Middle East-based Aramex is stepping up its social and environmental activities through anexpanded partnership with Unicef and the launch of a Green Champions programme. It has also gained
a call centre award.In line with its long-term commitment to social development and sustainability, Aramex hasextended its cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to further support theorganisation’s logistical requirements in the Gulf.
As part of the new agreement, Aramex will expand the scope of its current express arrangement toinclude free-of-charge service for all outbound domestic and international consignments of UNICEF’soffices in Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Dubai. Aramex will also handle delivery of UNICEF’s card orderswithin the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, as well as inbound delivery of cards from Bahrain andSaudi Arabia to Dubai.
The new agreement also includes continued partnership on UNICEF’s ongoing greeting cardprogramme to raise funds for social development. As part of this partnership, Aramex will fulfillall logistical requirements, including promotion, transportation and distribution of the UNICEFgreeting cards programme for 2010 across its Gulf network. Additionally, Aramex will provide UNICEFwith free outreach to its corporate customer database in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In 2009, nearly 60%of UNICEF’s regional card sales came from Aramex’s customer database.
“Over the years, Aramex has built a strong and successful relationship with UNICEF, one that isfounded on a shared commitment to social development and sustainability” said Hussein Hachem,Aramex Chief Executive Officer for the Middle East and Africa. “The extension of our collaborationwith UNICEF is in recognition of these common goals, and in our belief that we can accomplish a lotmore through sustained and closer engagement.”
As part of its environmental activities, Aramex has launched its Green Champions programme,which provides training to staff in environmentally friendly practices at the workplace and athome. Recently launched at the company’s Global Support Office in Amman, Jordan, the programme willbe rolled out across Aramex’s global network.
The training programme has been developed in partnership with Terra Vertis, an Amman-basedconsulting firm specialising in corporate sustainability and responsibility solutions andstrategies. Aramex has developed a special module for the programme, with on-ground support fromTerra Vertis.
“As the name of this programme suggests, our aim is to create Green Champions across our globalworkforce,” said Raji Hattar, Aramex Chief Sustainability Officer. “These Green Champions willthemselves become ambassadors for Aramex’s diverse sustainability initiatives, training otheremployees in environmentally friendly practices and contributing to greener and more sustainablecommunities in all the markets we serve.
Separately, Aramex was honoured at the Middle East Call Centre Awards in the categories “BestQuality Assurance Programme” and “Best Small Outsource Provider” in recognition for its commitmentto quality management and customer service excellence.
The ‘Outsourcing Service’ provided by the Aramex Call Centre has been instrumental in itscustomers achieving the highest standards of customer service, while managing to reduce operatingcosts and overheads at the same time. This track record of success endorsed by the growing ranks ofsatisfied customers has been recognised through the second award given to Aramex for the “BestSmall Outsource Provider”.
“The recognition at the Middle East Call Centre awards is a validation of the efforts andcommitment we have invested in creating a world-class quality management programme and placingcustomers at the core of our business practices,” Hachem said. “At Aramex, our operating guidelinesare informed by a sound understanding of evolving customer needs and values. This approach is inline with our objective of building a customer-focused infrastructure that supports the provisionof customised service to each customer, while empowering frontline staff to optimise process andtechnology to drive productivity.”
