Phnom Penh, 10 February 2005 — Four Cambodian companies were presented with the country’s first Corporate Citizenship Awards last night by Mr. James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank Group and H.E. Cham Prasidh, Senior Minister, Ministry of Commerce. The winners which are a hotel, a garment manufacturer, and two manufacturers of food products, will each receive an award of up to $30,000 in the form of technical assistance from the International Finance Corporation.
New Island Clothing (Cambodia) Limited, a garment factory with nearly 400 employees, is a winner in the category of employment and labor practices. The company, which manufacturers clothing for sale in the United Kingdom through the retailer Marks and Spencer, has committed itself to exceeding government and international employment and labor standards.
Hotel Cambodiana won its award for employment and labor practices. Established in 1990, the company has invested consistently in local staff, some of whom come from challenging backgrounds. Out of 310 staff, the company employs only 9 expatriates. The company strongly believes in training its staff both in-house and overseas. The company also promotes local staff to senior positions. For example, the executive housekeeper, head chef, front office manager, and the human resources manager are all Cambodians. The hotel is also committed to purchasing from local suppliers. Annually the company sponsors an expo for local companies and gives local suppliers as much business as possible. Only four years ago, about ninety percent of supplies were imported and ten percent sourced locally; now the percentages are reversed..
Hagar Soya Company Limited which employs more than 40 people, won the award for corporate governance. It began in the mid 1990s as a non-governmental organization income generation and training project for abused and abandoned women. In December 2003, the company built a new $1.2 million factory that produces and packages UHT soya milk under the So! Soya brand and distributes in nationally. The company is widely respected for hiring and training disadvantaged women.
The competition for awards was open to all Cambodian, foreign and joint venture private enterprises registered with the Ministry of Commerce, and not subsidiaries of multi-national companies registered on a foreign stock exchange.
In total, 24 companies competed for the awards. Each was judged not only for its success with regard to one of the four main categories but companies were also judged for their achievements under the other three criteria. “We did so, said Adam Sack, General Manager of MPDF, “because we wanted to make sure that a company with excellent practices in one area also had good practices with regard to the other categories of corporate citizenship.”
In an interview after the awards giving, Mr. Sack explained how the four awardees were chosen. “To guide all stages of the evaluation from application to final selection, a detailed check list of between 20 and 40 items per award category was used to assess each company. Each applicant’s business was initially visited by a team from IFC/MPDF who interviewed applicants to collect additional information and write a summary report for the judges. The judges then carefully reviewed the applications and summary reports on each applicant. Also a delegation of judges visited the ten leading companies. Following a day of full and frank discussion, the judges scored each candidate individually and confidentially in order to arrive at their final decision on the four winners.”
