Making a Difference in the Lives of Our Communities and the Environment
During the reporting year 2024, QL allocated RM939,546 towards community initiatives, benefiting approximately 176 organisations and extending support to 11,656 individuals.
Throughout the year, the company undertakes activities or donations to give back to communities and the environment. We continue to enhance the well-being of our local communities by creating employment opportunities and supporting local fishermen to bolster their businesses. We have also extended our collaboration with our supplier to combat the issue of child stunning in Malaysia. We partner with a local soup kitchen society to support homeless and marginalised communities in Malaysia. This partnership also helps prevent edible food from being wasted, thereby contributing to the reduction of food waste.
Aside from that, we remain committed to elevating the quality of education either through education facilities upgrading or our engagement supporting school activities to enrich the well-being of students. Activities that we support include but not limited to sponsoring awards for top students, hosting factory visits, school sports day and fund-raising activities.
MPM
QL remains committed to supporting the communities in which we operate by offering employment opportunities. In FY24, QL hired 4,884 locals, these comprised 79.8% of the total hires for the year. Primarily, the CVS business pillar accounted for most of these local hires.
Over the years, QL Endau Marine has been committed to recruiting from the underserved Orang Asli communities residing near our operations. This year, we have employed and onboarded 89 Orang Asli individuals to our team, which is a hiring increase of 40.4% from the previous year. From these hires, 58.4% remain employed. Although the retention rate has increased by 28.9% from the previous year, a key ongoing challenge lies in retaining these individuals and helping them adapt to the work environment. The team remains committed to continue providing employment opportunities to this underserved community and exploring avenues to support their transition into the workforce.
The Fisherman Financial Assistance Scheme (FFAS), which was initiated over two decades ago, continues to be an integral core flagship programme for the Marine Product Manufacturing (MPM) business pillar.
The mutually beneficial arrangement between the fishermen and QL has created shared value for both parties. Fishermen continue to have access to financial assistance, and QL has access to the fishermen’s catch. In addition, over the years, both parties have fostered a strong relationship, enabling the sharing of knowledge and expertise that significantly improves the livelihood of fishermen and the fishing industry.
During FY24, QL allocated RM22.09 million in financial aid through FFAS, benefiting 895 fishermen. QL bore an estimated net financing cost of RM585,500.
ILF
Since the launch of the 2023 C Our Future Programme, the programme has been meticulously monitored to assess its effectiveness in promoting the growth and development of the pre-schoolers benefiting from the provision of eggs.
We are pleased to report that the initiative has helped to reduce the underweight children by 24% over the six months period. Seeing the effectiveness of the programme, the ILF business pillar maintains its enthusiasm and optimism to continue championing this initiative alongside Ceva Animal Health, positioning it as a flagship programme within the ILF business pillar.
Now entering our second year since inception, QL has renewed our commitment to donating eggs to 18 kindergartens, which are mainly attended by 505 pre-schoolers from low-income families and indigenous communities. Commencing from March 2024 up to January 2025, the children will receive one egg each day to consume in their respective kindergartens.
In our steadfast dedication to fostering quality education, QL has committed this year to sponsoring the construction of a layer house for UPM’s Agriculture Faculty. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was officially signed between QL and UPM on 22 February 2024, to formalise this initiative.
The construction of the layer house, designed to accommodate approximately 2,000-layer chickens, will facilitate teaching and learning in layer chicken production and bolster research and innovation efforts in addressing issues and challenges in local layer chicken production.
QL’s sponsorship of this initiative aims to elevate and refine industry practices in the layer farming sector, ultimately enhancing its quality.
CVS
Our CVS business pillar has initiated a collaboration with a local soup kitchen, Kechara Soup Kitchen, to salvage edible food to be distributed to the needy. The purpose of the programme is to ensure that surplus food is collected and redirected to those in need, thereby addressing food insecurity in our community and reducing waste.
Since the commencement of the programme on 28 August 2023, and up until 31 March 2024, a total of 21,979 meals were served to the needy. With an aim to support community well-being and promote social equity, the programmes involved collaborating with 114 organisations, serving various underserved communities such as shelter homes for the elderly and children, soup kitchen food banks, the underprivileged Orang Asli, and project perumahan rakyat communities.
The CVS business pillar is considering the food salvage initiative as a long-term flagship programme as part of its business strategy of reducing food waste within the business pillar and more widely at the group level.
