Malakoff Corporation Berhad (Malakoff) was recently awarded the prestigious Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards 2011 (AREA) in the Social Empowerment Category, in recognition of the Company’s commitment to be an active participant in the local community through its flagship corporate social responsibility (CSR) platform – The Malakoff Community Partnerships.

AREA recognizes and honours corporations for championing sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship in seven categories, including Social Empowerment, Green Leadership, Investment in People, Corporate Governance, Health Promotion, Small-Media Enterprise CSR and Responsible Business Leadership. A total of 28 corporations from six countries in the Southeast Asia region competed with each other for the top spots.

At the prize giving ceremony, Zainal Abidin Jalil, Malakoff’s Chief Executive Officer said, “We are honoured to have won the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards 2011 for our efforts in the Social Empowerment segment. This win is a testimony of the successful collaboration between Malakoff and its stakeholders, particularly the local communities where we have our operations.”

“Our flagship CSR platform – the Malakoff Community Partnerships, represents our belief that for us to have a sustainable business, Malakoff needs to build meaningful relationships with the community. Such a relationship is only possible when Malakoff works hand-in-hand with the communities to make measureable and meaningful contributions in the everyday lives of the people,” he added.

The Malakoff Community Partnerships was formed as the flagship CSR platform for the Company in 2009 with three key areas, namely : Commitment to the environment, Commitment to community & education and Commitment to community sports. Since formation, numerous activities have been strategically planned and implemented to provide maximum benefits to the communities.

A balanced combination of grassroots activities and thought leadership platforms such as the Energy Expert Series, Empower for Life Initiative, Adopted School Programme, Education Fund and the Green Schools Campaign, have enabled Malakoff to work closely with community leaders including from the state governments, district offices, Members of Parliament and village chiefs.

Elaborating further on the CSR programme, Zainal said, “Our strategic and structured approach has made our CSR activities more meaningful and impactful to our stakeholders. They can see our long-term commitment through our series of initiatives including on the ground events, thought leadership platforms and face-to-face dialogues with stakeholders.”

“We believe, through this rebranding and consolidation of our CSR initiatives, we will be able to track, review and realign our activities more effectively. This win today has reinforced our commitment to do even better in our CSR initiatives, hereon,” he added.

Malakoff employees have also embraced the Malakoff Communities Partnerships programme, with the staff ‘walking the talk’ as active participants in all events undertaken by the Company’s flagship CSR platform.

Moreover, the Company has taken concrete steps to monitor and track the progress of each of its initiatives resulting in the comprehensive Corporate Community Investment Report each year.

Last year, the Malakoff Community Partnerships was awarded the Prime Minister’s CSR Award in the Environment category for a broad range of environmental initiatives by the Company including, mangrove replanting, photovoltaic (solar panel) installations at selected Government schools and the rehabilitation of the Sungai Pulai tributaries.