Sunway’s broad reach touches Malaysia’s needy in pandemic’s wake

Sunway Group steps up relief efforts to benefit hospitals and others in need.

  • Name: Susan Cheah (Executive Director) and Mok Sew Wah (CEO)
  • Company: Sunway Group
  • Region: Malaysia
  • Industry: Development and Management Services
  • Vistage Chair: Richard Wong

Sunway Group is one of Malaysia's largest conglomerates, with 13 business divisions that operate across 50 locations worldwide. The company's core interests include real estate, construction, education, healthcare, retail and hospitality. With such a broad reach, Sunway was well-positioned to help underserved populations when the pandemic drove shortages and new demands for relief.

Challenge: As the pandemic's toll became evident in Malaysia, Sunway Group's many divisions strategized ways to pitch in and help the poor, displaced, ill and incarcerated, and to assist the overburdened front-line professions working to control the pandemic's effects.

Leadership Solution: Sunway's divisions worked to mitigate the financial, social and emotional deleterious effects in many corners of the country. Sunway Hotels donated more than 25,000 blankets, pillows and personal hygiene kits to two area hospitals to help cope with the massive increase in patients, as well as 1,500 bars of soap to a juvenile correct facility. With the help of the Kechara Soup Kitchen Society, the hotel group also donated and distributed surplus food to benefit the homeless and urban poor. Sunway Malls created the Food for Thought initiative, contributing packaged foods benefiting more than 6,000 people in underserved communities.

Sunway Medical Centre administered free COVID 19 tests to ambulance drivers and handed off much-needed PPE equipment such as face shields and hand sanitizers to frontline health care workers. All of these contributions are in addition to generous cash donations to charitable agencies that administer aid where needed nationwide.

Sunway's employees, too, joined the effort, establishing the SunwayForGood Fund to help coworkers affected by the coronavirus fallout.



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