Berjaya Starbucks Coffee Company (“Starbucks Malaysia”) was once again awarded as one of the recipients of the Asia Responsible Enterprise (AREA) Awards 2018 held in Philippines recently. Recognised in the Investment in People category, this notable honour was in recognition of the Starbucks Signing Store located in Bangsar Village II, which is the first Starbucks Signing Store in the world. The AREA awards is organised by Enterprise Asia, the leading non-governmental association for entrepreneurship.
From the outset, Starbucks has set itself out to be a different kind of company, one that is built out of human connections, community involvement and the celebration of diversity. It is the inclusion of these diverse experiences and perspectives that help create a culture of empowerment at Starbucks. It is our mission to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.
Part of this initiative was the Starbucks Signing store project which aims to enhance the livelihood of the Deaf community by and provide a job opportunity to help them cultivate a culture of empowerment and thrive through training and development of their soft skills. This helps the Deaf to develop their self-confidence, self-esteem and self-reliance through discovery and experiences that gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment to move forward in their career, and to lead a functional and fulfilling life.
“Since the opening of our Signing Store in 2016, we have seen strong support from our customers and the community alike. The challenges that our Deaf partners had faced with Deaf and Hearing customers have been significantly reduced thanks to a considerable increase in supporting communication in stores. Apart from that, this has become a key success model for our Starbucks International counterparts, who has recognized the sustainability of the Signing Store and brought in their own teams to visit and learn about the successes of the signing store and how they can incorporate the same model in their own countries,” said June Beh, Director of Partner Resources and Compliance of Starbucks Malaysia and Brunei.
June continued, “This award is not only testament to the quality of work that we have been doing over the years, it is also a nod to the experience that we want to share with our customers. Since opening our very first Starbucks Malaysia store here in Malaysia 20 years ago, we aspire to set out brand apart from others via the exceptional Starbucks Experience that we create every day in our stores. Here’s to brewing more moments together.”
The AREA awards honour Asian businesses for championing sustainable and responsible business practices, demonstrating companies’ leadership, sincerity and on-going commitment in incorporating responsible and ethical values, compliance, investment in stakeholders, involvement in communities and protection of the environment into the way they run their businesses.
