KUALA LUMPUR, 4th October 2021: Heineken Malaysia Berhad (HEINEKEN Malaysia) announced that it has joined the 30% Club Malaysia, a local chapter of the global business-led campaign focused on building an ecosystem of businesses to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) with a focus on gender balance on boards and C-suites. Launched in May 2015, the 30% Club Malaysia aims to activate the Chairs and CEOs to be visible in adopting DEI best practices in their organisations as well as engage wider stakeholders with market influence through its activities.
Joining the 30% Club further underlines HEINEKEN Malaysia’s efforts in promoting inclusion and diversity within the Group as part of its 2030 Brew a Better World (BaBW) sustainability commitment.
Roland Bala, Managing Director of HEINEKEN Malaysia, said, “Our people are at the heart of our company. We recognise that diversity and inclusion are important drivers of performance, and everyone should have equal opportunity to contribute to our business success. We are proud to maintain a healthy gender balance on the Board and in management positions to foster effective leadership within the Company.”
“We are pleased to welcome HEINEKEN Malaysia as a Corporate Member of the 30% Club Malaysia; joining an expanding business ecosystem, working together towards a shared goal of DEI. The 30% Club Malaysia look forward to supporting HEINEKEN Malaysia, through practical and focused activities including access to knowledge, insights and best practices in advancing their DEI agenda,” said Anne Abraham, Co-Founding Chair of 30% Club Malaysia 30% Club Malaysia.
HEINEKEN Malaysia leads by example when it comes to advocating for inclusion and diversity, with 43% of its Board of Directors being women. This far exceeds the government’s target of having at least 30% women on the Boards of public listed companies. The brewer is also ranked number two out of 312 Bursa listed companies in the Board Diversity Index 2021 and has a 50:50 male to female ratio in the middle to senior management positions.
Victoria Ang, HEINEKEN Malaysia’s People Director said, “While we have achieved our commitment to ensure gender balance within our Board of Directors and senior management positions, we hope to continue advocating and inspiring other public listed companies to do the same. Working hand in hand with 30% Club and its partners, we will be playing our part to move the needle when it comes to women representation in leadership roles.”
As part of the Company’s global 2030 BaBW sustainability strategy, HEINEKEN will have a continued focus on inclusion and diversity. In addition to the gender balance, the brewer’s commitment is to have 65% of country leadership teams in each region to comprise regional nationals by 2023. The target is part of the Group’s effort in enhancing cultural diversity and local leadership representation. Concurrently, HEINEKEN also has a target to have 100% of people managers trained in inclusive leadership by 2023 building on the thousands who have already received training to-date.
In working towards fostering a more inclusive and diverse workplace, HEINEKEN created a global community of Functional Inclusion & Diversity Ambassadors who support management teams around the world to deliver its global I&D goals and to respond to local contexts and opportunities. Nominated by the management team, the ambassadors work to facilitate awareness programmes for all People leaders and selected employees from across functions and departments. Since its local roll out in 2020, approximately 300 HEINEKEN Malaysia employees have undergone inclusion and diversity training.
To learn more about HEINEKEN Malaysia’s sustainability initiatives, please visit www.heinekenmalaysia.com and www.facebook.com/heinekenmalaysiaberhad. Companies interested in joining the 30% Club Malaysia as corporate members can visit https://30percentclub.org/about/chapters/malaysia.
