Awards Showcase Ethical Enterprise
7 August 2013 at 10:44 am
Organisations have six weeks remaining to apply for an inaugural award giving Australian enterprises the opportunity to showcase their ethical credentials.
Presented by Victorian-based social enterprise Moral Fairground and superannuation and investment fund manager Australian Ethical Investment, the Ethical Enterprise Award is aimed at any business or organisation, regardless of size, which has had a positive social and economic impact through innovative ethical practice.
The inaugural winner will benefit from networking, media and promotional opportunities along with a $6,000 advertising package and a cash prize.
“This Award, the first of its kind in Australia, celebrates the importance of informed
ethical leadership, conscious business and innovation,” Susanna Bevilacqua, Director of Moral Fairground said.
“It demonstrates how organisations that seek a fair, just and sustainable offering can also provide great financial returns too,” she said.
“The more accreditations and awards out there, the more companies are encouraged to sit in this space.”
Bevilacqua said that the rise of sustainability principles in business represented the kind of status she hoped ethical practice might achieve.
Yet ‘ethical,’ Bevilacqua said, remained a term that was broad and difficult to define.
“Its still a very abstract concept," she said.
“Like CSR, people see it as an add-on, a tick-a-box sort of thing. It still tends to be confined to smaller businesses.
“In medium to large enterprise it’s growing but still very young, and when as a business you’ve done something for a very long time it’s hard to change.
“No one intentionally goes out to be bad. I think everyone genuinely wants to be a good business.”
“We’re starting to recognise ethical organisations and use them as a showcase. Ambassadors are the best way to show what ‘ethical’ means.”
“For us it’s really whether there is a positive social and economic impact.
“I’ve seen a lot of great services and great enterprises. We really want to go out and celebrate the work they do.
“We certainly want to hear about those out there that we don’t even know of yet!”
Applicants are required to submit an account of their organisation and its achievements, including projects undertaken, the social and economic impact achieved and innovations embraced that position it as an ethical enterprise.
Finalists will be shortlisted in October with the award recipient being announced at Fair@Square in Melbourne on 29 November 2013.
Entries close at midnight on September 30, 2013.
To enter visit www.moralfairground.com.au.
