Going hand in hand

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: How can profit and purpose be strategically aligned in Singapore's competitive business environment?

Lauren Sorkin Managing Director, Asia Pacific 100 Resilient Cities

Companies need to think beyond corporate giving. To align profit and purpose is to understand how your business operates and contributes to the community, city, country. It's more important to align corporate behaviour and policy behind the opportunities and challenges in your operating environment and understand that as a company, you are part of a bigger system. In Singapore, this means understanding the role your company can play in supporting Singapore's changing demographics and diverse population - are you providing opportunities for older workers? Are you empowering female leadership? And also understanding how your organisation contributes to and will be impacted by climate change - do you have policies that will help your employees cope in a heatwave or a flood? Is your operation energy efficient? Only by thinking holistically in this way will you build stability and resilience into your business and contribute to the resilience and well-being of the country overall.

Max Loh EY Asean and Singapore Managing Partner Ernst & Young LLP

Purpose instills strategic clarity amid competitive distractions. It guides long-term perspectives, channels innovation that is focused on the "big picture", and empowers teams to look for solutions that deliver durable value and returns.

At EY, our purpose is to build a better working world. Our efforts to support our communities, beyond philanthropy, reflect our expertise where we can be most impactful, such as enabling entrepreneurship and the future workforce, and contributing time and skills to community organisations.

Leaders must breathe life into the company's purpose through everyday "talk and walk"; yet this CEO-centric view of activating purpose is inadequate: purpose must be owned by one and all in order for it to motivate and empower teams to be engaged and high-performing. The strategic alignment is that when purpose is lived, profit will follow.

Alexis En Regional Marketing Director Omron Healthcare Asia Pacific

Purpose and profit do not have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, Omron's own mission is to improve lives and contribute to a better society.

We can use technology to improve societal issues, such as when we created the world's first automated railway ticket gate system 40 years ago. The system helped relieve congestion at train stations during rush hour, which was a major problem in Japan at that time. Similarly, businesses today use our robots to create safer and more efficient factories, and every day people use our healthcare devices to stay healthy and prevent heart attacks and strokes.

The fact that we have been putting the betterment of society first for the past 85 years demonstrates that businesses can be profitable, while having a worthy purpose.

David Wirt Vice-President, ASEAN & Greater China Pure Storage

Our capacity to give and help one another has been fundamental to society's progress. Successful organisations recognise that employees who have a higher purpose contribute to driving a sustainable, profitable business. Pure Storage established the Pure Good Foundation in 2015 to deepen our employees' engagement with the global communities where we operate.

We uplift young people through education-based initiatives that are aligned with our mission to accelerate positive change by harnessing the power of people, technology and community. Several of our employees recently visited Vietnam to teach young orphans valuable technical skills. By helping others, our employees get to see the impact of their work and become even more motivated to be at their best. The outcome is pure good.

Sandie Overtveld VP APAC Zendesk

Being a community-minded organisation is in our DNA. Zendesk has been wholeheartedly committed to tying profit and purpose to our business strategy since we were founded over 10 years ago. Businesses large and small, local and foreign, must step up their social responsibility efforts - not only because it is the right thing to do, but because giving back is now a vital part of operating a successful business.

There is plenty of research, as well as feedback from our own people, that proves that being a giving company drives employee retention and talent attraction, cultivates customer loyalty, safeguards corporate reputation, and helps grow your bottom line. It is also important to remember that it's not just money you can give, but your people's expertise and time.

CSR can no longer be treated as a "nice to have". It must be a core business focus.

Karl Hamann Chief Executive Officer QBE Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd

Doing good is good for business, morale and team spirit. The first step is giving back. I encourage staff to embark on social initiatives together, and personally initiated a self-funded trip last year with senior management to help rebuild houses in Surabaya, Indonesia.

We are also active in the community through the QBE Foundation. These humbling experiences are important reminders of the bigger picture in which all businesses operate.

Companies need to realise that blindly chasing profit without understanding and acting on this bigger picture makes for an unrewarding and exploitative model of business. That duty of care is not far removed from what we do as an insurer, where we help clients get back on their feet after a setback.

Goh Swee Chen Chairperson Shell Companies in Singapore

Giving back and making a difference to the lives of many is one of the ways through which Shell connects with our employees, our partners and our communities across the world. In Singapore, we started an employee-led volunteer programme.

The initial community of 40 went on to recruit their colleagues, and we now have more than 800 employees volunteering in causes of their choice. As an example, some volunteers work with ITE, Lakeside Family Services, NorthLight School, among others, in mentoring the youth. Leaders understand the employees' desire to give back to the community and offer support, at times these leaders join in the programmes.

