Hansabank won the Company of the Year award

NENO have been awarding these titles since 1996 in order to recognise and praise the people and organisations that have made a major contribution to the development of civil society in Estonia. This year Hansabank won the Company of the Year award and also took part in the Project of the Year 2007 as this award went to the establishment of a coalition of companies against HIV.

Hansabank was praised for thinking through its support activities and its courage to in dealing with important but sensitive issues, such as the prevention of HIV. Offering support means more to Hansabank than donating money – our employees participate as volunteers in the projects supported by the bank, such as Teach First in Estonia, the Healthy Estonia Foundation, the Good Deed Foundation, etc. Hansabank is the first organisation to win a title for the second time (Sponsor of the Year in 1998).

The coalition of companies against HIV, which was set up by Statoil, Eesti Ehitus, Hansabank, TNS Emor and Hill & Knowlton last November, was declared the Project of the Year. First of all, it demonstrates the ability of companies to work together in trying to solve an important social problem. Secondly, it is an important milestone in the cooperation between business and the other sectors (the coalition was initiated by the Healthy Estonia Foundation) and marks a step up from the understanding that cooperation is only about provision of funding by companies. For example, the companies in the coalition have organised training about HIV prevention and testing sessions, they take part in raising public awareness of the problem and support HIV prevention activities.