ESG

Inspiring Compassionate Spirit through Annual Charity Event

---

At ViTrox, philanthropy is more than just giving back to the community. It is about instilling a sense of compassion and gratitude in our people and inspiring them to serve wholeheartedly through community service and social activities.

As part of ViTrox culture to contribute back to society, we set 13 October as the date of an annual corporate event for charity. The charitable initiative addresses the UN SDGs: No Poverty (Goal 1), Reduced Inequalities (Goal 10) and Partnerships for the Goals (Goal 17).

The "1013" was taken from the homonym to the Chinese phrase of "one person, one good deed (一人一善)" with the aim of encouraging people to perform acts of kindness to help those in need. This charity campaign was initiated by a spiritual leader, Master Cheng Yen, upon the alarming terrorist attacks that occurred on 11 September 2001. The 1013 Charity Campaign serves as a reminder that even small acts of kindness can make a big difference in the world.

In line with the compassionate spirit and values, ViTrox has conducted the yearly 1013 Charity Event in different forms since 2018. In the first few years, we held internal fundraising activities with small-scale charity sales. Since 2022, we have encouraged ViTroxians to volunteer by organising and participating in various activities to support charitable fundraising. The activities initiated by employees include busking, car washing, sales of handmade cookies and desserts, etc. This year, 460 volunteers contributed 2,950 volunteer hours. We raised over RM100,000 at our charity carnival.

Aside from employees, we took one step forward to invite external parties to participate in the 1013 Charity Carnival this year, hoping to extend our influence in charity to our customers and suppliers. The total number of people we had involved in this good cause is 985, and the breakdown of each stakeholder group is shown below.

During the one-week-long charity carnival in 2023, there were various types of activities, ranging from arts and crafts to food sales and services. All purchases and participation fees were donated to charity. Proceeds received from the charity carnival were channelled to the Buddhist Tzu Chi Merit Society and St Nicholas’ Home.

Creating Positive Impact through Fun Activity

The Centre of Excellence (“CoE”) and Project Management Office (“PMO”) teams initiated a terrarium sale to support the 1013 Charity Event. The initiative was inspired by the team’s shared passion for greeneries. The team of 16 ViTroxians began by benchmarking terrarium-making practices and sourcing materials. They clearly indicated the scope, success criteria, and project risk, following the Integrated Product Development (“IPD”) process. Once the requirements were locked down, the team purchased materials and began making the terrariums in batches during their Friday lunch breaks. The team successfully sold 114 terrariums and raised a fund of RM5,608. In addition to the terrariums themselves, the team also created thank-you cards with QR codes that buyers could scan to learn more about the terrarium's structure and function, as well as care points. The team also committed to providing after-sale support to buyers in case they had any problems with their terrariums.

To invite our people to embrace the beauty of various cultures, the Performing & Art Club set up a costume corner for people to experience wearing costumes of different races and capture the beauty and diversity through photographs. This initiative hopes to foster respect for differences and encourage inclusiveness, promoting a more inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and celebrated.

Making Eco-Soap to Promote Sustainable Practice

In order to promote sustainability and waste reduction, the Go-Green Club conducted an eco-soap-making workshop in the week of 13 October. Ten (10) club members volunteered to produce 12 bars of eco soap from 6kg of used vegetable oil collected from our kitchen.

During the charity sales, the eco soaps attracted environmentally conscious consumers. At the same time, we created awareness of eco soaps’ positive contributions to environmental sustainability.

Launching Charity Meal Programme

Taking the 1013 Charity Carnival as an opportunity, we launched a charity programme that encourages people to purchase V-meals for the residents in the listed nursing homes and old folks' homes. We also encourage employees to make the meal delivery to the houses on their own as a philanthropic act.

Building Employee Bonds through Talent Workshops

This year, the 1013 activities were no longer limited to charity sales, but extended to various creative workshops where employees could volunteer with their talents. At the same time, the workshop participants were able to contribute to charity and learn new skills. The workshops self-initiated by employees include Kalimba Workshop, Nagomi Art Workshop and Perler Beads DIY Workshop. While encouraging participation in volunteerism, these engaging activities were also teambuilding opportunities which built the cohesiveness of our people.

Bringing Positive Influence to Other Businesses

On 12-13 October 2023, ViTrox Academy invited past participants of The ViTrox Experience (“TVE”) to gather at the TVE Symposium. The main objective of this symposium was to provide a platform for the business leaders to discuss how to promote the concept and practices of “Shan Enterprise”. The word “Shan” in Chinese refers to goodness or for common good. This year, a total of 38 participants from 15 companies joined the 1013 TVE Symposium, forming the first batch of “Shan Enterprise” Fellowship.

During their visit, the symposium participants had hands-on experience in volunteer charitable activities such as bringing their pre-loved items for sale and making eco-soaps. Like the others, all purchases they contributed at the carnival were for charity. This is an initiative of ViTrox to take a step further in expanding our influence to external groups. We hope that the concept of “one person, one good deed” can be instilled into the minds of more people. Answering the call, one Taiwanese participant donated NT$100,000 to the 1013 charity fund.

Extending Charity Platform to Support Disabled Community

Other than having self-initiated charity sales and programmes, we also invited a local non-profit organisation, St Nicholas’ Home, to join our 1013 Charity Carnival. St Nicholas’ Home aims to respond to the evolving needs of the blind and visually impaired community in Malaysia. Using our platform and facility, the visually impaired people were welcome to provide head and foot massage services where our employees and event participants could repay their massage services and handcrafted products with charitable donations.

Remaining Environmentally Conscious in Every Action

In all we did for the 1013 Charity Carnival, we remained conscious of the environmental impact. Therefore, we encouraged reusable containers for all purchases in charity sales, hoping to reduce single-use utensils in the event.

Watch the video