Shell gives employees the time to serve and recognises their efforts. We believe a thriving community makes good business.

Jean Drouffe CEO AXA Insurance

Supporting people when they are in trouble is the purpose of insurance. AXA is taking that a step further to also ensure we are responsible corporate citizens, and we support local communities. We have made giving back an integral part of our culture: for example, for the last eight years AXA has dedicated a week annually for employees to contribute to local charities and causes.

We are also committed to ensuring sustainability of our corporate responsibility (CR) initiatives, and do so by embedding CR into our business strategy, such as through our investment strategy, integrating corporate giving into product and services or the way we engage the community as seen in our recently launched Bounce for Good challenge which rallies Singaporeans to contribute to a good cause.

Above all, I believe that our leadership team has the responsibility of instilling in our employees a common sense of purpose about our work and contribution to our community.

Mark Innes General Manager and Executive Vice-President, APAC Salesforce

Our CEO Marc Benioff founded Salesforce with a vision to change the way the world does business and at the same time, improve the state of the world. In 1999, we pioneered the 1-1-1 Model of Integrated Philanthropy, giving one per cent of our time, resources and product back into the community. Since then, we have committed over US$220 million in grants, over three million Salesforce employee volunteer hours and we have over 36,000 nonprofits and NGOs using Salesforce for free or at a discount. In Singapore, we work with non-profits like Halogen Foundation and Action for AIDS. We believe that corporate philanthropy is not just a tick box on an annual report but rather something that can create big impact in the community and help build a company culture that attracts and retains the best and the brightest - a key advantage in today's rapidly changing business landscape.

David Nagrosst VP of Business Development Virtalus

I have learned a lot from reading about Marc Benioff and his 1-1-1 model for doing good. Having a purpose in business beyond the product or service you sell is critical to becoming a high performing team and company. People identify with companies that improve the lives of the community they live in, their neighbours, and the overall state of the world. You fight harder, work longer, and are more committed when you believe in the company you work for. Then it's not just a pay cheque!

Leaders are an important and critical part of establishing this kind of vision and participating in it. It's not just words but actions. Singapore needs to develop leaders who believe in this idea and the fact that it's not just about the bottom line.

John Bittleston Founder & Chair Terrific Mentors International Pte Ltd

Our mentors and coaches enable people to reach personal fulfilment by being successful at their work and becoming happier as a result of doing so. This is only achieved by having a clear and practical purpose. It is well established that people who do so consistently achieve more profitable results with significantly less hassle. Terrific Mentors International gives back to the community by providing free mentoring and coaching to those who genuinely cannot afford it but show commitment and promise. We donate to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, theatre groups and hospices that bring stimulus, appreciation and calm into people's lives.

Vincent Magnenat Limited Partner and CEO Asia Lombard Odier

Purpose can be a strong differentiator in a competitive business environment like Singapore where it is important to marry passion, strategy and structure in ways that drive real progress on the ground. Businesses no longer need to choose between doing well and doing good.

At Lombard Odier, we challenge the way investors think about their social responsibility and returns on investment. The socially conscious "next generation" is gearing their portfolios for impact and working with them brings us a fresh perspective on philanthropy and impact investing. From within, we have a long tradition of social commitment embedded into our culture - our corporate foundation, Fondation Lombard Odier, funds forward-looking solutions to pressing challenges in education and humanitarianism. Innovative financing is part of the formula. Today, non-profit organisations are accessing financial expertise to diversify their revenue streams and to become more effective. For example, as a founding member of the Corporate Support Group of the International Committee of the Red Cross, we provided both our expertise and the seed funding to incubate the Program for Humanitarian Impact Investment.

Pascal Lambert Group Country Head, Singapore Head of South East Asia and India Societe Generale

Employee engagement is critical to the success of corporate giving. At Societe Generale we do this through our Citizen Commitment initiatives where our employees are empowered to give back through two-day volunteer leave, team volunteering and strong management involvement allowing staff to go beyond individual financial contributions.

In addition to ongoing skilled volunteering for communities in need, our annual Asia Pacific Bike Ride fundraiser typically brings together more than 100 employees, including senior management, from the 12 APAC countries where we operate in a two-day cyclethon in support of causes chosen by our employees. Our longstanding commitment to sustainable finance also extends to our clients through investment and financing solutions which help them deliver positive impact to our society and environment.

