BANGKOK, Thailand, 27 October 2012 – Singapore's very own StarHub trumped 87 other entries from 13 Asian countries to lift the Intel-Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Corporate Responsibility Award (IACRA), in Shangri-La's Grand Ballroom in Bangkok, Thailand on 26 October 2012.
The Intel-AIM Corporate Responsibility Award (IACRA) is the grand prize of the AIM Asian CSR Awards, given to an organisation that has taken on a fully embedded approach to CSR across all four focus areas and is only presented to a chosen company after a rigorous selection process.
"The main criterion for selecting the recipient to the IACRA is that the organization must have made CSR an integral part of the way they do business. Their CSR programs or projects must have a significant impact and are sustainable in all appropriate areas of operations,” explained Dato Timothy Ong, the newly-appointed Chairman of the Board of Advisors of the AIM-RVR CSR Center.
Receiving the coveted trophy from Guest of Honour Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Kittiratt Na-Ranong was StarHub Chief Operating Officer Mr Tan Tong Hai.
"StarHub has always believed in being a responsible corporate citizen," shared Mr Tan. "From zealously practising ethical business and championing employee welfare, to exercising pro-environmental efforts and empowering the disadvantaged in the community, we strive, through all aspects of our organization, to ensure a sustainable future for our company, our society and our planet.
"We are both honoured to be the first Singaporean company to win this prestigious award, and humbled that our sustainability efforts as a relatively young company have been recognised," continued Mr Tan. "This award motivates us to take our sustainability efforts to even greater heights."
The awards were presented at the closing dinner of the Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR), attended by over 550 delegates from 30 countries, representing various sectors of society, including businesses, governments, NGOs/civil society, multilateral organizations, and the academe.
The AIM Asian CSR Awards Program recognises Asian companies for embodying the principles of corporate responsibility in their business philosophy and operations. Companies that have received the award continuously innovate and implement sustainable approaches toward becoming socially responsible. The four other winners, from India, the Philippines and Thailand, won for specific aspects of CSR, such as Governance and Society, a Labour and Employee Engagement.
“Recipients of the AIM Asian CSR Awards demonstrate leadership, sincerity, and commitment in incorporating ethical values, compliance with legal requirements, respect for individuals, involvement in communities, and protection of the environment into the way they do business,” added Prof. Felipe B. Alfonso, Conference Director of the AFCSR 2012.
At the heart of StarHub’s business strategy are its people, as it serves customers by building a committed and motivated workforce. The company implements human resource policies that promote safe and healthy working conditions, fair employment, teamwork, learning and development, and career growth and performance awards to attract, retain, and grow talent. As a leading telecommunications operator in Singapore, the company runs data centers and base stations consume significant amounts of energy that produce greenhouse gas emissions. This then creates an imperative for StarHub’s two-pronged environmental approach; the first is reducing the relative consumption of energy, fuel, and water, and minimizing waste, and the second is increasing the use of renewable energy, as well as implementing initiatives for water and resource conservation and recycling of waste.
Some of the projects cited in their entry include their StarHub Sparks Fund, funded by 1% of their IDD revenue for charitable donations, and from which over $9m has been disbursed to date; the introduction of electronic waste recycling for consumers, which has collected over 1.8 tonnes of e-waste since its introduction seven months ago; the provision of two days of paid volunteerism leave per employee per year; and their youth talent engagement and empowerment programme, the Now You Can Leadership Series.
About the four focus areas of the AIM Asian CSR Awards
Environment and Value Chain Management, which recognizes how a company manages its value chain in order to optimize its social and environmental footprint; Governance and Society, which recognizes a company’s capacity to manage its relationships with society through initiatives in education, employment, access to technology, income generation, health, and social investment, as well as its ability to adhere to transparency and accountability standards; Labor and Employee Engagement, which recognizes how a company manages employee relationships and ensure their welfare and protection; and Product Responsibility and Consumer Rights, which recognizes a company’s initiatives on fair marketing, product labelling, protection of consumer’s health and safety, sustainable consumption, compliance, consumer service, and awareness.
Other winners of the 2012 AIM Asian CSR Awards
Environment and Value Chain Management Award
Company: Ayala Land, Inc.
Country: Philippines
Governance and Society Award
Company: ITC Limited
Country: India
Labor and Employee Engagement Award
Company: HGST Philippines Corporation
Country: Philippines
Product Responsibility and Consumer Rights Award
Company: Pruksa Real Estate PLC
Country: Thailand
