04 November 2020

Maybank presents “Gift of Love” face masks to the Ministry of Education, Youth & Sport

 Bank committed to protect well-being and future of Cambodians although challenged by pandemic

As part of Maybank’s continued efforts  to  help in  the  fight  against  COVID-19,  Maybank Cambodia presented 6,000 hand woven face masks to the Ministry of Education, Youth & Sport (MoEYS) in conjunction with the Public School Re-opening and Maybank's 60th Anniversary this year.

The face masks were presented to H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth and Sport and witnessed by H.E. Eldeen Husaini Mohd Hashim, Ambassador of Malaysia to Cambodia at the minister’s office. This initiative marked Maybank’s ongoing commitment to support the MoEYS in its effort to resume education services for the younger generation particularly children, whilst taking the necessary precautions to protect students, teachers, staff and their families.

Since the start of the outbreak, the mask handover has been one of several initiatives undertaken by Maybank Cambodia to help alleviate the strain on communities impacted by the coronavirus. In addition to this, the Bank made contributions to the Royal Government of Cambodia, supporting the Government’s initiative to combat the spread of Covid-19 as well as provided financial relief schemes in the form of restructuring and rescheduling (R&R) of financing facilities, and moratorium on loan repayments for impacted customers.

“Amidst the difficult times, it is heartening to see an organisation like Maybank actively supporting the Cambodian communities. I am very pleased with what Maybank is doing in terms of giving back to the community in a very sustainable way, whereby its programmes are positively impacting our people and our country,” said H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth & Sport.

Maybank Cambodia CEO, Dato’ Mohd Hanif Suadi said, “The COVID-19 pandemic is an unfortunate situation and the Bank is stepping up to do the right thing in line with our mission of humanising financial services. The well-being of the people of a country is vital as it is the bedrock of economic growth, thus taking good care of the health and well-being of the people of Cambodia remains a huge priority for us at Maybank.”

The 6,000 “Gift of Love” face masks, which are made out of pure cotton and silk, can be cleaned and reused. The masks come in different striped pattern and colour known as Kroma which is unique to the Cambodian silk-weaving heritage and were handwoven by some 250 skilled women weavers in Takeo Province, under the Maybank Women Eco-Weavers programme in collaboration with Maybank’s programme partner, Color Silk. This also provides great supplementary economic opportunities for the Cambodian weavers, which is aligned to the Government's overall mission towards promoting economic growth and helping communities rebound from the unprecedented disruptions caused by COVID-19.

This initiative also represents the continued commitment of the Maybank Group since 1960 to positively impact communities in the markets it serves. In July this year, Maybank presented a consignment of these face masks produced by the Cambodian women weavers to the ASEAN Secretariat, bearing a message of goodwill and a show of solidarity that transcends borders, as well as representing the hopes and prayers of these women to all 10 ASEAN member countries.

Maybank Cambodia currently runs its Maybank Cashville Kidz financial literacy programme, in collaboration with and as endorsed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport as well as the National Bank of Cambodia. This programme aims to address the need for financial literacy in schools and is in line with Maybank’s objective to champion financial literacy across ASEAN by educating students via an interactive animated series. To date, the programme has benefitted a total of 53 schools (exceeded its four year plan of reaching out to 40 schools) and over 15,000 students, and managed to significantly improve financial literacy in the participating schools since its Year One rollout in 2017. Maybank has committed to expand its financial literacy footprint to at least another 5,000 students in public and private schools in and outside Phnom Penh, as part of its four year plan which ultimately aims to reach 20,000 students across the country.