Paul Henaghan Vice-President, Data Centre Solutions, APJ Dell EMC

Corporate giving requires not only a holistic understanding of how a company makes profit, the stakeholders involved but also resources available. At Dell, we believe that access to technology and an entrepreneurial spirit can bridge the digital gap and drive human progress. Across our operations and supply chain, we have created initiatives such as closed-loop programmes to provide customers with the solutions to do more while consuming less. We also harness the collective power of our people to engage with the underserved eg our work with the Movement for Intellectually Disabled (MINDS) so they too derive meaning from their work. To do well by doing good, companies should put purpose squarely in the centre of everything they do. That way, better economic opportunities can be created for everyone in the long term.

John Lee Country CEO & CEO Maybank Singapore

Doing good while doing well is part and parcel of our organisation. In line with our mission of "Humanising Financial Services", we focus on empowering the community by developing strategic CSR programmes that have measurable impact. We believe that corporate philanthropy is not just about donations but also about empowering the less privileged in our community for a sustainable outcome. The bank's philanthropic initiatives include a dollar-for-dollar matched savings programme and complimentary insurance coverage for lower-income families with the aim of encouraging them to plan for the future. We also advocate employee volunteering where staff participate in the annual group-wide Global Corporate Responsibility Day with great enthusiasm. The result is commendable with seven in ten employees in Singapore volunteering for a worthy cause and interacting with the beneficiaries in the past year.

Seah Kian Peng CEO NTUC FairPrice

NTUC FairPrice's social commitment to do good for our community is part of our corporate DNA and this effort is also a priority that is ingrained into our business strategy. Our strategic partners and key stakeholders recognise that achieving commercial success and fulfilling our social commitments are not mutually exclusive. At FairPrice, the measure of success goes beyond profitability as surpluses are merely a means to an end - this further enables us to do more good. To us, doing well enables us to create a bigger positive impact on the community - through both philanthropy as well as volunteerism by our Board, management, staff and shoppers - and in turn, make lives better for all.

Magnus Grimeland Founder and CEO Antler

It's not profits or positive impact - it's either both or none. Impacting the world positively and contributing to society is the only way to build great businesses today. It equals better/more customers and better employees, leading to higher profits and growth.

Tan Chong Huat Managing Partner RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP

At RHTLaw Taylor Wessing, we believe that when we do well, we must do good. Having a foundation allows us to carry out our CSR activities in a more focused, sustainable and meaningful manner. Set up in 2015, our RHT Rajan Menon Foundation is a Singapore-registered charity as well as a grant-making philanthropic organisation approved by IRAS. The vision of the Foundation is to establish and encourage a philanthropic culture of giving back to the community among the corporate and legal fraternity. The Foundation supports four main causes - education, disadvantaged groups, environment and the arts. At its fourth annual charity golf event held in May 2018, the Foundation raised more than S$500,000 for its beneficiaries. In addition to its Successful Ageing Project (an ongoing initiative on eldercare), the Foundation is also embarking on a new initiative on sustainability, called Greening ASEAN: Initiatives & Leadership.

Philip Yuen Chief Executive Officer Deloitte Southeast Asia and Singapore

Businesses are increasingly driven by a sense of purpose to promote more socially inclusive growth - this is particularly important in attracting and inspiring top talent, especially millennials. At Deloitte, our professionals are motivated by a purpose that transcends profits: "to make an impact that matters". Living our purpose is not driven only by our will to be the best, it is inspired by what we know to be right - that we have a responsibility towards our communities.

Through our network-wide initiative WorldClass, Deloitte is committed to preparing 50 million futures for a world of opportunity, using technology and digitisation to transform how we work, live and learn. By applying our core skills, experience, and global reach, we will make a significant impact in helping those who may otherwise be left behind.

Richard Low Chief Executive Officer Cargill Tropical Palm

At the core of Cargill's oil palm plantation business is the mission to improve lives in the communities that we operate in. Aligned with our business objectives and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, our long-term corporate responsibility programmes are designed for more resilient communities and a sustainable future. Our financial viability is symbiotic to those of our stakeholders, including the local communities in our vicinity. Besides providing jobs at our plantations in Indonesia, we also provide education, healthcare and other family-friendly services for our employees and their families.

In 2012, we founded the non-profit Yayasan Harapan Masa Depan Cerah (YHMDC) education foundation, giving children in rural Indonesia life skills required for sustainable and decent living. Today, the 249-strong YHMDC faculty imparts those skills to 6,000 students. We believe that when stakeholders are successful across generations, the company's ability to thrive is equally sustained.

Victor Mills Chief Executive Singapore International Chamber of Commerce

Businesses have traditionally been a source of philanthropy usually driven either by a sense of obligation or by company leadership wishing to do good. What is different today is that all the key stakeholders of a business - investors, customers and especially employees - expect businesses to do their bit for the community. After all, businesses make money from the communities in which they live, work and serve. The expectation that they should give back to society, beyond the taxes they pay, is logical and reasonable. Indeed, there is a competitive advantage of being seen to do good for others. NVPC's Company of Good initiative taps into this. The secret is not the once-a-year photo op approach but consistent, longterm assistance to the most needy in our society.

