APTVA'S CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)
As a small business, we believe in making social responsibility inherent to our policies, organisational culture, business strategy and processes.
We strongly believe that companies of any size should be conscious of the impact they have on all aspects of society, including economic, social, and environmental aspects. At AptVA, we regularly review our actions and practises related to social responsibility to ensure they remain aligned with our mission, vision and values.
Our Commitments:
PAPERLESS OFFICE
As part of our operational effectiveness, we are steadily working towards being a paperless office and we are making good progress! We encourage our clients and partners to strive to become paperless in a quest to equally contribute to a more sustainable society by reducing their environmental footprint. Statistics show that the average office employee consumes 10,000 sheets of paper every year, and 40% of the UK population still uses paper-based communication with most electronic formats complementing instead of substituting hard copies. By going green we are constantly increasing our productivity, reducing our office costs, optimising our time and workload, and creating a safe and efficient environment while making the best use of the available technology. We also recycle our office waste and use refillable water bottles both in and out of the office, in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of plastic pollution, as statistics reveal that 7.7 billion plastic water bottles are still currently used each year in the UK.
SUPPORTING WOMEN IN BUSINESS
As a woman in business herself, this is a cause very close to AptVA’s founder Sarah’s heart. Sarah is a member and Chair to her local Athena Network networking group, a leading international networking, training & development business club for female executives and entrepreneurs. We share our business and technology knowledge with other female small business owners, participating in local and country-wide networking and training meetings with the aim of connecting, supporting and inspiring other women in business to succeed and prosper within their own small businesses. Sarah often volunteers at Business Shows and Pop up events to promote Athena’s passion about helping women to grow stronger, more profitable businesses and create opportunities for career success.
SUPPORTING LOCAL SMALL BUSINESSES
We also actively support local small businesses and advocate that this is the best way to create a strong and sustainable local economy. Research shows that £10 spent with a local independent shop/business means up to an additional £50 goes back into the local economy. This is simply because nearby business owners will then put this money back into their local community by going to local pubs, restaurants, etc. thus circulating the money spent, and allowing the community to thrive. Most of our clients are local small businesses themselves as are we, and so supporting the many wonderful small businesses around us in more ways than one is incredibly important to us and a truly rewarding experience.
SUPPORTING CREATIVE OPPORTUNITIES
AptVA’s founder, Sarah, comes from an artistic background, she holds an MFA in Fine Art from the University of Leeds (UK) and a BA in Painting from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). Following a passion for the arts and all creative activity, AptVA currently supports Creative Access, a not-for-profit social enterprise unrivalled in diverse recruitment and inclusion, working with under-represented candidates and organisations across the whole creative industry. Creative Access is the only organisation in the UK dedicated to recruiting under-represented talent in the creative industries and all their profits go back into growing, training and supporting their community members. We are proud to support them with donations and aspire to their mission: the day when Britain’s creative industries truly reflect our society.