Entering the DJSI World and Emerging Markets Indices in 2020, this year China Development Financial Holding (CDF) boosts its ESG commitment by rolling out the “InclusiveVision” program, which aims to leverage the core advantages in group employee volunteering and inclusive banking to promote the development of businesses with local feature in Taiwan.
CDF President Steve Bertamini said the company would work with external charity organizations in carrying out its 2021 Business Volunteer program which encompasses environmental protection, senior care, charity and development of businesses with local feature. CDF employees may sign up for different volunteering activities of their choice. To foster long-term commitment on volunteering, CDF recruits professionals to train the employees in advance, so that they serve with professional knowledge and skills.
The first activity of CDF’s 2021 Business Volunteer program was a collaboration with Food Healthy Limited Company, one of the winners of the 2020 Buying Power Award of the Social Impact Platform. Under the leadership of President Bertamini, many top-tiered CDF managers rolled up their sleeves to build birdhouses for the black-winged kites in the fields and sow corn seeds with young farmers to support environmental friendly agriculture. The chemical-free corn, when harvested, will be given to disadvantaged children and elders in the neighborhood for free.
Food Healthy signs production contracts with aged farmers, under which they provide idled land and the company provides the workforce, fertilizers and machines needed to grow food, and guarantees decent prices for the produce. CDF recognizes the sustainability and eco-friendliness of Food Healthy’s agricultural proposal, and seeks to further enhance collaboration with the company to grow quality agricultural produce. Ms. Wu Shi-han, co-founder and CEO of Food Healthy, has long been promoting the use of idled farmland in Syuejia, Tainan to produce chemical-free black beans for consumers while creating income for retired farmers at the same time. The birdhouses CDF employees built will attract black-winged kites, which help ensure stable harvests by preying on rodents in the farm. This is a typical example of promoting environmental friendly agriculture to enable people to co-exist with nature in a sustainable way.
President Bertamini said CDF is committed to achieving sustainable inclusion and expanding its influence on society. The human-oriented and eco-friendly business model of Food Healthy has created a new paradigm for Taiwan’s agricultural industry and positive energy for the society. By working with Food Healthy, CDF aims to enhance employees’ ESG awareness and wield its influence to really make a difference from within.
【Profile of Food Healthy】
Established in Syuejia, Tainan, Food Healthy is a winner of the 2020 Buying Power Award, and ranked No. 3 in the Regional Revitalization Competition jointly held by the National Development Council and PwC Sustainable Development Services Company. The founder, Mr. Liu Zheng-hong, worked at a supplementary education institution before taking over his father’s farming business. He now grows organic black beans, corn and wheat in Tainan, and was nominated as the Top Hundred Young Farmers in Taiwan in 2013. Mr. Liu and his wife, Ms. Wu, have promoted the idled farmland revitalization program and promised to purchase the produce at above-market prices. Under the production contract, elder farmers provide land and help monitor the growing of the plants in exchange for a stable income. The farmland revitalization program of Mr. Liu and Ms. Wu resolves the problem of farmers being too old to work and not wanting to sell their land, while lowering the entry threshold for young farmers wishing to grow crops.