Abhishek Bhatia CEO, FWD Singapore and Group Chief Officer, New Business Models

At FWD, we are passionate about helping to create change for the communities around us. Finding meaning at work is a big priority for our people and our leaders are responsible for making this happen.

We take a strategic, sustainable approach to CSR by aligning with our business objectives. Rather than focusing on "giving back", we believe in impactful and long-term community work with shared value, so that it's more than writing cheques and asking for volunteers.

We've recently partnered with Special Olympics, supporting their inspirational work promoting inclusion for people with intellectual disability. As a result, we're looking again at our own diversity and inclusion; there's always more to do. For us it's a synergistic process. And by embedding these values into our products and marketing, we can also strengthen our conversation with customers. Far from a tick-box, we are giving our business activities a sense of purpose.

Jason Teo General Manager Zomwork

Warby Parker, an eyewear company, grew into a billion-dollar business with a unique "buy one, give one" model where, for every pair of glasses bought, they would donate another pair. Neil Blumenthal, my classmate who is the company founder, spent years working at World Vision and knew that the best positioning for the company is to provide what people need: glasses.

Similarly, at ZomWork, we are looking into sponsoring our core design, IT or marketing freelancers for nonprofits organisations that need them. Like Warby Parker, we ultimately believe that the best way to contribute is by doing what you do best.

Jayajyoti Sengupta Head, Asia Pacific Cognizant

Cognizant's guiding purpose is to shape a better world through technology and talent; harnessing new-age technologies and skills to redefine the future of work, reimagine businesses and help transform societies and lives. Through Outreach, our grassroots volunteering programme, we are helping build digitally-enabled, inclusive communities through Singapore's Smart Nation initiative. Our belief that a Smart Nation is also a Caring, Giving and Happy Nation powers our efforts to impact lives at scale, be it promoting digital literacy among silver citizens, imparting technology skills to children with special needs, fuelling interest in STEM disciplines, or using the power of emotion analytics to enhance the "Happiness Index" of learning environments. While we do not actively seek them, the business benefits of a highly engaged workforce can be very valuable.

Tony Lombardo Chief Executive Officer, Asia Lendlease

Since 1973, Lendlease's founder has always held on to the belief that companies must justify our worth to society, by putting greater emphasis in giving back to the community.

At Lendlease, we have a key focus on Health & Safety and Sustainability. Safety is our number one priority to ensure everyone working on our sites or engaging with our assets goes home to their loved ones safely. It has become our purpose to be the safest we can be in our operations and our staff embrace it as part of our culture of care - it helps people feel valued and cared for, and fundamentally makes us a better business.

Sustainability from a social perspective is also important. A key annual event for Lendlease is our Community Day, where everyone in the company - including myself - is involved in projects that leave a lasting impact on the communities where we live, work and play in. Last year, our activities in Singapore included helping children and the elderly, as well as restoring green spaces. These employee-led projects positively impact the community and are part of promoting a culture of care in the organisation.

Gopi Mirchandani CEO and Head of Client Group Asia (ex Japan) NN Investment Partners (Singapore) Ltd

The biggest challenge lies in having to deploy limited resources to initiatives which have measurable social impact and clear benefits to an enterprise and its employees. At NN Investment Partners we have chosen to focus global CSR efforts on a social innovation platform which encourages students aged 15 to 19 to come up with innovative solutions to meet societal needs. Our staff volunteer their services as mentors to students in this initiative called the Social Innovation Relay. The students can leverage on the firm's global investment capabilities to test their ideas. Senior leaders participate alongside staff in the various stages as these ideas get a sounding board and come to fruition, hopefully impacting the environment and society positively. This iterative process has allowed our staff to hone their management skills in the process of mentoring. Sometimes "reverse" mentoring takes place too! This happens when students challenge conventional ways of doing things with innovative ideas driven by new technology.

Charles Tan Co-Founder & Executive Director The GIVEN Company

It is assumed that a corporate conscience stands in the way of profits, and that socially responsible businesses cannot stay competitive. However, while this may have been true of the past, it certainly does not reflect what we believe to be the future. Recent surveys have suggested that the "millennial generation" cares about issues such as sustainability and would pay a premium for products and services if they identify with the brand's story and values they stand for. Therefore, if a business hopes to create a loyal base of such customers, profit and purpose should be very much aligned indeed - it all comes down to time horizons and how willing organisations are to take a long-term view.

