Tag Archives: capacity building

Gong wins again at 2023 Africa SABRE Awards

Gong Communications was delighted to win two Certificates of Excellence at the 2023 Africa SABRE Awards which highlight superior achievement in branding, reputation, and engagement.

The team was recognised for its work across Africa with clients the Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) and Aon, the multinational financial services firm.

The international development communications team has been working with GLIDE as its PR partner since 2021, naming and launching its inaugural Falcon Awards for Disease Elimination (FADE). The team received recognition within the Central Africa category for its media relations support as well as developing and managing the content for GLIDE’s Webisodes Campaign, “Building Awareness to End Diseases of Poverty”.

As D&I communications experts, the Aon team was commended, alongside its African partners Phyllion & Partners Limited, within the Superior Achievement in Research and Planning category for their work on the industry staple, Dive In Nigeria. The 2022 event marked Gong’s third year in supporting the insurance giant’s event and is part of the global Dive In Festival – the largest diversity and inclusion employee engagement brand platform of its type, developed with Gong.  This year’s Dive In Festival will be held between 26th-28th September 2023 and will include branded events across the globe.

It’s the third consecutive year that the corporate communications team, which operates out of its London and Nairobi offices, has enjoyed success at the SABRE Awards. In 2022 the team won the Central Africa and Media Relations categories for its work with African private equity firm, Birimian Ventures. In 2021 the Aon team won again within the Research and Planning and Public Education categories, receiving a Certificate of Excellence in the Financial and Professional Services category.

Greece’s Sovereign Wealth Fund appoints bespoke team of International ESG advisors to build value of its public assets portfolio

A multi-disciplinary group of international advisors led by ESG specialists, Earth Active, has been appointed by Greece’s sovereign wealth fund, Growthfund.

The group, comprising London-headquartered Earth Active and Gong Communications and Athens- based Sympraxis, combines expertise in ESG audit, capacity building, policy and strategy and best practice implementation with ESG stakeholder communications.

Commenting on the appointment, Anthi Trokoudi, Chief Communications and Sustainability Officer at Growthfund said, “The international team we have appointed draws on specialists with many years’ experience, much of it honed in complex contexts where they have perfected the art and science of combining data and culture to bring about transformations that support ESG best practice. What our team in Growthfund aims for with regards to the vital issues of Sustainability and Climate is to achieve managing public companies and public real estate responsibly”.

Narda Shirley, Gong Communications Founder & CEO said, “The role of the sovereign and public wealth funds has never been more important in demonstrating global leadership on climate change, a just transition and the biodiversity crisis. Our bespoke, cross-functional team brought together for this unique engagement is supporting the team at Growthfund in delivering its vision to add value to Greece’s public enterprises and assets for the benefit of its people. We feel very lucky to be part of this ambitious project and for the association with such an iconic portfolio of assets that includes at one extreme flagship real estate and at the other, infrastructure projects such as the refurbished Corinth Canal.”


About Growthfund

Growthfund, the National Fund of Greece is a holding company established in 2016 with the Greek State as its sole shareholder, as represented by the Minister of Finance. Its mission, as Greece’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, is to: play an active role in the modernisation of Public Enterprises, maximise the value of public property, ensure enhanced services for citizens/consumers and contribute to the national economy.  In 2021, Growthfund (HCAP), signed up to the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Fund initiative (OPSWF). Growthfund’s portfolio includes subsidiaries and holdings in public enterprises that are active in key sectors of the Greek economy, such as Real Estate: Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF), Hellenic Public Properties Company (HPPC), GAIAOSE, ETVA-VIPE, TIF HELEXPO; Energy and Utilities: PPC, EYDAP, EYATH; Transport and Infrastructure: Athens International Airport, OASA (Transport for Athens) AEDIK, 23 Regional Airports; Food Supply: CMT, CMFO, Hellenic Saltworks; Technology: PHAISTOS Fund; and Postal Services: HELLENIC POST The value of the portfolio managed by Growthfund currently stands at €6 billion, and its companies have a total of 31,000 employees.


About Earth Active

Earth Active is a globally experienced team of bespoke ESG advisors, with headquarters in London. We create sustainable value for clients from their investments by understanding the intrinsic links between E, S and G, and focusing on the investment outcome. We are specialists in leadership and governance with a deep technical understanding of the challenges of climate change, biodiversity, environmental, and social performance.  We work across the agriculture and forestry, energy and renewables, manufacturing, industrial and extractives and retail sectors for clients including development finance institutions, commercial banks, private equity and multinational companies.


About Gong Communications

Gong Communications, part of the Wilful Group, is a corporate and B2B communications agency with offices in London and Nairobi. A certified B Corp since 2017, Gong works at the intersection of finance & risk, sustainability and global development for clients including the IFC, UNESCO, Aon and Old Mutual. Alongside ESG, key themes in its work for clients include stakeholder communications around diversity and inclusion, innovation, entrepreneurship and technology.


About Sympraxis

Sympraxis team provides end to end sustainability strategy, implementation and communication services to clients such as OTE (Deutsche Telecom), Papastratos (Philip Morris International), Beiesdorf, Google, SOS Children’s villages and the European Commision. In the past 22 years Sympraxis has supported more than 500 projects with an overall value that exceeds 50m€, in 16 countries throughout the globe.