Annual Report 2016
53
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been described as the resulting actions of ethical considerations beyond a
corporation’s self-interest. This description would put at odds CSR and a corporation’s traditional role of revenue-generating.
Instead, QL has embedded CSR into its business model. The Group provides employment for underprivileged rural
communities, it helps reduce food insecurity by supplying some of the most resource-effective basic foods into the food
chain, and it implements strong environmental checks and balances that go significantly beyond mandatory regulations. All
of which fuel QL’s growth while providing benefits for society.
In short, QL is a pioneer in the ethos of creating shared value, which has been practised since the company was founded
in 1987. Uninterrupted year-on-year growth has been achieved by creating value and sharing it across stakeholders: local
communities, customers, the environment, employees and shareholders. By operating within the boundaries of this founding
ethos, the company generates growth momentum which positively affects the bottom line.
Listed below is a selection of QL’s key CSR activities, set into Bursa Malaysia’s four pillars of CSR: Environment, Community,
Workplace and Marketplace.
Environment
Back in 2014, QL expanded its fisheries sector activities through the commencement of marine prawn aquaculture, which
is a noted component industry of the Malaysian government's Economic Transformation Programme. Traditional marine
prawn aquaculture activities are often associated with environmental degradation, particularly in regards to waste water
run-off. QL has invested heavily in environmental protection measures, utilising advanced reservoir and sedimentation
technology in its aquaculture site in Kudat, Sabah, to ensure a high level of protection.
Other measures employed include a seawater intake system that screens and filters incoming water to minimise aquatic
diseases, while a holistic effluent management process treats discharge water as it flows through nine consecutive trenches,
and 2 large retention ponds with fish culture which act as biological filter ensuring it is fit for release back into the
environment.
QL's voluntary environmental management system ensures that minimum organic load in the discharge water is released
into the environment which is able to meet the best aquaculture practice. Beneficiaries of these measures are the
environment, local communities downstream of our aquaculture site and surrounding shrimp farms.
Community
The impoverished background of QL’s founders is widely known. Having been born into poor fishing villages, they have a
first-hand appreciation of the tough conditions fishermen experience, at sea and on land. Fishermen have traditionally
operated at, or below, the poverty line, a fact that the founders sought to remedy. Their response was to devise the
Fishermen’s Financial Assistance programme, which delivers interest-free capital to fishermen to buy new vessels and
upgrade existing equipment. To ensure the programme’s long term sustainability, QL asks for first refusal of catch – at
market prices – which enables the company to source a consistent, top-quality supply of seafood. This programme has
become a lifeline for fishing communities, which are often seen as too high-risk for traditional capital lending institutions.
The Fishermen’s Financial Assistance (FFA) programme has directly benefited the fishing communities where QL has rolled
it out. Bigger boats and better equipment lead to greater yields and increased revenue for fishermen. Trawlers fish further
out to sea, where larger, more valuable fish shoals are. Associated businesses such as boat building benefit from the FFA,
as the knock-on economic effects pump capital into the community. At any one time QL has a thousand fishermen taking
part in the programme, and to date the book value exceeds RM35 million.
Workplace
First established in 2009, the QL Poultry Centre of Excellence (or QLPCOE) is an internal training facility that develops the
proficiency of employees in our poultry sector. The staff members who pass through QLPCOE are trained with skills that
are highly sought after in the poultry industry, which increases their employability. QL also opens the doors of QLPCOE to
university and college students, which gives them exposure to real-world scenarios in a leading technological environment.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AT QL
