IBA was selected a winner of the Belarusian national contest The Brand of the Year in the category Socially Responsible Brand. The company was named The Best Employer, and awarded with a gold medal and honorary diploma at the award ceremony held on December 22 in Minsk, Belarus.

The contest Socially Responsible Brand was instituted in 2005 by the Initiative For Social Responsibility of Business with support from the United Nations Development Programme in Belarus under the aegis of the UN Initiative Global Compact.

Enterprises and organizations sharing corporate responsible citizenship values were invited to participate in the contest. The organizers aimed to advance the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to foster business involvement in the solution of economic, social, and environmental challenges that society faces today or might encounter in the future. This year, the organizing committee made a decision to donate a part of the contest participation fee to a charity New Year performance for orphans.

The contest jury studied and evaluated social reports of the nominees in seven categories, namely proactive social behavior, best employer, ethical market conduct, socially responsible investment, environmental protection, social partnership, and partnership between private and public sectors. The evaluation was based on the data provided by the companies, including their CSR and sustainable development reports, charity and environmental protection programs, as well as ethical market conduct and HR management projects.

IBA was named The Best Employer for the results the company has achieved in the implementation of its CSR program. Although the company has treated employee support and community relations as a top priority since its foundation, a consistent CSR program that comprises employee support, public education, community relations, and Green IT was adopted in October 2008. At the end of 2009, it was for the first time that the company aligned its accomplishments in these areas with the objectives set out in the CSR program.

Summing up this year’s CSR activities, Sergei Levteev, IBA Group President, commented: “We avoided employee layoffs and reductions in the IBA’s CSR program. Conversely, we launched new lines of business and developed innovative solutions to help our clients in the current economic crisis. As a result, IBA was selected a Socially Responsible Brand of the Year 2009. This indicates that we are successful today and are confident about our ability to maintain sustainable growth in the future.”