand growth resulting from these actions is essential. In addition, demonstrating the concrete impact of initiatives, such as an increase in the number of customers following a financial literacy action in an underbanked community, can be a powerful argument. Measuring these results and telling the story behind the actions, not just what was done, but how it impacts the community, I think helps management realize that these activities are not just donations, but investments that bring a return.
