To live up to its corporate social responsibility, China Development Financial Holdings (hereinafter CDF) has been promoting various public welfare activities through its cultural and educational foundation and has extended care to various corners of Taiwanese society, making it a good example of how Taiwanese enterprises should respond to the call for environment, society and corporate governance (ESG) efforts. CDF recently rounded up interested employees to pre-order a full year’s worth of Chinese/Western pastries from the Hsinchu-based Lei-Zhi Shelter Workshop of Hua Kuang Social Welfare Foundation, extending its participation in the Ai Xin Chan Bao Bao (loving, hungry babies) group sales to a seventh consecutive year. CDF employees have cumulatively contributed NT$4.17mn to help the physically-disabled individuals learn to live independently, reducing the burden on disadvantaged families.
The institute for the physically- and mentally-challenged individuals connected to the Hua Kuang Social Welfare Foundation is now home to over two hundred such residents, who are there to learn to live on their own by manning jobs provided by Lei-Zhi Composite Shelter Workshop, where baking professionals walk them through the steps of making loaves of bread, bagels and Chinese-style buns, which are then sold to external customers to help make ends meet at the institute. Zhou, who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the institute, said that “large numbers of stable orders are essential to the operation of the workshop. CDF has since the early days of the workshop placed orders that not only mean fixed revenues for the workshop, but also more opportunities for the shelter employees to hone their baking skills.”
This year, Lei-Zhi Shelter Workshop has developed new products specifically for CDF employees, adding European breads and Western-style cookies to its repertoire. One CDF employee, surnamed Li, who has patronized group sales for seven straight years, said that each month there is variety seen with the products, which proves how dedicated they are to baking. Another employee, surnamed Kao, who was a first-time buyer this year, said that buying from them is a way of showing one’s belief in the workshop, and that’s why he immediately signed up as a buyer.
CDF has long encouraged its employees to participate in public welfare projects. The Ai Xin Chan Bao Bao group sales have taken place annually since 2014, and each year have been received enthusiastically by CDF employees. This year, CDF has mobilized subsidiaries CDIB Capital, KGI Bank, and KGI Securities and has had the employees place five hundred orders to create nearly NT$600,000 in revenue for the workshop and to provide opportunities for the physically- and mentally-disabled to learn to be on their own. This is how CDF, as an ESG-oriented enterprise, shows that it cares.