Tanaka Toshimitsu Managing Director (Southeast Asia) Epson Singapore

Sports are an integral part of Epson's DNA and outreach efforts to the local community which play a fundamental role in our grassroots activities. To this end, Epson is sharing the joy that football brings by providing high-brightness projectors to selected venues islandwide to screen the World Cup matches. In addition, we are focused on making real differences to the lives of youth through football by hosting Epson Youth Challenge, an annual youth football tournament. By doing so, Epson aims to channel our corporate philosophy of "creativity and challenge" to individuals who participate at our events, and help youths develop and achieve their football dreams.

Tony Cripps Chief Executive Officer HSBC Singapore

Our purpose as a bank is to help economies grow, communities prosper, and let people and businesses realise their ambitions. This is not altruism, it's just good business sense: if it's good for those around us, then it's good for us.

If our purpose is to support the communities, people and businesses around us then our most important asset in achieving this is our staff. They are the ones on the front lines working with clients to understand and support their needs which in turn makes the bank profitable. For the 140 years we've been in Singapore, we've always sought to build trust-based and long-term relationships because that generates value both socially and to the bottom line. The key phrase is long-term. We believe in investing in our people and the community

For instance, HSBC launched its "Care for Nature" programme in 1989 where employee volunteers "adopted" key nature areas, such as the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and Chek Jawa on Pulau Ubin. We've also just celebrated our 10-year anniversary with Junior Achievement's "More Than Money" Finance Literacy Programme for students. The programme is more than a monetary donation; over the past decade, more than 9,000 HSBC volunteers across all rungs have worked directly with JA students. It's both teaching the next generation fiscal responsibility and mentoring our youth as the need arises. And who knows, we might easily be investing in our future employees. What better strategy could you ask for?

Naveen Menon President, ASEAN Cisco

Profit and purpose are connected more than ever before. At Cisco, we believe technology has the power to transform lives and solve some of the biggest issues facing society. Using technology for the global good is a core purpose of ours.

Cisco is committed to positively impacting 1 billion people by 2025. We seek to inspire and empower a generation of global problem solvers who will drive and thrive in an increasingly digital economy. We run a Global Problem Solver Challenge, which aims to recognise new innovative solutions that leverage technology for social impact from entrepreneurs around the world. We want to scale the adoption of these technologies and solutions by working with our partners globally.

We leverage the strengths of our business to focus on areas where we can make the greatest impact like healthcare, education and our annual employee giving campaign, "Be the Bridge".

We understand that for a sustained future we need to empower the next generation of talent to harness technology for good. This is where the Cisco Networking Academy is playing a critical role. It has provided education, technical training, and career mentorship to 1.2 million students across Asia-Pacific and Japan since its inception.

Lionel Chng Managing Director HP Singapore

HP believes in making life better for people through technology. More importantly, we encourage purpose through sustainability, diversity and inclusion, which are core to our business values. We make this a reality in Singapore by acting on those values. This includes giving back to the community through blood donation drives, participating in clean-up campaigns, cleaning homes for the elderly and teaching the community to use new technology and devices that improve their lives.

A recent example is a memorandum of understanding we signed with South West CDC to participate in a range of initiatives to support Singapore's success as a leading global economy. These initiatives include the uptake of lifelong learning through SkillsFuture, encouraging recycling and upcycling of e-waste through our HP Make IT Green Campaign and providing expertise for programmes that cater to vulnerable children and families.

Magesvaran Suranjan President of Procter & Gamble Asia Pacific and P&G India, Middle East and Africa

At P&G, giving back to the community is something that is fully embedded in our culture starting at senior management level across functions.

This is synonymous with our Citizenship efforts to be a force for good and a force for growth to support the communities where we operate. One of our initiatives, the Pro Bono School Program, allows social sector representatives to find solutions and mitigate challenges in this highly-competitive environment by tapping on the framework and expertise of P&G staff. Leveraging the opportunity to strengthen the digital capabilities and leadership development practices, we also organise the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Leadership College which fosters mutually beneficial collaborations with these enterprises through capability upgrading and knowledge transfer to co-develop innovative solutions.

Lim Hwee Hua Chairman ISCA Cares

Purpose drives profit. When everyone in the organisation buys into its purpose, this sense of purpose can often be a driver for profit. Within the accountancy profession, ISCA Cares, the charity arm of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA), has been galvanising the profession to build a caring accountancy community and give back to society.

Through ISCA Cares, we help support needy students in furthering their studies in accountancy. This support goes beyond monetary giving. Many accounting professionals and business leaders, including myself, are personally mentors to these beneficiaries. This helps build the accountancy talent pipeline and in the long run contributes to a skilled workforce, which is fundamental to any vibrant economy.

