With “a resilient and sustainable society” as our vision for society by 2030, the Group is promoting various initiatives toward Creating Shared Value (CSV) with society using the SDGs as a guide. In order to solve social issues through our business, it is essential for each Group employee to deepen their understanding of CSV and the SDGs. From 2018, the Sustainability Contest, which aims to raise awareness among employees, are yearly held to recognize outstanding initiative in CSV through proposals and initiatives that lead to solutions on social issues.

 

The fifth contest, in 2022, attracted 276 submissions from around the world regarding a wide range of social issues, including climate change, loss prevention/mitigation, and aging etc. With four aspects - value creation, communication, approach, and prospects - as criteria for selection, among sixteen winners in the contest, 1 Grand Prize, 3 issue-specific prizes, 2 excellence prizes were chosen through an online examination/voting by the Group executives.

[Grand Prize Winner]

Chola MS (MSI India subsidiary)
Support for financial inclusion of low-income households and women's social advancement through microinsurance for home contents

In India, women's social advancement and financial inclusion of the low-income households (especially in rural areas) are social issues, and property and other types of insurance are not adequately accessible to the low-income households. Natural disasters such as cyclones and floods cause property damage, which makes it difficult for the low-income households to restore their livelihoods, leading to further widening income inequality.
Chola MS is promoting financial inclusion for the low-income households by partnering with financial institutions that offer microcredit and selling microinsurance for home contents. In addition, since many of the loan borrowers are women who run microbusinesses, the provision of microinsurance for home contents can help women's social advancement by reducing business risks.

The Sustainability Contest helps employees to develop a ‘sustainability’ mindset and raises awareness of linking their daily work with CSV. We will continue to tackle social issues by creating new business models and sharing success cases with the entire Group through the Sustainability Contest, for creating a virtuous cycle of commonly practiced sustainable initiatives within the Group.