Simone (seventh from right) with the participants

The Institute of Management and Leadership Development (IMLD) and the Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business (CSDCSR) organised a talk on “Corporate Volunteerism” on 28 June 2019 at UTAR Sungai Long Campus. It was conducted by ENGAGE Co-Founder and Director Simone Galimberti.

Present at the talk were IMLD Director Prof Dr Cheng Ming Yu, CSDCSR Chairperson Dr Falahat Nejadmahani Mohammad, staff and students.

Simone explaining the concept of corporate volunteerism

Simone’s talk focused on how corporate volunteerism, also known as “The Big V” can be transformational for corporations and most importantly, for their employees. He explained the concept of volunteerism and the different ways of experiencing it while offering a global view on corporate volunteerism. Apart from that, he spoke about the role of private companies and how to invest in their employees to be involved in volunteering efforts.

Simone also spoke of the beauty of corporate volunteerism from the perspective of corporate citizenship and corporate value. He said, “Corporate volunteerism is not only meant for the big shots, but for everyone. It is not rocket science but you need to understand what the locals need and work on what you can do for the community. The key factor is having staff who are involved wholeheartedly with deep understanding and responsibility. You will need to map the situation and interest in what you can offer.”

In his talk, he mentioned that Big V adds value to a corporate organisation because involving and engaging employees bring a great return in terms of cementing the bonds between them and their companies while creating more alignment and inner satisfaction that results in higher engagement and motivation in day to day work.

The talk also provided the participants with a platform to learn about corporate volunteerism through group activities. The group activities required participants in each group to study and discuss several case studies to enhance their understanding on corporate volunteerism.

Participants engaged in group activities

Simone Galimberti is the founder and editor of sharing4good.org and currently writes for The Himalayan Times, Republica and Annapurna Express. Previously, he had been writing for the Kathmandu Post. Simone’s areas of interest cover from politics and international relations and social issues. Graduated from Università Cattolica of Milan in political science, he has been living in Nepal since 2007 where he worked in senior positions for an international NGO till 2012 and focused on education and school health nutrition. In this period, he held several pro bono advocacy positions of coordinator of the School Health Nutrition Network, Coordinator of the Education Working Group and Coordinator of Capacity Building Working group and Health Working Group within the Association of International NGOs. At the end of 2012 he started getting involved full time for ENGAGE, the not-for-profit organisation he co-founded in Nepal with his wife Kalpana.

Simone receiving the token of appreciation from Prof Cheng (left) and Dr Falahat (right)

Understanding Corporate Volunteerism for better transformation