Martin Mackay President and General Manager for Asia Pacific & Japan CA Technologies

Enterprises need to have a sense of purpose for both the work we do and our contribution to society. Being socially aware is one of CA's DNA principles, and the causes we support include improving the lives of underserved children and communities, promoting STEM education and encouraging diversity.

We have global programmes like CA in Action and Matching Gift to encourage volunteerism and contribution to charitable organisations. In our region, we operate a school in India for underprivileged children and run multiple volunteer programmes with non-profit organisations. In the application economy, the digital skills gap is impacting not just CA, but our customers and the wider market. CA is committed to empowering the workforce with the skills to stay relevant. Our CEO, Mike Gregoire, is the chairman of the World Economic Forum IT Governors Community which launched the Skillset Portal, the first IT industry initiative to offer free training content on one platform to serve the greater good. This is part of our push to help markets globally build a future-ready workforce.

CA's mission is removing the barriers between ideas and outcomes. Being a purpose-driven organisation creates a perfect symbiosis between our mission and our behaviour.

Sheena Chin Country Director, Singapore Veritas

Profit and purpose need not be at odds in Singapore's competitive business environment. When a purpose exists, it motivates employees and inspires them to go the extra mile, which should ultimately lead to profit. With growing awareness of corporate social responsibility, businesses will enhance their brand image as they embrace philanthropic initiatives. At Veritas, we strive to create a positive social impact on communities globally. Giving is an important part of our culture and aligns strongly with our corporate values. Our GIVE teams connect our employees to local organisations in need of support and staff can take paid days off annually to volunteer for charitable activities. We also offer a dollar-to-dollar match of all employee donations to non-profit organisations meeting our guidelines for charitable donations.

Phil Teeman CEO Dentsu Aegis Network Singapore & Southeast Asia

In Singapore, businesses face the challenge of ensuring that the benefits of the digital economy are enjoyed by all. To be responsible to the community that you operate in, it's important to align your business' community outreach with your core skills. Our network achieves this by working to bridge the digital divide through our focus on skill-based volunteering. This year, we engaged the communities around us by teaching children about cybersecurity and augmented reality in a fun and educational manner. While giving back to society, our people felt their skills were being put to good use beyond the business and this added real purpose and meaning to the work they do.

Chris Foster President Y&R Asia

Philanthropy is the wrong way to look at this issue. When businesses engage in CSR, those "efforts" by definition remain tangential to their core business. It's the responsibility of business to make the world a better place. To do that, companies need to have a defined purpose at the core of their go-to-market strategy. Unilever set a goal to double their business by halving their environmental impact. Clear, succinct and inextricably linked.

At Y&R, generosity is baked into our business model. At every turn we help our clients do well by doing good. With our spark programme we nurture the startup community and lend 15 per cent of our time to clients and causes that work to make the world a better place.

Frankie Chia Managing Partner BDO LLP

Profit and purpose are not mutually exclusive. Instead, over the long run, a purpose-driven strategy often bears profitable fruit. When an organisation and the individuals within work with purpose, their outlook and output is motivated and productive. Sharing a common purpose is an unquantifiable but powerful force multiplier because people naturally put in more effort when they contribute together to something they personally believe in.

Smita Gupta Chief Marketing Officer APAC Finastra

Philanthropy is mutual value creation for society and business in a sustainable manner. At Finastra, social responsibility is at the heart of our culture; we encourage our colleagues to volunteer and give back to society. As one of the world's largest financial technology solutions companies, we bring people and technology together through financial inclusion.

We invest in youth, champion diversity and inclusion as well as open innovation. When put into practice this includes coding sessions for local school children to stimulate their interest in STEM subjects at a young age, helping them adapt to a technology-led future and inspiring young adults via Mentorship and Internship programmes, guiding them to map their career future as well as running CSR Innovation Days and Hackathons for good on our open platform - FusionFabric.cloud.

Helen Ng Chief Executive Officer General Storage Company Pte Ltd

A fine line exists between pure philanthropy and corporate philanthropy. Corporate giving should be underpinned by transparency and clear communication of objectives to stakeholders and beneficiaries. Over the years we have supported various animal welfare groups as part of our marketing and branding strategy. Past initiatives have included decals, postcards and online photo exhibitions featuring stray cats and dogs posing with our our staff, and adoption drives that had the added benefit of exposing our brand to diverse demographic groups. By including our staff in these initiatives, I hope to not only foster a culture of giving among them, but also give the company a human touch.

Maren Schweizer Director Schweizer World Pte Ltd

There have been too many examples of CSR programmes that claim to support multiple social issues but that don't move the needle very far on any of them.

