(10 September 2019, Pasay City, Philippines) SM underscored the importance of creating shared value especially in driving sustainability through its businesses for all its stakeholders and communities.
In building SM, its founder Henry Sy, Sr. adhered to certain practices long before the term “sustainability” was in vogue, shared SM Investments Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Frederic C. DyBuncio in his remarks during the CEO Panel at the UN Global Compact – Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Summit held last August 20, 2019, at the Conrad Manila.
“Mr. Sy wanted shoes and eventually all other products to be accessible to every Filipino. He was very particular about servicing the customer, understanding their aspirations and catering to their varying needs,” Mr. DyBuncio said.
Mr. Sy likewise understood the entrepreneur and what it meant to make one’s own way in the big world of business. Mr. Sy integrated best practices into the way SM operated and especially in its dealings with suppliers, tenants, lenders, and how it serviced customers.
“When we grow, they grow with us. And with business growth, comes great responsibility. Mr. Sy believed that business growth and social development grew hand in hand,” he said.
Mr. DyBuncio said that SM’s national footprint of malls, supermarkets, and department stores helps create economic opportunities and activity in terms of jobs and access to financing through banks and formal retailing especially for small and medium enterprises through inclusive supply chains whenever it entered a new community.
Taking into consideration the safety and welfare of the communities it serves, SM likewise builds integrated lifestyle cities with sustainable designs, earmarking a proportion of capital expenditure to incorporate disaster-resilient features in design and construction developments, and employing disaster risk management methods and business continuity management systems.
Mr. DyBuncio also shared that SM operates its properties responsibly, recycling about 35% of water or equivalent to over 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. It also incorporates rainwater catchment facilities in its malls and promotes renewable energy through BDO Unibank’s Sustainable Energy Finance program which has funded projects with a total capacity of 569 Megawatts MW.
There are also 33,000 solar panels installed in SM malls to date. Through SM’s solid waste management program, it has recycled 87% of total waste generated in 2018 at 17,699 cubic meters. Its Trash to Cash program has also yielded an exchange amounting to PHP47 million worth of recycled plastic, tin, paper, wooden furniture and metal cookware among others.
SM adheres to global standards of professionalism and was recently recognized by Forbes in its Global 2000 lists of the World’s Best Employers and Best Regarded Companies.
“We anchor all our businesses on good corporate governance and ensure that the long-term success of the company remains balanced with the long-term best interests of our various stakeholders,” Mr. DyBuncio said.
About SM Investments Corporation
SM Investments Corporation is a leading Philippine company that is invested in market-leading businesses in retail, banking, and property. It also invests in ventures that capture high growth opportunities in the emerging Philippine economy.
SM’s retail operations are the country’s largest and most diversified with its food, non-food, and specialty retail stores. SM’s property arm, SM Prime Holdings, Inc., is the largest integrated property developer in the Philippines with interests in malls, residences, offices, hotels, and convention centers as well as tourism-related property developments. SM’s interests in banking are in BDO Unibank, Inc., the country’s largest bank, and China Banking Corporation, the 6th largest bank.
For more about SM, visit smicweb.smicit.com
For further inquiries, please contact:
Paul Arcenas
VP, Planning and Corporate Communications
SM Investments Corporation
E-mail: paul.arcenas@sminvestments.com
Tel. No. (632) 857-0100 local 1039