(Left to right)
For SME-Tier winners: Shalom Int’ Movers, Dicoding (Narenda Wicaksono), Mr Predee Daochai chairman of Thai Bankers’ association, Acuatico Beach Resort &Hotel
Bangkok, November 2, 2019 — Outstanding businesses that have shown significant progress in contributing to ASEAN’s economic growth and prosperity were recognized once again for their achievements at the ASEAN Business Award 2019 gala night, which took place at the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit on November 2, 2019 at IMPACT Exhibition Center in Bangkok, Thailand. The prestigious annual ASEAN Business Award included for the first time a Skills Development Award to recognize enterprises that have demonstrated leadership in the development of a skilled workforce for a competitive and dynamic ASEAN economic community. The timely addition of the award highlights rising concerns for quality human capital as a catalyst for business growth in times of technological disruption.
The very first ASEAN-wide winners of the Skills Development Award are Dicoding Indonesia in the SME tier and Sea Lion Co. Ltd. (Myanmar) in the large corporate tier. Both companies have contributed significantly to human capital development in a way that benefits not only their company but the societies they operate in.
Dicoding Indonesia is a tech startup that has successfully built up and is nurturing the programmer and developer ecosystem in Indonesia. Dicoding is utilizing a creative and innovative business approach to achieve its mission of building an IT industry in Indonesia with the best developer talent in the market. In just over 4 years, Dicoding has established a network of 180,000 developers from 470 cities across Indonesia, and over 100,000 students and learners have studied in its online academy, including many disadvantaged groups. Through the use of hackathons and competitions, Dicoding creates a fun and challenging learning environment for students and young people to hone their future skills. “We believe that learning skills not only opens opportunities, but also empowers individuals. Coding, in particular, is an essential skill to thrive in the digital era,” affirms Narenda Wicaksono, CEO of Dicoding Indonesia, “It is our hope that through Dicoding Academy, we can increase coding literacy in Indonesia and accelerate regional competitiveness in the global digital economy.”
“Sea Lion is humbled and honored to receive the ASEAN Business Awards 2019 in the skills development category for our contribution to skills development in Myanmar through the development of the School of Industrial Training and Education (SITE) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. One of the top challenges of foreign and local investors in Myanmar is the lack and shortage of skilled labor. As a responsible business, Sea Lion believes that it is a noble cause to make contributions out of our resources for skills development in the advanced and value-added manufacturing industry that will promote investment, foster economic development, increase the employment rate, and lift up the living standard of the citizens,” expressed Dr. Win Zaw Aung, Group CEO of Sea Lion.
Sea Lion has made major investments to contribute to human capital development in healthcare and technical education and training in Myanmar. In 2018, Sea Lion mobilized a network of business partners that jointly invested 1.2 million USD in the establishment of SITE. The school has already garnered much appreciation among the industry and young students. Sea Lion remains heavily involved in the running of the school to ensure its long-term sustainability and guarantee a high quality of training. The company also contributed training centers at Yangon General Hospital and Mandalay General Hospital for the skills development of healthcare professionals.
In addition to the ASEAN-wide winners, Acuatico Beach Resort & Hotel Inc. from the Philippines and Shalom International Movers Pte. Ltd. from Singapore were recognized as country winners in the SME tier. Tsuneishi Technical Service from the Philippines and PTG Energy from Thailand were recognized as country winners in the large tier. All winners were selected out of a total of 22 submission by a jury of 10 judges representing the 10 ASEAN member states. The selection followed an intensive evaluation process conducted by regional and international experts in skills development. The evaluation process was led by the German government’s Regional Cooperation Programme in TVET in ASEAN (RECOTVET), which also initiated the Skills Development Award together with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council.
The activities of the winners and finalists of the Skills Development Award will be featured by RECOTVET on the TVET Platform for Southeast Asia, http://sea-vet.net, in the coming weeks, in order to inspire similar contributions to skills development by other companies in the region.
