SABECO spreads solidarity message

General director of SABECO, Bennett Neo, highlighted the firm’s “Tet - One Home” initiative

“It’s almost the Lunar New Year but my family still doesn’t know whether and how we’ll be able to go to our hometown. This year has been exhausting for me. I hope to reunite with my family after one year working away from home,” said a 32-year-old man in a Ho Chi Minh City-based industrial zone, who had left his hometown in the central province of Quang Tri for work.

Many others are also dreaming of reuniting with their families during the Lunar New Year, as the traditional holiday is the most important for most Vietnamese.

With the motto “Stronger Together”, the community initiative “Tet - One Home” from Bia Saigon, the leading brand of Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (SABECO), and the Communist Youth Union hopes to bring families together and help them enjoy the festive season. The initiative will support selected communities by giving them the opportunity to return to their respective hometown to enjoy the celebrations with their families and welcome in 2022. The initiative not only aims to support struggling communities but also honour those who have contributed to the country and people of Vietnam in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Embracing unity

General director of SABECO, Bennett Neo, said at the launching event of “Tet - One Home” last week, “Like other companies, we have also been affected by the pandemic. But as a company with more than 145 years of history in Vietnam, SABECO is fully aware of its responsibility and role in the society. It is our commitment to promote sustainable values and contribute to the prosperity and development of Vietnam and its people.”

The programme will provide 270 airplane tickets, 1,530 coach tickets, and 200 train tickets for around 2,000 workers and university students in Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai to help them return to their respective hometowns for Lunar New Year.

In addition, the programme will also distribute gifts to 800 struggling students, workers, youth union members, and frontline volunteers in Hoa Binh, Hanoi, Quang Ninh, and Ho Chi Minh City, who wish to remain in these localities to celebrate the occasion.

For the past three years, the company has organised various initiatives to support struggling workers to return home for the Lunar New Year. In 2022, SABECO will cooperate with the Communist Youth Union to extend the initiative and render it more accessible. In addition, the community initiative also implements a string of meaningful activities for the Lunar New Year to promote the unique Vietnamese identity and create positive changes that will bring pride to the country and people.

Since mid-2018, the brewer has repositioned its brand and restructured its business, with the goal of building the company into a globally competitive enterprise that Vietnamese people can be proud of. It has built a sustainable development model focusing on consumption, conservation, country, and culture. Tet - One Home, as part of this, is built as a programme combining aspects of culture in this model.

SABECO believes that the success of each employee is a brick to build the overall success of the enterprise and the country. With their steadfastness and relentless efforts, they bring many positive changes to the surrounding communities and themselves.

The pandemic has caused major disruptions to the business sector, but SABECO leaders have set out a vision with flexible policies to navigate the turbulent times of the global health crisis. It has made efforts to maintain business continuity as well as employment for its employees. At the same time, the company also provides support for its partners in its supply chain.

SABECO general director Neo said that the firm has yet to lay off any employees and reduce salaries during the pandemic. The company has not only covered all additional human resource expenses, but also offered additional bonuses to employees.

SABECO spreads solidarity message

Contributing to resilience

SABECO also kept close connections with customers during the social distancing period. The company has launched several activities to increase brand awareness and consumption demand. Meanwhile, SABECO strives to eliminate shopping barriers for customers in the off-trade channel by selling its products on online platforms and building its brand on e-commerce platforms.

In addition, the group has formulated a backup plan since the onset of the pandemic to minimise supply chain disruptions and maintain production activities. The company prioritises buying goods and materials from its partners to support them to sail through the challenging time.

Meanwhile, the company also maintains stable prices for customers despite rising expenses and fees. Thanks to SABECO’s business continuity, its partners and customers in the same supply chain can keep their jobs during the pandemic.

“The pandemic gives an opportunity for us to show our resilience while accompanying partners and customers to overcome these volatile times,” Neo said.

Thanks to its efforts, SABECO has had positive news. In the first six months of 2021, its net revenues reached over $567 million, up 9 per cent over the year, with profits after tax climbing 5 per cent to more than $109 million. Its gross profits reached around $173 million, a 12-per-cent increase against last year’s period.

Moreover, the market is displaying exceptional positive signs and customers are becoming increasingly fond of SABECO’s products.

“SABECO considers the pandemic to be a case of fire proves gold, adversity proves men. The more difficult the pandemic became, the harder SABECO has fought to get closer to consumers, providing peace of mind when it comes to pricing, supplies, and meeting consumer needs,” Neo said.

Moreover, the company also boosted its SABECO 4.0 campaign to accelerate digitalisation for its business activities. The project will help SABECO reaffirm its leading position and competitiveness when venturing out into the international market.

Another factor that contributes to SABECO’s resilience during the crisis is its human resources. The company is proud to have built a skilled, professional, and dedicated labour force that is experienced in responding to changing production models. Thus, business continuity planning was activated system-wide just when it was needed to ensure operation and maintain jobs for employees.

Its breweries and Saigon Beer Trading Co., Ltd. set up plans to deal with possible scenarios during the pandemic with the goal of maintaining business continuity in all activities to ensure the quality and quantity of goods supplied to the market.

To do this, management teams have closely monitored fluctuations in all regions to flexibly coordinate sourcing in the breweries. Meanwhile, the logistics team strictly follows pandemic prevention regulations to ensure the supply of all products.