Maybank is recognised as one of the largest banks in Southeast Asia. Due to our extensive network across various countries, we can make a positive impact in a wide range of communities. Our sustainability initiatives focus on sustainable community development, financial inclusion, education, and environmental conservation.

Employee volunteering is a core part of our social impact strategy, and we place a strong emphasis on employee engagement in our social impact partnerships and initiatives. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2022 posed significant challenges to in-person activities and we needed to restructure volunteering initiatives in a post pandemic world, but we didn’t know where to start, and what opportunities we had.

B4SI supported us in capacity building and delivering a workshop on the principles of delivering virtual community programs and how to operationalise them. Amidst COVID-19 challenges, B4SI highlighted new opportunities, providing us with a matrix to assess which activities could be adapted to a virtual or hybrid format, and how we could redesign the programs as such.

By adapting our volunteering programs to virtual and hybrid formats, our employees were able to find a renewed sense of purpose amid the pandemic. Adaptability allowed our employees to continue contributing to the community, fostering a sense of meaning and fulfillment. Volunteering engagement remained strong, allowing sustained contributions despite the challenges of COVID-19, and we were able to widen our reach beyond geographical constraints through our adoption of virtual volunteering models. By collaborating with B4SI, our journey of adapting to virtual and hybrid volunteering not only empowered our employees but also underscored our commitment to making a lasting impact, reinforcing Maybank’s role as a catalyst for positive change within the communities we serve.

• Ahmad Hilmi Hashim, Head of Community Empowerment at Maybank Foundation