22 April 2010
Visually Impaired Social Entrepreneur brings Ability Awards to Spain
(L to R) Ian Elliott, Programme Manager, Kanchi, Luis Abril, General Technical Secretary, Telefonica S.A., Cezar Alierta President, Telefonica S.A., Caroline Casey, Founder, Kanchi, H.E. Justin Harman Irish Ambassador to Spain
Visually impaired social entrepreneur and founder of disability organisation Kanchi, Caroline Casey, today joined Ireland’s Ambassador to Spain, Justin Harman and César Alierta, Chairman of Telefónica, to launch the Telefónica Ability Awards in Spain, the first country outside of Ireland licenced to run the awards programme based on the O2 Ability Awards model created and operational in Ireland since 2005. The expansion to Spain marks the first franchise of the Ability Awards internationally and is an historic achievement for Kanchi, highlighting the strength and innovation of Irish social entrepreneurship.
The Telefónica Ability Awards, like the O2 Ability Awards, will recognise organisations throughout Spain for best practice in the inclusion of people with disabilities as employees, customers and members of the community. The auditing and benchmark templates created in Ireland will be used to assess organisations that enter the programme in Spain. Kanchi is currently in negotiations with several pan-European organisations to establish the Ability Awards programme in countries throughout Europe and beyond. The application process in Spain opens today with the first Awards taking place in November 2010.
Since 2005, over 130 businesses and organisations in Ireland including Superquinn, McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland, Bank of Ireland, Kerry County Council, Aura Sport & Leisure, AIB Group, Eircom and Microsoft have been selected as O2 Ability Award organisations. Managed by disability organisation Kanchi, the O2 Ability Awards are the first business awards in Ireland for best practice of the inclusion of people with disabilities, both as employees and as customers. This year’s O2 Ability Awards will take place in Dublin on 12 May.
Kanchi founder, Caroline Casey said: “I am very proud that a small social enterprise like Kanchi from Ireland is leading the way on disability in Europe by bringing the Ability Awards to Spain. With Telefónica’s support and commitment, Spanish organisations will now have the opportunity to showcase best practice in employing people with disabilities and targeting people with disabilities as customers. The ongoing support of Danuta Gray and O2 over the past five years has opened the door for this fantastic awards programme to be rolled out throughout Europe”.
Ireland’s Ambassador to Spain, Justin Harman said: “I am delighted to be associated with the launch of the Telefónica Ability Awards, a ground-breaking Irish initiative now being implemented in Spain. In celebrating best practice and progressive attitudes to the inclusion of people with disabilities, the Ability Awards have been challenging individual organisations and indeed society as whole to see beyond any disability and to value individuals and employees on the basis of the unique strengths they bring. I would like to congratulate Caroline Casey and Kanchi on their work in developing the model for the Awards and to pay tribute to O2 for supporting the Programme in Ireland since 2005 and to Telefónica for becoming involved here in Spain.”
Speaking at the launch of the awards programme in Madrid, Chairman of Telefónica, César Alierta said: “The Telefónica Ability Awards demonstrate a firm commitment from Telefónica for the inclusion of disability in the world of business as it aims to give recognition to these companies and institutions that integrate people with disabilities, whether as employees, suppliers or clients”.
Danuta Gray, CEO, Telefónica O2 Ireland said: “It is with great pride that we watch Caroline and Kanchi launch the first Ability Awards outside of Ireland in Spain. The Awards, which we are very proud to have supported since 2005, have come a long way since then and given the success they have enjoyed in Ireland, it is right and proper that they are now being sought after further afield. Telefónica in Spain understands the enormous benefits that this unique initiative brings to their business, from an employee and customer perspective and ultimately from a business perspective”.
