Taking corporate social responsibility seriously is not just about cheque presentations and ad hoc donations. It is about making a real commitment to contributing to various stakeholders in a meaningful and sustained way. This requires time and effort on the part of the management, as well as the buy-in of all employees.

Budgets are allocated for CSR and, often, certain departments are tasked with the strategic planning and implementation of CSR initiatives, with the support of the rest of the management and employees.

Companies that are truly committed to CSR even have their own dedicated CSR teams, members of which perform no other role other than to ensure the CSR programmes run effectively and achieve the outcomes desired. Because CSR requires time, effort and proper integration into the running of a company’s entire operations, some of the smaller companies find it difficult to devote the resources needed for such an initiative over and above their day-to-day operations.

However, it is possible to start small and gradually grow one’s CSR activities. And the companies that submitted entries to the Prime Minister’s CSR Awards 2009 are ample proof of this. The fact that the year 2008 threw up many challenges to business enterprises the world over, as a result of the global financial crisis, it is heartening to see that Malaysian companies, including some SMEs, did not compromise on their CSR efforts.

Thirteen corporate entities that fall under the Small Company category, namely companies that employ less than 150 staff or have sales turnovers of RM25 million or less, submitted entries for the Awards. These companies come from diverse sectors – from agriculture and manufacturing, to retail and services – and have CSR projects that are equally wide ranging.

It was heartening not only to receive their entries, but also to see that some of these small companies have adopted CSR and imbued the principles of corporate responsibility so completely that a couple of them felt secure enough to submit certain projects in the main categories, thus pitching themselves against the bigger companies. Rampai Niaga, the company behind The Body Shop, for example, submitted three entries to this year’s Awards – one for the Empowerment of Women, one for Workplace Practices and one for Small Company CSR. In the Empowerment of Women and Workplace Practices categories, it contended against bigger companies, but was still able to stand out because of the sincerity of its projects. Incidentally, Rampai Niaga won in the Small Company CSR category in the inaugural Prime Minister’s CSR Awards.

Like Rampai Niaga, newcomer to the Prime Minister’s Awards Warisan Global submitted two entries, one in the open category of Culture and Heritage, and the other in Small Company CSR. Its submission in the open category of Culture and Heritage was noteworthy because, despite being relatively low-budget compared to some of the other entries received by bigger organisations, its project was well thought-out and based on a genuine desire to preserve the contents of a local tradition that is in danger of disappearing – that of folktales in indigenous communities in Sabah and Sarawak.

In the Small Company CSR category, Warisan Global, which describes itself as a project management company with a social focus which ‘brings together government, community and corporations in designing, developing and executing programmes with social impact’, submitted a project in which it hosted the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Malaysia. GEW is a US-initiated programme that aims to inspire, connect, inform, mentor and engage the next generation of entrepreneurs to help spread the entrepreneurial spirit across the country.

Warisan Global was motivated to take on this project because its work in the past has taken the young and energetic group to rural Malaysia, where it has seen how the rakyat in the grassroots struggle to etch a living from their small businesses. A greater spirit of entrepreneurship, enhanced with greater know-how and links with fund-providing organisations, would help such Malaysians. This is where the GEW comes in.

Some of the other Small Company CSR entrants have been spurred to conduct community service as a result of personal experiences. This was the case with Gapurna Sdn Bhd, founded by Dato’ Mohamad Salim bin Fateh Din and his wife Datin Yasmin Binti Mohamed Ashraff. The couple knows first-hand what it takes up to bring up a special needs child and, therefore, empathises strongly with other families in similar situations, especially those that face the additional challenge of being financially strapped.

To help, they set up Nur Harapan (nur meaning ‘light’ in Arabic, and harapan meaning ‘hope’), a foundation which extends a helping hand to the needy. Through Nur Harapan, it has provided aid to 25 underprivileged Malaysians a year over the last decade. To sustain its social work, Gapurna intends to set up a trust fund, with a special allocation for scholarships to be given to deserving students from poor families. Gapurna is also looking to help create or support a school or learning institution that allows special children to learn to be self-supporting.

One entrant to the Small Company CSR category stood out because its very business model is premised on helping Malaysians lead socially responsible lives. This is the Truly Loving Company (TMC). It was set up in 2006 with the objective of enabling Malaysians to support charities in their daily lives, simply by buying home cleaning and personal care products from TLC, proceeds from which are channeled to charities. The entire business is run very efficiently, by just 12 highly dedicated individuals who carry out all duties, from deciding on strategies to making coffee. There are no secretaries nor clerical staff. TLC has the distinction of being the only Malaysian company that generates ‘profits for philanthropy’ by distributing 100% of its dividends to charities in a total and transparent manner.