SAP receives distinguished “Friends of ASEAN” Award for sustainability efforts

The world’s largest enterprise solutions provider, SAP, recently received the distinguished “Friends of ASEAN” Award for the second time (the first in 2018) due to its socio-economic contributions to continued growth and prosperity for the ASEAN economy.

In a LinkedIN post, SAP’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (East Asia and Pacific) Eugene Ho thanked the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC) for the recognition.

As an official conduit between ASEAN and private sector, the ASEAN-BAC remains committed as strategic partner to provide key recommendation relevant to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

Some of critical issues that make up ASEAN-BAC’s recommendations to ASEAN Leaders during the year include the elimination of NTB/NTM within and beyond the 12 Priority Integration Sectors (PIS) of ASEAN, the deepening of financial sector integration and the development of sound financial infrastructure, as well as enhancement of the existing initiative of ASEAN to liberalise the movement of natural persons across the region.

Meanwhile, SAP is well known for its commitment to sustainability and in furthering public, private and plural partnerships.

Throughout Southeast Asia, SAP has throughout the years been empowering ASEAN’s youth, experienced staff pursuing additional education, and the unemployed with the right skills to thrive in the digital economy. The company offer programmess that range from inspiring early-stage innovation to scaling mature social enterprises. The three strategic areas that foster socioeconomic stability and create opportunity for all people are accelerating social business, building digital skills and collaboration for sustainability.

In October this year, SAP in collaboration with the ASEAN Foundation also successfully hosted the ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ASEAN DSE) Regional Finals 2021 virtually.

This initiative continues to equip youth from across the region with essential digital skills by organising key activities, such as enablement sessions and data analytics competition in a hybrid model – virtually and in-person, wherever possible.

As 2021 marked the fifth-year milestone for ASEAN DSE, the programme had a renewed focus on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that target climate and sustainability.

In addition, the programme also collaborates with Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in ten ASEAN member states (AMS) to deliver online and in-person enablement sessions to youth, including those with limited access to technology and youth with disabilities. The collaboration with IHLs and NGOs made it possible for the programme to deliver SAP Analytics Cloud training to more than 12,000 students and lecturers in 2021, with females making up 53% of the youth beneficiaries.

Since its inception in 2017, the programme has equipped more than 30,000 youths and 2,000 educators from over 700 institutes of higher learning with data analytics skills. ASEAN DSE engages youth to develop data-driven solutions that highlight six Sustainable Development Goals namely Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12) and Climate Action (SDG 13), by harnessing SAP’s Analytics Cloud software.

The three teams that came out on top for their insights and data-driven solutions that support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), highlighting the importance of climate action and sustainability, were as follows:

• Team Youth Forward, comprising Rada Prapaikornkiet and Kanjaree Suppawittaya from Saint Joseph Convent School, Thailand, emerged as the first winner. Their presentation was focused on empowering farming towards a sustainable future of the ASEAN Community covering SDG 2 – Zero Hunger, SDG 4 – Quality Education, and SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Team Sprinkle, comprising Chakriya Suy and Serei Neath Reasey, from Kirirom Institute of Technology, Cambodia, took the first runner-up position. Their presentation was focused on recycle centers as the solution for waste management covering SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities
• Team Brain Drain, comprising Ryan Kok Lam Liew and Jia Hui Ng, from Sunway University, Malaysia, secured the second runner-up place. Their presentation was focused on prioritising e-waste covering SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production.

ASEAN Foundation and SAP share the common objective of continuing the implementation of ASEAN DSE as a way of transforming the region’s youth into agents of change that can bring about sustainable impact to communities across ASEAN.

In the words of Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, spokesman for Thailand’s Prime Minister’s Office (translated): “The Prime Minister (His Excellency General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister and Minister of Defence) considers that participating in the ASEAN DSE regional forum is a great opportunity for Thai children to learn skills outside the classroom in terms of communication, exchanging knowledge and sharing opinions. Such collaboration further enhances the skills of working as a team as well as other essential skills such as soft skills, which are 21st century skills that children should have.”

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