Desert Group CSR - Enable
“Enable is about the intentional building of relationships with society, creating value through gainful employment, where difference is welcomed and all benefit.”
– Michael Mascarenhas CEO Desert Group
Enable has been created as a social enterprise with special focus on exclusiveness & advocacy within society. The team of determine may with special needs and cognitive disability are trained to create products that help to build this on entrepreneur capability.
Desert Group CSR hired 28 UAE young Nationals to work as gardeners at one of Desert Group plantation nurseries. With an in-house team of specialists delivering a very comprehensive rehabilitation program (behavioral, professional) we call it “Desert Group PWD Work Inclusion Program”.
We have succeeded thru this program in developing skills necessary to sustain a satisfactory level of employee production that would positively affect our bottom line. To achieve quality assurance; have developed an innovative performance monitoring system that enabled timely reporting to our stakeholders (parents, management, government & community.)
With all that happening, we kept on developing our program to gain a higher level of efficiency in employee productivity PLUS skill development.
Social Enterprise
Arrangements & Corporate Gifts
In 2015 we felt that notion of sustainability is evident. We had to ensure the continuous of this program throw a sustainable model without decreasing from our social impact, but in the contrary, we wanted to achieve growth. Therefore, we felt the concept of social enterprise fits our vision perfectly. So we created “ENABLE”
Our Services
Enable is a social enterprise that empowers PWD by delivering entrepreneurial skills that offers a range of quality home & garden products assembled by well-trained special stars.
Apart from our advocacy strategy, the aim of this enterprise is to create entrepreneurial skills for people with cognitive disabilities and deliver a 360 degree retail model starting from product concept, assembly, merchandise and sales. The skill set will ENABLE individuals with such special abilities to start their own retail units and therefore achieve financial sustainability.
100% of ENABLE products will be used to fuel its retail operations with 15% of each product sold will go back to the employee who created it to empower their abilities. Enable is a Home & Garden brand that offers a range of quality home & garden products assembled by our stars. We offer beautiful indoor plant arrangements using quality #succulents and #cacti sourced from national and international well-known suppliers.
Enable Fair
Dubai Strategy for Expo 2020 is to create a whole infrastructure that enables a proper inclusion for people with disability with society. We in Desert Group CSR have been working since 2006 to find solution on inclusion within the workforce. Targeting specifically the intellectually disabled the challenge was bigger. We found that with a proper development program we can transform certain individuals with minor cognitive disability to productive employees.
Therefore we took on the role of advocating for our fellow corporate for their rights to be employed from 2008 to date. In 2015 we felt that it was necessary to sustain this social initiative by introducing another form of opportunity; a social enterprise model.
Enable as a social enterprise that have proved its success to provide an alternative option to employment; entrepreneurship. Through Enable we have found that we can develop skills that can enable individuals to start their own SMEs basic retail training. Product development, merchandising, supply management and selling are few topics offered within the module.
Best CSR Program
Enable in 2016 have won the Taatheer MENA CSR Award for Best Social Project. Enable today is a registered business entity that competes with its quality products and services.
