This move comes about as companies in Asia begin to understand that effective corporate responsibility is as much about how a company makes its profits as about how it spends them.
Bill Rylance, founder and CEO at WATATAWA, noted that while business philanthropy and corporate giving are still important, the new service realigns socially-responsible behaviour as a strategic business differentiator and a direct contributor to business performance.
“In our view, corporate responsibility should be intertwined with a company’s business operations and financial performance. Our new approach is less about pure philanthropy and more about enlightened self-interest; a form of ‘win-win’ between a company and its chosen causes and communities.”
Watatawa has hired former journalist Ng Tze Yong to deliver the new service. Most recently with Singapore Press Holdings as The Straits' Times' social media editor, he was also special assistant to the editor-in-chief of the English and Malay newspapers division.
The Young Journalist of The Year 2006, he has reported on crime, heritage, politics, and on assignment from the scenes of major global disasters and conflict zones.
His work and extensive volunteerism have seen him work on community causes in Kosovo, Lebanon, Kashmir, West Bank and the Gaza Strip.