Following its debut in January 2018, positive impact business recognition program Brands for Good returned for its second installment this year on 26 September 2019.
Organised by IPOS Society and International Intellectual Property Commercialisation Council (IIPCC) Singapore, the program is sponsored by Maybank Singapore, global business trading hub BBX World, Singapore virtual telco Zero1, intellectual property software and services company Questel , and aviation concierge Bass Aero.
This year, the awards ceremony saw 43 small-to-medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) coming from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong, bagging a total of 59 Brands for Good awards across 4 main categories spanning the major themes of Workplace, Community, Environment and Patents.
Winners were selected from a list of 120 nominees who submitted their applications over the course of 6 months (February to July 2019). All Brands for Good entries were assessed by a panel of 15 independent judges helmed by Chief Judge and President Emeritus, Professor Su Guaning, who formerly served as President of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) from 2003-2011.
Selected nominees underwent a rigorous scoring and interview process conducted by the judging committee who assessed the companies according to five components: social responsibility activities (50%); profit and growth (15%); accountability & transparency (15%); stakeholder engagement (10%) and mission & values (10%).
This year’s recipients include Rendeur and Bigg World, who are the winners of the ‘Community – Social giving & engagement’ Brands for Good award in recognition of their championing sustainability on a social level.
Tech startup Luminaire AI Pte Ltd, whose data-driven digital advertising services to open up access for local brands seeking to market their products overseas, won an award for “Community – Empowering local markets”.
Meanwhile, Tea ideas Pte Ltd clinched two awards this year for the ‘Workplace – diversity and inclusion’ and ‘Community – Business model’ categories for engaging Singapore’s Silver population in the manufacture and sale of its products.
Alan Ng, Co-Chairman of Brands for Good and President, IPOS (Intellectual Property Office of Singapore) Society says: “With climate change, fair employment and sustainability dominating global headlines at an unprecedented rate, there is no better time to emphasise on the importance of companies – no matter how big or small – looking beyond their bottom-line and stepping up to engage in shared social responsibility.”
“Through the Brands for Good movement, we hope to help these “good” brands differentiate effectively and create transformative value by their intangible assets,” he continued.
He added that “there are many brands-for-good stories in ASEAN that can inspire the world. Hence what SMEs cannot offer in terms of manpower and donations, they can certainly create the same social impact through their talents and intellectual property – business strategy, operational design, creating intellectual property, or simply, developing ideas.”
