CORPORATE LEADER AWARD TO HONOUR CSR EFFORTS BY CEOS

 

KUALA LUMPUR 25 JUNE 2008 - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly important to us all, both as individuals and in our professional lives. Lately many firms have come forward to express their CSR agenda. Despite much public focus on large companies, many failed to recognise the various contributions by corporate individuals who continue to successfully promote CSR single-handedly on many levels. This led SJ Grant Thornton to launch its inaugural Corporate Leader of the Year Award, in conjunction with the third official release of its International Business Report (IBR).

Set to be an annual event, this Award recognises and honours an individual who has shown long-term dedication in CSR. In other words, we want to honour a corporate figure who is CSR-friendly in his leadership. Unlike any other Award of its nature, the winner of the Corporate Leader of the Year Award gets to pick a charitable cause for Grant Thornton to promote at an International level, through its network of offices in over 100 countries worldwide.

International Trade and Industry Minister YB Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is scheduled to officiate the event which would be presented at a dinner ceremony on July 15 at KL Hilton. Star Actor and Environmental Campaigner Mel Gibson is the guest speaker for the night. 

“As part of the Award, we decided that it would be a good idea to support the work of a charitable cause nominated by the winner. The nominated charity will be promoted at an International level via the group’s website and in promotional correspondence to our global client base. Not only would this be of huge benefit to the charity in question, it would also enhance our own CSR activities.

“But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Once other Grant Thornton member firms replicate our Corporate Leader of the Year Award, including the charitable aspect, then we have the makings of a hugely significant global Grant Thornton CSR initiative.  It would require other Grant Thornton member firms to adopt our Award model. Once a clutch of Grant Thornton member firms come on board then we can have all the perquisites for a Global Corporate Leader of the Year Award given to the best winner at a country level,” elaborates SJ Grant Thornton Managing Partner Dato’ N. K. Jasani

Dato’ Jasani added that Grant Thornton International would then host details of all the country winners’ charities at a group level through website and PR activities. This will support Grant Thornton clients who are in need of validated causes to support as part of their CSR initiatives and this would also provide ready-made opportunities for them to do so.

Through an International Corporate Leader of the Year Award, Grant Thornton would become known for pioneering CSR in a very real and meaningful sense and would differentiate itself from its peer group in this increasingly important business arena.

 

Grant Thornton’s support will take the following forms:

1) To create a new section on the Group’s websites (intranet and internet) that will highlight the work of the “charity organisation”.

2) To communicate the work of the “charity organisation” to our international client base in e-newsletters and other promotional correspondence

3) To promote the “charity organisation” to our client base as a highly deserving recipient of corporate donations

4) To use the “charity organisation” as a case study when promoting Grant Thornton’s CSR activities to global media.

As the only survey of its type, IBR provides a valuable source of global business information, gauging the opinions of senior management such as the Managing Directors, Chief Executive Officers, business owners or other senior executives on their economic outlook and company expectations for the coming 12 months.

This will be the third time the Malaysian firm is participating in the Global Report, now in its sixth consecutive year. For its previous involvement, the full results were released in June last year by the then Deputy Finance Minister YB Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen. In 2006, which also marked our first participation in IBR, was launched by Fince Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

IBR is a comprehensive study of 7,800 MLEs in 34 countries around the world, covering 83% of global GDP. One of the IBR surveys released in February this year focused on Corporate Social Responsibility.

“To promote CSR, we can’t just publish a CSR survey. We must recognise outstanding contributions to CSR among the business community.” Dato’ Jasani said that businesses should not only look at profits but also positively contribute to society by improving the quality of life, environment, sustainability and fair pricing, for example.

End.

Note-to-Editor

About SJ Grant Thornton

SJ Grant Thornton is the Malaysian member of Grant Thornton International, one of the world’s leading organisations of accounting and consulting firms. Grant Thornton International is an international membership organisation, with each member firm independently owned and operated.  Services are delivered nationally by the member and correspondent firms of Grant Thornton International, a network of independent firms throughout the world.

Further enquiries, please contact:
Hanisah Gani, Corporate Communications
T 03 2692 4022
E hanisah@gt.com.my
W www.gt.com.my

 

~SJ Grant Thornton Leading the Way in CSR Globally~