On 18th March 2021 British Chamber of Commerce Vietnam (“Britcham”) and Wardhaven capital organized an ESG event called “Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Leadership”.   The event was well attended by representatives from investment and business communities as well as ESG experts. Ms. Emily Hamblin, the British Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City made an opening remark, which was followed by speech and presentations on the importance of Incorporating ESG into business strategy by Mr. Peter Percy, Chief Representative, Wardhaven Capital and other esteemed regional ESG experts such as Anne Copeland and James Robertson from UN PRI. 

In this event, Mr. Dang Trieu Hoa, CEO of STK has joined a panel discussion with Ms. Manisha Shah, the Chief Financial Officer of MoMo and Ms. Quyen Vuu, the CEO of Biti’s to share their insights on ESG strategy which have been helping their companies to improve business performance and gain competitive advantage in their industry. Answering the questions on “what did the ESG journey look like and do you see benefit in attracting or keeping customers happy?”, Mr. Hoa said “Right from inception of our company in Jun 2000, we already saw the growing concerns/interest in environmental protection and social responsibility from branded customers and we thought that it should be a must for a company in order to survive in the long-run. Therefore, we have incorporated ESG in our strategies from the beginning. Initially, we started very simple steps such as investing in energy saving equipment, monitoring electricity/water consumption and adopting saving measures, monitoring environmental indicators, developing HR  policies and practices that comply with regulations. 5 years ago we launched recycled yarn which is environmentally friendly product. This product requires GRS certificate and sometime OEKOTEX 100 certificate. With existent foundation, we can easily adopt those standards. It worth noting that GRS is not only related to production of recycled product but also incorporate best practices on environmental protection and social responsibility. We are very happy that the production of recycled yarn can help partially solving the problem of plastic waste and reducing electricity consumption by 60%, water consumption by 50% and carbon emission by 34% as compared to virgin yarn production. We are implementing solar rooftop projects which can help minimizing environmental impacts as well as reducing electricity costs. These projects of course are highly appreciated by our intermediate and especially end customers who have strong commitment to ESG”.