“I think that when people hear the word sustainability, they first think about the environment, but sustainability is also about people and communities,” says Nina Ferlic, CSR Officer at Admincontrol.
Admincontrol is a value-driven company in the Visma family, and their core values extend further than reaching their targets and being there for their customers and colleagues. They believe it’s important to acknowledge that we live in a world of unequal opportunities and that we are lucky to live in a part of the world where access to education, clean water, and health services are a given.
“We believe that helping those we can simply is the right thing to do. There is a quote that goes, “We are all better off when we are all better off.” So if not all of us are better off, there is something we can do,” Nina continues.
Also read: Employee engagement is key to positive social impact
Helping people manage their own projects
One of the initiatives Admincontrol supports is Sabona, an organisation that works on a grassroot level in Zimbabwe.
Sabona has a holistic focus on education, employment and health, and believes that self-help is key to creating a sustainable society. They make sure that the locals own their projects and are involved in the whole process, from idea to execution and operation. When a project is completed, the local community takes care of the operation so that Sabona can move on to help others. This creates projects that are solid, efficient, transparent and sustainable.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, Sabona helped facilitate homeschooling, as online classes are not an option in rural areas. Food stations present at schools provide the children attending a healthy diet, but most importantly, the security of getting at least one meal a day.
“As sponsors of Sabona, we are always kept up to date on progress and news. We have also visited their projects and seen firsthand how they work and how important this organisation is to the communities they operate,” Nina explains.
Bringing quality of life to children with cancer
SuperSelma is another organisation supported by Admincontrol. They focus on bringing joy, play and relief for children who are battling cancer. Children undergoing tough treatments miss out on their childhood. Not attending school or after-school activities and spending time with their friends, as many need to be isolated due to the risk of infections.
To help these children have better days and be able to do something else than see doctors, nurses, and hospitals, SuperSelma hands out toys, builds dollhouses and takes them on trips to the theatre, among other things.
“Once a month, SuperSelma comes by and picks up all of our empty bottles, and they hand it in for recycling and collect the funds so they can spend it to help the children. As a collaboration partner, we are helping these children while also caring for the environment,” Nina highlights.
Focusing on education
Mind Your Own Business (MYOB) is an organisation that works with boys from challenged residential areas in Denmark and Greenland and guides them into a different learning environment. The focus is teaching these young boys how to start their own micro-businesses, from start to finish.
Admincontrol DK works together with MYOB as mentors for these young boys and uses their skills from the business world to train them.
“Many of the boys feel that they have never truly been seen before, but in the environment MYOB provides, they do,” says Nina and continues: “It opens up a whole new set of thinking about education for these boys.”
For 8-9 months, they learn how to set up their micro-business, choose a product, get their own areas of responsibility, and set up meetings with potential business partners and investors. As mentors, Admincontrol DK meets up with the boys weekly to discuss their progress and help them with different challenges.
After the cycle, all the micro-businesses present their product and are awarded for their efforts. Some of these businesses continue to the MYOB Academy to further develop their product more strategically.
Venturing into environmental sustainability
As one of the pilots, Admincontroil is engaged in Visma`s emissions reporting, and making an assessment plan for their company. They have dedicated the whole year to this topic and will do their best to be as environmentally friendly as possible. As part of this, they are working on a new initiative called Admincontrol Cleantech initiative.
“We learn as we do, as this is a new area for us, but we see already that we have great measures in place. Going forward we will recycle more, look at operations within the organisation that can be greener, and do our best to help those who are working on solving the climate crisis,” Nina explains.
Find out more about how we work on reducing our environmental footprint in our sustainability policy
Involving employees in sustainability initiatives
To boost their engagement, Admincontrol has held a few fundraisers internally for Sabona and attended StandUp Aid, a fundraising event hosted by Latter in Oslo.
Last year they arranged an internal fundraiser for SuperSelma in connection with a fundraising run. This was a physical activity challenge where colleagues would track and report their number of completed kilometres during a week. Admincontrol then donated a sum of money for every kilometre. In the end, they had a great surprise to hand over to SuperSelma.
Giving their employees ownership in their sustainability work is important for Admincontrol. Last year they sent out a survey asking their colleagues how they felt about their initiatives and how they could improve. They were also asked which initiatives they should focus on going forward, giving input to decide this year’s topic.
“Ultimately, I believe that getting colleagues involved comes down to how you communicate around the initiatives and get them personally involved if possible, and listen to suggestions and feedback,” says Nina.
“Several colleagues are personally engaged in some of our initiatives as well. It’s a great joy when they send me snaps of “their” child in Zimbabwe,” she exclaims.
Mind Your Own Business was originally an initiative from one of their Danish employees, who wanted to use their skills to help others. They feel they get a tenfold back in what they give and find their work truly inspiring.
“ The fundraiser event for SuperSelma we had last year was an idea from one of my colleagues. I love that they have these issues on their mind,” Nina continues.
Rewarding for everyone involved
Seeing how the organisations they support are making an impact through their efforts is what matters the most at Admincontrol. The organisations they work with are changing and enriching the lives of others and work passionately and tirelessly to keep things going.
“The most rewarding thing is that we can clearly see that what these organisations set out to do, is working. I believe so strongly in all of them, and many are dependent on their never-ending efforts. As long as they are doing the important job they are, we will be here to support them,” says Nina.
We are grateful for Admincontrol’s commitment to people and communities across the world, setting a good example for our entire organisation. To find out more about how we work with sustainability on a group level, visit our sustainability pages.
