CSR Conference Report

Sher Li and Evonne

Sher Li, Jia Na, Diana, Stens and, Sun Xin with donation box + time cards.

Puan Haslinda with Diana

Puan Suhana, Diana and Aifei

Mr. Teoh and Diana

The MPH
Registration-Walk In

Evonne and Pauline, Registration

Registration Area

Waiting for Registration

The Sunway – CPA Australia – KPMG Undergraduate Business Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was successfully held on 6 September 2008 (Saturday) at Sunway University College’s Multi Purpose Hall. The conference was attended by approximately 400 participants from different universities and colleges. The aim of this conference was to create greater awareness and appreciation on social and environmental responsibilities among undergraduates. A RM10 registration fee was collected and all proceeds went to charity.

The event started at 9.30am with a welcome message by the President of Sunway CPA Australia Student Charter, Ms. Khor Jia Na. This was followed by a speech from Ms. Elizabeth Lee, the Executive Director of Sunway University College. Ms. Khor and Ms. Lee then officially opened the undergraduate business conference. A performance by the Theatre and Film Club from Sunway University College completed the opening ceremony.

After that, a choral speaking performance was performed by the SMK Bandar Sunway. Dr. Foo then presented the RM10 registration fees collected to the Pengetua Besar of SMK Bandar Sunway and the student’s teacher. There are some booths from World Wide Fund for Nature, Malaysian Nature Society, Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia, Body Shop and SMK Bandar Sunway Special School set up at the back of MPH. Students visited these booths during break times to find out more those organisation’s CSR activities.

The first session of the conference, “Does a corporation have morals? A case for corporate social responsibilities”, was presented by Dr Foo Yin Fah. Refreshment was served in the cafeteria after this session.

The next session, “The story of Body Shop: Business as unusual”, was facilitated by Datin Mina-Cheah Foong CEO of Body Shop Malaysia. There was a short video clip presented by the company at the start of the speech. Participants were highly intrigued and asked Datin Mina many questions throughout the Q&A session.

This was followed by Mr. Bernard to share on Sunway Group’s CSR initiatives. After that was HSBC CSR initiatives by Ms. Elizabeth Wee, Head of Group Communications and Corporate Sustainability at HSBC Malaysia. Once again there was a good response from participants during the Q&A session. Next, “Aligning CR with Business Goals” was presented by Ms. Sumitra Nair, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Digi Malaysia. The following session was on KPMG CSR initiatives presented by Mr. Johari, partner at KPMG. Lunch was then served at the cafeteria. A donation box was placed in the MPH for everyone to make further donations.

The afternoon session began with a fantastic performance by The Stompers. The group created loud rhythmic tunes using household items such as pails, bottles, and a ladder. The Stompers got the crowd highly hyped up by making them participate in making tunes with them by clapping and stomping their feet. Everyone enjoyed the fun performance.

The presentation after The Stompers’ performance was by Ms. Audrey Danasamy, Director of CPA Australia - Malaysia Division, about the CPA Australia CSR initiatives. This was followed by a forum moderated by Dr. Foo regarding “Environmental Conservation. Can corporations do more?” with representatives from WWF – World Wide Funds for Nature, Malaysian Nature Society and Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia. Many students asked the speakers challenging and thought-provoking questions during the Q&A segment. The conference ended at 4.30pm with a closing address by Ms. Christina Foo, the President of CPA Australia – Malaysia Division.

Benefits:

This conference has shown adequate information in what is happening in the real world. It showed ministries of different business field and their roles in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The participants have gained more knowledge on CSR through this conference. It gives insight on large corporations’ responsibility in the real world and what kinds of CSR being practiced by the corporations. This conference helped in creating the awareness among the students about how important the CSR in the business field, that business is not just making profit but the society and environment should be concerned as well. Besides, students were able to learn on Malaysian’s perspective of CSR practice in the business field.

Furthermore, this conference has helped students gaining deeper understandings on CSR which can be applied on their project papers and studies. These can also be practiced on their future careers in order to benefit the organizations in terms of marketing and towards the community and environment as well.

Students have gained more information and background regarding the organizations involved. This is definitely helping the students to be familiar with the product and services provided by the organizations. In addition, students were able to meet up new friends not only from different programs, but from different universities as well.