The key to successful CSR initiatives is an alignment with the company's purpose.

We have gained good traction with a simple purpose of our 169-year old family business Schweizer Electronic, that is: "We reduce CO2 emissions with our innovative technologies."

Don't forget to be a role model and show to all stakeholders that you are serious about your purpose in your home turf. If not your CSR efforts will be a tiger without teeth. At Schweizer we continuously invest to reduce energy consumption in production.

Purpose and profit can be aligned together. Focused CSR is a very good way to humanise your brand, and this can benefit your bottom line.

Mimrah Mahmood Regional Director, Media Solutions Meltwater Asia Pacific

Part of Singapore's competitive edge has been honed by understanding, adopting and refining global best practices and technology. This philosophy and mindset can also be adopted when Singapore companies align purpose with their business models.

For example, at Meltwater, we recognise how important it is to address the talent crunch that many local companies face along their digital transformation journey. This has translated into our efforts to sponsor talented individuals in developing countries with the resources to grow as tech entrepreneurs through the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) since 2008.

In addition, we launched SHACK15, our London-based co-working space dedicated to supporting data science startups, with opportunities to collaborate with Meltwater. By aligning our strengths with real world needs, we both build a more empathetic corporate culture and strengthen communities that we operate in.

Tan Mui Huat President and CEO, Asia International SOS

Leveraging on our expertise led by over 5,200 medical professionals and access to 2,300 security specialists, our philosophy for corporate citizenship focuses on "Healthcare and Education" to look after the wellbeing of our employees and the communities around which we operate. In addition to giving and raising funds for causes locally, we encourage our employees to volunteer their time and skills with our adopted charities. In Singapore, we are immensely proud to work closely with Melrose Home, where we've executed many touch-points and contact programmes in the educational development and experience enrichment of the children and the enhancement of facilities and infrastructure.

At International SOS, we believe corporate giving is an important part of an organisation's sustainability strategy and makes good business sense. By giving generously, companies position themselves more favourably with employees, customers, investors and other stakeholders.

Goh Puay Cheh Executive Director The Institute of Internal Auditors Singapore

Corporates are an important part of the equation in creating good social impact and one impactful way for organisations to give back is via skills-based volunteering. As the professional body for internal auditors in Singapore, we galvanise our members to volunteer for projects that tap on their knowledge, skills and competencies to provide independent, objective assurance to improve organisations' operations.

Serving as volunteers through the professional body, our members have carried out pro bono projects from validating awards to developing policies and procedures for non-profit organisations. This is just the start of a long-term journey to inculcate a culture of giving back to society. We see how our internal audit professionals adapt and solve difficult problems in a new environment and bring this adaptive leadership mindset back to their office. Lessons like these can't be taught - they can only be learned.

Darryl McKinnon Vice President and Managing Director, APJ Puppet

Most companies today integrate some element of giving within their corporate values, as they recognise that there is a link between profit and purpose. At Puppet, our values are linked to what we do as a company - "Community empowered, empowering community" - in recognition of the importance of our user community. It is important that these values are put into action, for our leaders and teams - whether it's in the policies around working environment, volunteering or CSR and community work. For instance, Puppet employees get paid days off each year to volunteer and we also strive to build philanthropy into our events. Companies that can successfully establish what is important for the business and their customers will be able to choose activities that are more meaningful for their employees. That way, a valid link between profit and purpose can be created.

Lim Soon Hock Managing Director PLAN-B ICAG Pte Ltd

Doing good and doing it well need not have a profit motive. If a company is not doing well, it is unlikely that the company will be able to find time and resources to give, as charity must begin at home. When a company can give, it will strengthen the sense of purpose for employees, who participate in giving. For purpose, it can be the gift of time to those who need it most, in our time-impoverished world. Giving therefore need not always be monetary in nature. It can be the giving of emotional support, care, expertise, talent, skills and knowledge. Increasingly, companies are discovering more purposeful giving for their employees when they can be meaningfully engaged in giving time in a structured way and contributing to the causes of the beneficiaries. It is not a one-time activity but joining the journey of the chosen charity over a prolonged period. In this way, more businesses can be "Companies of Good" to accelerate the transformation of Singapore to become a Giving Nation. "No time" should never be an excuse for not giving. In this sense, profit and purpose can be mutually exclusive. Note : Mr Lim was a former board member of National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre

Jessie Xia Managing Director - Southeast Asia ThoughtWorks

When people are fulfilled in their work, they tend to stay longer with their companies and give their all. This means that leaders need to take a holistic approach in ensuring the work they do, the companies and partners they work with, share the same core values, and if they don't, be willing to part ways with them. In addition, leadership must think about investments beyond just financial, but invest in people by giving them time and space to give back to their communities, and explore things they are passionate about. At ThoughtWorks, purpose-driven work is one of our key pillars. This means looking for opportunities to use technology to help the community in big and small ways. An example would be the partnerships we have forged with many voluntary welfare organisations in Singapore to bring technology solutions and people support that then allow them to focus on advocacy rather than operational tasks. We believe if it is made a priority, companies can align profit with purpose, which also brings a healthy balance to an organisation and its people.

