Page 67 - The Ethics of ASEAN

The Rise of Corporate Ethics in ASEAN

The approach by the AirAsia Foundation placed emphasis
on achieving real impact. Mun Ching discussed how various
angel investments for social enterprises tend to collapse
and fail within a short amount of time. She concluded that
the cause for this failure was that the funding had mostly
been focused on the startup phase but rarely on maintaining
growth. As such, the AirAsia Foundation is more selective in
their grant programme, focusing on organisations that have
operated for at least two years and have a potential for growth.
The Foundation also assists enterprises in maintaining
financial sustainability through self-sustainability rather than
solely relying on grants.
Revival of ASEAN’s disappearing cultural heritage is also
a key objective for the Foundation. It supports businesses that
produce locally-made products in various countries, ranging
from Vietnam to the hill tribes of Thailand. Another ethical
mission is gender diversity.
Beyond financial support through grants, the AirAsia
Foundation recognizes that many small enterprises in ASEAN
struggle to achieve branding and marketing success. Thus
the Foundation offers AirAsia resources to generate media
attention for their Foundation businesses and links them to
their own supply chain and business partners.

Sharmini Lohadhasan: changing a company’s
ethics is a leadership challenge

Sharmini Lohadhasan has had an extensive career with BP
Singapore since 1997. She has a background in law and worked
as an adviser in Trademarks and Copyright. In 2021, she
became the Ethics and Compliance Manager for BP Singapore.
BP is a multinational energy company headquartered
in the UK operating in almost 80 countries with more than
70,000 employees. While its business is rooted in fossil
fuels, it aims to become a net-zero company by 2050 and
has committed to a transition programme to sustainable and
renewable sources, with focus on low-carbon technologies.
Sharmini points out that large organisations and
multinationals often require effort and ethical leadership to
create new ethical foundations outside their core business. Figure 3: Sharmini
The question is whether BP will be able to adopt the new Lohadhasan, Ethics and
Compliance Manager at BP
ethics of sustainability or practice “greenwashing” by simply Singapore
reporting compliance for ESG. For Sharmini Lohadhasan, a
shift in such ethics must be embraced and led by its leaders or
it will not succeed.

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