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Chairman’s Statement
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
Addressing Employee Wellbeing
Like all good corporates, GAB understands that for
employees to be productive, their wellbeing needs to be
looked after. Hence, over the past year, the Company unveiled
a refurbished café and gym, a RM2.2 million investment,
much to the delight of employees. The café has now become
a popular spot for employees during meal times and is
also being put to good use for the Company’s various get-
togethers. The addition of a gym to the café building also
mean employees can now fit a fitness regime easily into their
workday, encouraging employees to have a healthy lifestyle.
Making Sustainability Core to the Business
Another area in which I feel GAB truly stands out is its
dedication to environmental sustainability. Apart from having
set Key Performance Indices, the Company also has in place
a sound mechanism based on best practices to ensure that
continuous improvements are made. These improvements
translate to savings which are then reinvested to drive further
progress in the Company’s environmental performance.
Founded on Enriching Communities
As Chairman and Trustee of the GAB Foundation, I am
especially proud of the work that has been carried out over the
course of the 6 years since the Foundation was established. In
that short time, the Foundation’s unwavering commitment
to its initiatives revolving around the pillars of Environment,
Education and Community has reached over 16,000 people,
78 schools and 54 communities (as at December 2012).
Its flagship initiative, the W.A.T.E.R (Working Actively Through
Education and Rehabilitation) Project has gained recognition
from the government and private sectors alike. Its finest
moment was the transformation of the Sungei Way river’s
water quality from Extremely Polluted (Class IV – V) to one
suitable for living organisms (Class III).
The success of the W.A.T.E.R Project allowed the Foundation
to expand its efforts and take the lead in promoting the
importance of river conservation by hosting the first ever
National River Forum in Malaysia. Officiated by the then
Minister of Natural Resources & Environment, YB Dato’ Sri
Douglas Uggah Embas, it featured renowned experts from
Malaysia, Singapore, UK, Japan, Australia and Vietnam who
shared their vast knowledge and exchanged best practices with
more than 200 participants.
In fact, water is such a central theme of the Foundation
that last year’s Big Day Out, the Company’s unique annual
community outreach programme, was focused on water-
based initiatives. These included installing floating wetlands
to improve the water quality of designated bodies of water,
equipping schools with water filters, fixing leaking pipes to
reduce invisible wastage and conducting water conservation
workshops featuring innovative ways to clean up rivers.
Educating for the Greater Good
The Foundation has also made huge strides in terms of
Education. In May 2012, for instance, it introduced the English
Enrichment Training Programme for teachers. This four-day
programme is aimed at sharpening the language proficiency
of the participants and exposed them to various advanced
teaching methods to enhance engagement with students
during lessons. The first programme was attended by 70
teachers from 39 primary schools across five states, with
more than 1,000 students benefitting from their teachers’
upgraded skills via 16 weeks of supplementary English classes
that functioned as a follow-up to the training initiative.
The strong belief in training and enrichment also extends
into GAB’s corporate culture. The Company is well aware that
its success is very dependent on how it keeps and grows its
talent pool. As such, much effort is put in to ensure employees
have vast opportunities for growth through career days and
development plans. In terms of training, the HR department
invested up to RM2.5 million over the past two years so that
employees can upgrade their skills and knowledge to do their
jobs better and achieve greater productivity.
Looking Forward with Hope
GAB has over the past year put in great effort to be a good
corporate citizen, but I believe the best is yet to come.
There is nothing more motivating for me than to see an
organisation so readily embrace its role as a pillar of society;
GAB’s commitment to effecting sustainable and positive
change within the Company and in the communities that it
operates in is remarkable, and I, for one, cannot wait to see
what we will be able to achieve next.
My first year as Chairman of Guinness Anchor Berhad (GAB)
has been an exciting journey. A key element that attracted
me to the Company is the emphasis placed on Corporate
Responsibility. It is an honour and privilege to be heading
the Board of such an organisation, one that truly walks the
talk when it comes to responsible marketplace practices.
I am proud to be associated with a Company that looks
beyond the bottom line and seeks to make a significant
difference both within itself, and on the world at large.
This is evident in the way GAB continually and consistently,
works towards creating a healthy, conducive workplace,
how it adopts best practices to reduce any negative impact
on the environment, and what it does to give back to the
community. What strikes me is also the heartfelt effort
GAB makes to achieve these aims, both as a responsible
corporate entity, and through the GAB Foundation.
Dato’ Saw Choo Boon
Chairman of GAB
Dato’ Saw Choo Boon was designated the Chairman of GAB on
22 November 2012. This photo was taken at the Sungei Way Brewery.
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