KUALA LUMPUR, 20 February 2019 – The Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Welfare Foundation (“The Foundation”) today presented a cheque amounting to RM25,000 to Persatuan STAND (“STAND”), who were among five (5) recipients of the Foundation’s FY2018 International Social Welfare Grant outside of Japan.

The Foundation launched the international grant program for social welfare organisations in 2010 as an extension of its financial support program for social welfare organisations in Japan. The Foundation offers grants to support non-profit organisations engaging in social welfare activities in developing countries and regions. The grants are awarded based on recommendations solicited from local representatives of Japanese companies based in India or the ASEAN member states — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Berjaya Sompo Insurance (“Berjaya Sompo”), the Malaysian operating entity and part of Sompo Holdings (Asia) Pte. Ltd, recommended STAND to be one of the recipients of the grant for their outstanding work in providing training and employment opportunities to young adults with special needs in the food production business.

Ms. Mawarni Adam, Head of Brand, Marketing & Communications who oversees the corporate social responsibility (CSR) portfolio, mentioned that as one of the fast-growing employer industry, Berjaya Sompo values inclusivity in the workplace and providing equal opportunity to all employees regardless of differences is something that the organisation greatly values. Therefore, Berjaya Sompo was taken by how STAND is offering that accessibility to an extended segment of the community who may not have the chance to learn to earn a living for themselves, if not for such opportunities. She continued that was one of the reasons Berjaya Sompo proposed STAND to become a recipient of the grant.

Representing the Foundation was its Secretary-General, Mr. Masahiro Sawa. For Malaysia, he said that this is the seventh year running where the Foundation has granted a portion of its international grant programme for Malaysia. He also added that there has been a great number of social welfare initiatives in the ASEAN region and the Foundation is looking forward to support more in the coming years.

Mr. Sawa presented the RM25,000 mock cheque to Mr. Lee Hock Cheng, the founder of STAND. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Lee reiterated the organisation’s aim to enable its special-skilled staff to acquire the necessary life skills to earn a living as an employee, and in turn, restore their self-worth, dignity, and recognition of their potential in contributing to society. However, after working with the group for a few years in baking pies and quiches, he felt that it was the right time to take this group of young people into the next phase, and enhance their skillset to include social skills such as interacting and engaging with customers. STAND then devised a plan to extend its pie production operations, to include running a small café. This prompted the founder to put in a request to the Foundation for the grant to grow STAND’s vision.

STAND began its work with young people with special needs since 2011, by packing drinking straws and take-away sauce and serviette packs for some local corporate companies. The budding social enterprise aims to grow their outfit into a viable business that will produce high-quality quiches and pies for schools, food production houses, as well as via its own café amongst others. To support their journey, you may contact STAND at the following:

Mr. Lee Hock Cheng
Persatuan STAND
D-1-0-6, OUG Parklane Shop,
Jalan 1/152, Taman OUG Parklane,
58200 Kuala Lumpur
Lee Hock Cheng
Tel : 016-3600382
Email : hockcheng@stand.org.my


If you have further queries or require more information, please contact:

Public Relations Team
Berjaya Sompo Insurance Berhad
Tel: +603 - 2170 7336
Email: pr@bsompo.com.my