Maybank helps clean up part of Klang River & Create Sustainable Vegetable Farming for Urban Community
Over 200 employees from Maybank’s Group Risk Division came together for a good cause today as part of Maybank’s Global CR Day to continue their quest in providing assistance to the neighbourhood of Keramat AU2.
Themed ‘River of Life People Outreach Project’, the Corporate Responsibility initiative is now rolling into Phase 2 following the success of Phase 1 which began last year.
Maybank’s Group Chief Risk Officer, Dr John Lee together with Dato Ir. Haji Mohd Azmi Bin Ismail, Assistant Director, River Bank Management Division, Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (JPS), En Zulkifli Bin Shuib, Pegawai Perpaduan Daerah Gombak, Dr K. Kalithasan, Coordinator for River Care, Global Environment Centre (GEC) and En Mohamad Halim Mohamad Said, Keramat AU community representative were present at the event.
Dr John said “The River of Life People Outreach Project’ is a unique initiative which saw the employees greening a small area and helped the community start an urban farm, as well as conduct on-going environmental awareness programmes aimed at empowering the community to take ownership of cleaning up the Klang River which runs through their area,”
“This year, the Maybank team has enlarged the urban farming and green plot by almost 4 times. They have assisted residents of AU2 to install a water tank to store the water pumped from the Klang River to irrigate the vegetable plots by the riverbank,”
“Maybank will also be donating a portable lawn mower to the community of Keramat AU2 to be used in the urban farm. Apart from that, various other activities were carried with the community, such as environmental awareness talks, a “Free Market” and teambuilding,” he said adding that works on these were undertaken on regular basis in the past 6 months,” added Dr John.
‘River of Life People Outreach Project’ is one of the activities held on 20 August alongside other various corporate responsibility initiatives initiated by over 18,000 Maybank employees worldwide at their respective locations. The day was dedicated in undertaking various community projects involving special children, the elderly, disabled as well as environmental conservation.
The Maybank Global CR Day gives an opportunity for Maybank employees to make an impact in the community in line with the Group’s mission to humanise financial services. These projects are not one-off initiatives, but those that have been carried out over time to ensure sustainability and long term impact.
With the theme “Enabling Communities with Solutions”, the Maybank Global CR Day is part of the Group’s employee volunteerism programme believed to be the largest single community programme undertaken simultaneously in one day, by a Malaysian-based corporation on a global scale. It involves employees not only in Malaysia but also its offices abroad – from New York and London to Greater China and across ASEAN – coming together to reaffirm their commitment to social and community development.
In Kuala Lumpur, the Group Chief Human Capital Officer of Maybank, Nora Manaf said that the Global CR Day was a unique volunteerism event where employees reinforce Maybank’s mission of humanising financial services and its commitment to be at the heart of the community. On this day, Maybankers across the group go down to the ground to volunteer and carry out together their various sustainable CR initiatives that they have been and will be implementing in communities where the Bank has presence.
“Our theme for this year’s Group-wide Global CR Day resonates well with our role as a responsible corporate citizen. This theme reinforces our commitment in creating and empowering solutions for the communities to improve their lives. We believe the solutions that we are bringing through our initiatives today, will benefit the present communities for a better future,” she said.
Nora added that this year’s Global CR Day marks yet another milestone for the Group as it is the seventh consecutive year that the employees are getting together on a single day, to contribute to the betterment of society and the environment, in a sustainable and impactful manner.
This year, over 90 initiatives are being implemented by employees across the Group. These included various community projects involving special children, the elderly, disabled, single mothers and orphans as well as the environment.
In Kuala Lumpur, Maybank Chairman, Tan Sri Dato’ Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor joined in a fun run and walk with Down Syndrome children from the Orchid Home at the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) to raise funds for special needs students as well as cancer children from the University of Malaya Medical Centre Cancer Unit.
Maybank Group President & CEO, Datuk Abdul Farid Alias joined employees in a community programme to raise funds through various activities for the National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM), as well as create more awareness of autism among the public. Activities included a telematch with autistic children, colouring contest and the refurbishment of the school area.
Elsewhere, employees engaged in numerous other initiatives ranging from engagement with the physically challenged, mentoring and supporting indigenous and financially disadvantaged communities, planting trees in public parks, or joining hands to spruce up community areas. They also cleaned up rivers and wetlands, promoted waste recycling awareness and helped in greening available space at Menara Maybank, with the food produce donated to welfare homes.
The Global CR Day was first held in 2010 in conjunction with Maybank’s 50th anniversary. Over 10,000 employees took part in that inaugural event. The increasing number of participants over the years reflects the strong team spirit among employees to come together and participate in such a unique global volunteerism programme.