US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented the 2011 Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) to Sahlman Seafoods, in Nicaragua. Procter & Gamble won two awards, one in Nigeria and one in Pakistan.
The annual ACE awards recognize U.S.-owned businesses that exhibit good corporate citizenship, promote innovation, and advance democratic principles around the world.
Sahlman Seafoods was recognized as the small- or medium-sized company winner, for their work in Nicaragua. The company’s efforts were extensive. The State Department says the “shrimp farming company promotes sustainable aquaculture and environmental awareness in local communities, protects endangered species of wildlife, and assists communities by improving school facilities, providing meals to children on non-traditional school days, and offering free medical treatment to farm workers.”
Procter & Gamble took the multinational category for its work in two countries. In Nigeria, they worked with local communities in four ways. They worked to improve water supplies through education and purification technology, to support the health and well-being of new and expectant mothers and children through mobile clinics, to provide safe and healthy work environments, and to conduct novel educational programs for teenage girls.
In Pakistan, The State Department says Procter & Gamble exhibited “exemplary” humanitarian assistance efforts after unprecedented flooding, there. Those efforts include the provision of clean drinking water, food, hygiene products, medical care, and laundry services.
P&G also cultivated sustainable partnerships to establish schools, early education programs, and support for orphanages, and collaborated with universities to develop young business leaders.
In addition, P&G reducted carbon dioxide emissions at their facilities.
The State Department chose the two winners from 13 finalists:
Sahlman Seafoods, in Nicaragua Procter & Gamble in Nigerian and Pakistan Amway in China ANOVA Food in Indonesia Archer Daniels Midland Company in Paraguay Cargill in India General Motors in Uzbekistan Grenada Chocolate Company in Grenada Intel in Vietnam Johnson & Johnson in Russia Joy Global in South Africa Tiger Machinery in Russia
The 2010 awards went to Cisco, Denimatrix, and Mars Inc.
Computer networking company, Cisco, was chosen for helping “connect the Israeli and Palestinian economies and people, plus engaging in partnerships and initiatives to enhance technical capacity, connectivity, education, and opportunities for women and youth in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.”
Mars was chosen for its work in “cocoa sustainability and efforts to improve economic development in the cocoa-growing region of the Republic of Ghana.”
