Event Details

Corporate Social Responsibility is nowadays a required and integrated business imperative for corporations as the world focuses more on sustainability and on responsible businesses. Where company-sponsored charity and volunteerism in the past may have sufficed, corporations have begun to look at CSR as a necessary principle underpinning their business objectives and outcomes. It also serves the dual purpose of benefitting employees by enhancing purpose and encouraging leadership skills development. As a result, more robust and sustainable organisational structures and processes have developed around the CSR agenda, creating increasingly measurable and impactful outcomes for businesses.


CSR can be understood through many frames - environmental, economic, social, ethical - and may take different forms in different industries. We will help you explore the concept by asking such questions as:

  • What roles can CSR play in Malaysian companies?
  • How can it best be incorporated into business planning?
  • What are the impacts on the business of involving your people in CSR initiatives?


Join our panelists, Dr Hjh Yatela Zainal Abidin, CEO of Yayasan Sime Darby, and Rizwan Tayabali, Director of Fraktal, an impact agency specialising in Fund Strategy, Due Diligence and Partner (Fundee support), to discuss their views on CSR and learn their approach to its planning and implementation. We will define what CSR could mean for your organisation, help you discover the best ways to organise it, and identify the potential effects of implementing or expanding a CSR program.

Please note that this event is limited to senior-level executives and per invitation only. If you are not an existing member of The Economist Corporate Network, but would like to learn how you can attend our events, please send an email to ecn_sea@economist.com.

Agenda

9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Panel discussion and Q&A

Speakers

  • Dr Hjh Yatela Zainal Abidin (CEO of Yayasan Sime Darby)

    Dr Hjh Yatela Zainal Abidin

    CEO of Yayasan Sime Darby

    Dr. Hjh. Yatela Zainal Abidin is the Chief Executive Officer of Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD), or the Sime Darby Foundation, a position which she has held for almost 12 years. YSD is the philanthropic arm of the three Sime Darby companies, which are Sime Darby Berhad, Sime Darby Plantation Berhad and Sime Darby Property Berhad. YSD focuses on the 5 pillars of Education, Community & Health, Environment, Sports and Arts & Culture.

    Yatela holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK; and completed her Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) professional degree at the Emile Woolf College of Accountancy, London. Due to her interest in education for the underprivileged, Yatela completed a doctoral degree from Universiti Utara Malaysia, with her thesis entitled “Using Life Stories to Understand the Development of Resilience in the Underprivileged.”

    Half of Yatela’s career has been in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

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  • Rizwan Tayabali (Director of Fraktal)

    Rizwan Tayabali

    Director of Fraktal

    Rizwan Tayabali is the Ex-CEO of Make A Difference, a large award-winning non-profit supporting children at risk, and currently Founder and Director of the newly launching FRAKTAL, a global Philanthropy and CSR support agency specialising in Fund Strategy, Due Diligence and Partner Scaling.

    With two decades of Consulting and Leadership spanning both the commercial and development sectors, Rizwan has extensive on-ground experience of designing and delivering social change, and has been featured by Bridgespan as a pioneer in Impact Leadership, Culture and Organisational Design. He has advised and worked with more than 200 impact organisations, from non-profits to funders, social enterprises and hybrid value chains supporting vulnerable individuals and communities across the world. His new organisation FRAKTAL is based out of Malaysia, but supports local and international Foundations, CSR and Impact Investors focused on impact across the entire Global South.

    A specialist in the design, scaling and funding of long-term transformative solutions to deep-rooted social challenges, Rizwan is also creator of the PATRI Framework for Scaling Impact, a Fellow of the RSA, Mentor and Strategic Advisor for Ashoka, Board member of various non-profits internationally, and an accomplished speaker and lecturer on Social Enterprise.

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  • William Thomas (Director, South-east Asia of The Economist Corporate Network)

    William Thomas

    Director, South-east Asia of The Economist Corporate Network

    William Thomas is the Director of the Economist Corporate Network in South-east Asia. An experienced advisor to senior business and government leaders, he helps organisations understand the strategic, operational, and talent implications of geopolitical changes.

    William holds a PhD in public policy from George Mason University in the US, as well as a degree in economics from the University of Virginia and an MBA. His academic research has centered on managing change in large, multinational organisations, with an emphasis on organisational culture.

    William is a retired United States Air Force lieutenant colonel, having spent much of his 21-year career as a strategic planner for complex operations such as humanitarian assistance and counterterrorism. He was Associate Professor of Political Science at the US Air Force Academy, and later taught at Georgetown University in Washington DC and as a Fulbright Scholar at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

    Having worked in Asia since 2012, William has focused on leadership development and organisational change as a consultant, leadership coach, and training facilitator.

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  • Christina Choong (Network Moderator - Malaysia at Economist Corporate Network)

    Christina Choong

    Network Moderator - Malaysia at Economist Corporate Network

    Christina is the Network Moderator Malaysia at the Economist Corporate Network in South-East Asia. An experienced strategy consultant, she has previously been in Accenture's ASEAN Strategy practice as a Strategy Manager, advising large GLC and MNC clients globally on strategy, operating model and innovation developments. She has also held leadership positions as Head of Business Development in a fast growing coworking startup.

    Christina's focus areas are on healthcare, consumer goods, business services and Oil & Gas, delivering on innovation-based projects for large corporations to build new capabilities and processes into their vast stable of business units.

    Christina graduated Magna cum Laude with a B.A. in Economics from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

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