Henry Tan Managing Director Nexia TS Group

In giving we must be clear on who, what and why? A lot of organisations react to a call for support rather than have a clear strategy on giving based on the above. For us, we first define why we give. We want to improve society and give the underprivileged a stepping stone. We also want to encourage our employees to learn to give. Then we move to what we want to give to. There are just too many needs and we need to be focused. We believe that to achieve the "why" that we have set, the best way is through education, so we focus mainly on that. With education, the underprivileged will be given a stepping stone, so we focus on financial scholarships and we seek out the tertiary organisation to set this up. Another area that we focus on is entrepreneurship. If we can encourage entrepreneurs who can help themselves to prosper and then in turn employ others, this is good uplifting of the underprivileged. Lastly, who do we give. With 'why' and 'what' defined it is easy to know 'who'. It helps because then if there are other requests from other organisations, we may decline, not that we think their cause is not worth supporting but rather we have decided that education and entrepreneurship are our main areas of focus. So if we do give to other causes it will be a very small token sum. For organisations we give more. And we want participation from employees so it's not just about giving of money but time.

Olive Tai Co-founder and Managing Director beautiful.me and Synagie.com

Almost immediately after starting up my company in 2016, one of my first initiatives as co-founder was to launch a drive with my online shoppers to donate money towards buying rice for the needy, benefitting 10 local beneficiaries. Since then, I have always maintained a hands-on approach to continually give away a little of what we earn, and sometimes together with the help of our consumers, to better enrich the lives of those who need our help. Yes, I agree that leaders of the company must take on the role of driving a sense of charity among employees but it has to go beyond just talk and company policy. I suggest brainstorming with your staff to come up with ideas, be the first to volunteer to your team and ask, what can I do to help. Don't just "show face" at the handover ceremony to the benefitting organisations; be personally involved in the actual campaign itself to seek donations. Also as a company leader, be willing to leverage on your b2b contacts and consider partnering with other organisations and pool resources together - I always say, the more the merrier!

Dora Hoan Group CEO Best World International Ltd

Our top management has been involved in lots of community work including contributions to various charity organisations. Our company actively participates in the "President's Challenge" and "SAF Day Rededication" activities. We launched our corporate social responsibility programme named "World Learner Exchange Programme" where we provide exchange scholarships for unprivileged students from China to rise above their environment and explore the world. This programme has now been running for nine years. Since its launch in 2010, more than 240 scholarships have been awarded and more than 20,000 students from over 49 schools have benefited. Pei Chun Public School and Nanyang Primary School in Singapore have been our closest partners. Beyond Chinese students, World Learner also has a profound impact on Singapore students. It has enhanced their interest in the Chinese language and exposed them to social service. For our employees who are involved in this meaningful programme, it is a very rewarding experience. All the community activities we participate in are driven by our company's culture of love and our heartfelt care for society. Today our top management and executives are developing values-driven programmes to help their philanthropic efforts grow even deeper roots.

Juliana Mamoni Founder & CEO JMAMONI Lifestyle & Etiquette Institute of Singapore

Companies should do good when they are doing well. Giving back to society benefits companies' branding and in a way, the "good karma" or positive image generated can also serve as a kind of defence for the company's reputation- brands that have a good reputation for giving back would be able to "recover" from crises more easily, as consumers and other stakeholders are likely to be more forgiving since they already believe the brand to be of good conscience.

Lynette Seah Founder & CEO Alpha7

I always believe that you have to take care of your people. Give people the opportunity to learn, explore, and be creative. In today's multifaceted business environment, I believe mentorship is a two-way street. You don't know what you don't know. In Singapore's competitive business environment, it's not only your product and service that have to be unique; your company culture also matters.

David Leong Managing Director PeopleWorldwide Consulting Pte Ltd

Corporate social responsibility comes about when businesses come out of their basic survival needs and move into the psychological needs where they give back for the "Love/ Belonging" and "Esteem" needs under Maslow's hierarchy. This of course presupposes that the businesses are profitable and can and want to give. We give whenever there are invitations for charity drives for supportable causes. Whenever there are natural calamities in countries where our workers come from, with the help of our local partners, we buy water, rice and necessities to help the affected people.