179 / 396
AARRDS garnered over RM5 million in PR
value in 2017 and was awarded a Silver
in the Corporate Responsibility Category
of the Malaysia Public Relations Awards
(MPRA) 2016/2017.
• Encouraging Sports Talent
We have always promoted sporting
talent from the region and provided
the support needed for individuals as
well as teams to realise their potential.
Given Malaysia’s love for badminton,
and the number of world-class talent
we have already produced in this
game, we set up the AirAsia Badminton
Academy in 2012 to unravel and groom
more national players.
During the year, we also produced
a series of videos under our Dare to
Dream campaign highlighting the grit
and determination of home-grown
athletes to achieve their dreams. The
list included national diver Leong
Mun Yee, go-kart driver Muizzuddin
Musyaffa, cyclists Azizulhasni Awang
(aka the Pocket Rocketman) and
Fatehah Mustapa, as well as British
Olympian swimmer, Ben Proud. Each
of these outstanding sports talent
personifies the passion required to win
golds. To inspire young talent with this
kind of passion, we also worked with
Ben, who grew up in Malaysia, to hold
swim clinics for young swimmers with
promise in Putrajaya, Penang and Kota
Kinabalu.
In addition, we entered into a
partnership with American mixed
martial arts organisation UFC (Ultimate
Fighting Championship) to identify an
up-and-coming fighter from Asia to
train at the UFC Performance Institute
in Las Vegas, and to participate in the
Dana White Tuesday Night Contender
series, where many amateurs have
made their name.
AirAsia Foundation
Through our philanthropic arm, AirAsia
Foundation, we are engaging with and
supporting marginalised communities
across Asean. Social enterprises apply
for seed grants from our Foundation and
those found to have a sound business
model are awarded funding to help them
get off the ground. To date, the Foundation
has supported 17 social enterprises in
seven countries – Cambodia, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Thailand, Vietnam – directly benefitting
2,275 individuals and indirectly enhancing
the lives of some 7,221 family and
community members.
In 2017 itself, AirAsia Foundation disbursed
more than RM320,000 to five enterprises,
as depicted in the following pages.
SOUL BELLY
Taguig, the Philippines
Description:
Run by underprivileged mothers, Soul Belly provides affordable home-cooked meals
to offices as an alternative to fast food, with proceeds from the sales going to a fund
that helps children stay in school.
AirAsia Foundation’s grant is to:
• Launch food service to five more offices
• Educate customers about each dish
• Train women to be kitchen staff and part-time F&B suppliers
Amount:
PHP900,000
[ ]
AirAsia Group Berhad
SUSTAINABILITY
167