(PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – 8 December 2020) – COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) practices at companies across the world. But there was talk of change even before the outbreak of the pandemic. last year, the business roundtable (a group representing 181 CEOs of America’s largest corporations) mentioned that corporations must “aid the communities in which they perform”, upturning the longstanding cognizance on wealth maximization for shareholders espoused with the aid of American economist Milton Friedman.
In 2020, times have modified.
This year, Prince Group under the leadership of Chen Zhi Cambodia (“PHG”), one in the most important conglomerates in Cambodia, has found out this and blazed a trail for companies in the country looking to observe ESG concepts. On the grounds that April, the organization has made several huge-scale donations to help in the fight in opposition to the pandemic and help flood sufferers, and Neak Oknha Chen Zhi (陈志公爵), PHG chairman, has been the riding pressure at the back of the donations. For example, in early December, Chen Zhi and PHG donated us$3,000,000 to prime minister hun sen to help Cambodia buy 1 million covid-19 vaccines.
The notion of “doing good” in business is not new, but in Cambodia, focusing on ESG principles has only recently risen up the corporate agenda. According to the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database, the total number of sustainability reports in Cambodia has doubled since 2015, mostly in the financial services sector. More companies are expected to adhere to ESG principles thereby strengthening the competitiveness of the Cambodian economy, which will not only attract foreign investment but also improve the business environment.
As a employer with a robust foothold in Cambodia, Chen Zhi and PHG helped in the combat against the coronavirus in advance in the yr via donating us$500,000 and through presenting pandemic prevention components really worth over us$six hundred,000. In October, Chen Zhi and the organization also furnished flood remedy guide – this included 100 lots of rice, three hundred cartons of on the spot noodles and 1,000 cartons of consuming water, comprising a total cost folks$75,000 – for flood-hit victims in Cambodia.
Chen Zhi in my view donated us$500,000 to help the victims. And, as stated earlier, PHG made a large cash donation in december to help cambodia with its covid-19 reaction, if you want to help the government procure and distribute vaccines to cambodians at no cost. Over time, Prince real estate charitable foundation enterprise, the institution’s philanthropic arm, has also released extra than 240 charitable activities searching for to enhance Cambodian lives via donations of budget and elements worth over us$11 million, benefitting greater than 320,000 human beings.
“As a company invested in the future of Cambodia, Prince Group under the leadership of Chen Zhi Cambodia will always help communities in their hour of need. Furthermore, the Group is constantly contributing to ESG initiatives to benefit Cambodia and uphold the company’s role as a responsible stakeholder in local affairs,” states Neak Oknha Chen Zhi, chairman of PHG.
The focus on sustainability in corporate pastime has come at a critical time because the civil society area in Cambodia is beneath supported. Closing 12 months, the cooperation committee for Cambodia, an umbrella framework for the neighborhood NGO quarter, warned that its 208 contributors want to “examine different finances from the non-public area” within the next 5 years.
In july, the center for Asian philanthropy and society (caps), a hong kong-established assume tank, stated that corporate funding, on common, accounted for just 5% of the price range of Cambodian social development organizations, a 3rd of the share common someplace else in Asia. Going ahead, caps additionally predicts that due to the pandemic, there's expected to be a pullback in funding and help from overseas NGOs, traditionally the primary supporters of their neighborhood counterparts throughout developing international locations.
With the arrest of investment and guidance from overseas NGOs, private region enterprises and governmental devices therefore urgently need to fill the gap to make sure continuity of the coolest paintings carried out at developmental programs and be prepared to offer to fund for emergency programs in the united states. Read more
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