Corporate Social Responsibility Award win for family distribution company, Oakland International, at The Logistics Awards in London on Thursday 21st September.
Oakland International Chief Executive and Co-Founder, Dean Attwell, commented: “The Logistics Awards celebrate operational excellence within our industry but we firmly believe that this should not be at the expense of our communities or the environment. Our aim as a responsible family business is to give something back to the communities in which we operate, and long before the term ‘CSR’ was ever created Oakland International’s ethos has been to incorporate social responsibility practices in to our core business activities and values, with this award formal acknowledgement for our team who continue to support our vision.”
With its reputation built on growth through sustainability, Oakland International’s rolling investment in energy efficient technologies and green initiatives has radically reduced their annual carbon footprint and delivered associated benefits across their customer and partner networks; the company is already exceeding their 2023 Climate Change Levy targets for energy compliance.
Formalising their charitable activities, and officially launched by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal in 2013, they created children’s charity the Oakland Foundation to help support young people in the Redditch and Bromsgrove communities and surrounding areas, through activities and programmes based on four core initiatives of Health, Nutrition, Education and Sport. Through the Foundation, Oakland donates money and offers all employees the chance to volunteer for the Oakland Foundation in company time.
Dean added: “We have always adapted and embraced new ways of working in our core supply chain business, which has also helped build our reputation as a socially responsible family business. With the launch of the Foundation we gained greater control over how our money was spent, and provided a formal structure to support a wide range of initiatives and programmes for young people in our community.”
Oakland International provides contract packing, storage, picking and food distribution and brand development support for ambient, chilled and frozen food for the retail, convenience, discount, wholesale and food service markets through its depots and facilities based in the UK, Ireland and an overseas partner in Spain.