With the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic bringing misery to many in Cambodia, the Kingdom’s corporate sector is stepping up efforts to help those in direst need.
Economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic has seen some of the corporate sector’s biggest players redirect their social responsibility strategies.
Some of the Kingdom’s most socially responsible companies have paused their marketing and advertising activities to channel portions of their budgets into assisting local communities contending with Covid-related woes.
From beverage producers and financial institutions, to fintech companies and restaurants, firms are reaching out to those in direst need.
“We at Heineken Cambodia take our obligations to the country very seriously.
“As the nation’s biggest contributor of taxes and as one of the nation’s biggest breweries, Heineken Cambodia is extremely active in Cambodian society, which is why we felt the need to help during these challenging times,” said Heineken Cambodia’s director of corporate affairs Anne Ollivier.
Anchor Beer, part of Heineken Cambodia, donated Covid-19 relief supplies to families living near the brewery in Phnom Penh this week, delivering rice, noodles, cooking oil, tinned fish, soap and face masks.
Some 1,800 relief packages were handed out during the four-day donation drive.
Digital financial services provider True Money is also generously playing its part.
Company staff delivered hundreds of food packages to residents living in Reussei 1 and Reussei 2 villages in the capital’s Stung Meanchey 3 commune, which was designated as the most affected area in Phnom Penh.
Food packages containing noodles, rice, canned fish, white radish and soy sauce, were handed over.
“We believe that we can thrive only if people and community around us thrive. Anchor is truly connected to the local community,” Anchor Beer marketing manager Fahmi Rajendra said during a recent donation campaign.
“This is a difficult time for all Cambodians, especially those who have been locked down in red zones.
“As a company that truly cares about all Cambodians, we are committed to helping our fellow citizens face these challenges so that we can get through this pandemic together,” said TrueMoney’s head of sales and distribution Sovath Dari Yavich.
TrueMoney, with a network of more than 10,000 agents, offers financial-related services to the unbanked and underbanked segments across the Kingdom.
And it is just not the big corporate players that have been racing to reach out to vulnerable communities during these testing times.
In the capital, Luu Meng, the CEO and founder of Almond Hospitality Group, and a group of private donors launched another food donation drive for the residents of red zones, one that included the delivery of some 300 food hampers.
The second food charity drive of its kind last week was also carried out in collaboration with charitable organisation the Muditha Foundation, with the first held on May 6.
The Kingdom’s Covid-19 cases have passed 23,697, with 164 fatalities so far, the Ministry of Health recorded on Wednesday.
The government is vigorously implementing a mass vaccination programme across the Kingdom to curb the spread of the virus.
From February 10 to May 19, some 2.2 million people have been inoculated.
And as authorities battle to contain the outbreak, the Kingdom’s most socially responsible firms are stepping up to play their part.
“We applaud the efforts of the Royal Government of Cambodia, the Municipality of Phnom Penh and local authorities to contain the pandemic, and we want to ensure that we play our part too at this difficult time.
“This is why we have taken it upon ourselves to do what we can to help those in the worst affected areas,” said TrueMoney chief strategy officer Khoun Frandara.