Alpro Pharmacy, Malaysia’s largest prescription pharmacy, has pledged to strengthen its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices in day-to-day operations and organizational culture. This comes after the pharmacy’s recent inclusion as part of the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).
UNGC is a United-Nations-certified global movement that aims to mobilize sustainable companies and stakeholders to create a better world.
In line with the inclusion, Alpro is ready to increase its efforts and take concrete steps to support the Ten Principles of UNGC. The ten principles of UNGC cover a wide array of issues that include human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption and take actions that advance societal goals and implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
ESG practices have always been a part of the Alpro DNA. The pharmacy chain carried out various instrumental initiatives throughout its 20 years in Malaysia, including notable campaigns such as Safe Medication Disposal Campaign, the Growing Stars Project, ProjectBangku and Save2Safe, to name a few.
Branding, Promotion and Trade Marketing Director Lee Yin Chen said that the recognition by UNGC is a reward to the brand’s mantra of putting community first before commerce.
“Alpro has been in Malaysia for 20 years, and since day one, we place our service to the community as our utmost priority. We believe this is the mantra that carried the brand and will continue to do so for years to come.
We are delighted to be recognized as the first community pharmacy in Malaysia committed to taking responsible business action by UNGC. We pledge to continue creating campaigns and collaborations that can help make the world a better place,” said Yin Chen.
The pharmacy’s CSR arm Alpro Foundation has recently launched a fund-raising project by selling BPA free Charity Water Bottles in collaboration with Elianware Malaysia, a leading local plastic container manufacturing company. All proceeds from the sale of the 1L Charity Bottles will go to the Growing Stars Project, a project that Alpro Foundation has been successfully conducting since 2019. The project aims to provide financial assistance to underprivileged students throughout Malaysia, and more than 300 students from various backgrounds have benefited from the program thus far.
Alpro has also launched its ProjectBangku campaign, where unused wooden pallets are given a new lease of life by being upcycled into wood benches. Currently, these benches are placed outside of selected Alpro Pharmacies in Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Pahang and Selangor.