PETALING JAYA, Aug 28 ― To celebrate this year’s Merdeka and Malaysia day, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad (DLMI) is driving a culture of care among its employees.

This is being done through an internal outreach programme to the communities.

The company also believes that the initiative is timely where employees get to give back to fellow Malaysians because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

DLMI managing director Tarang Gupta said the programme was in line with this year’s Merdeka theme, “Malaysia Prihatin”.

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“It is to further strengthen the culture of care amongst the workforce but more importantly it is to inculcate and develop a caring nature by giving back to the community and connect directly with our consumers,” he said.

To ensure the progamme succeeds and has more meaning to those impacted, employees are empowered to pick their own social welfare causes and volunteer their help and time.

Their activities will then be shared among all employees to encourage and inspire more of its employees to do the same.

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Participation and contributions to these causes are also solely borne by DLMI employees, and where appropriate, DLMI will provide donations or assistance in terms of products for social welfare causes.

Tarang said this was not the first time that DLMI has sought to help out local communities during the pandemic.

The company, he added distributed over 100,000 packets of Dutch Lady milk to frontline workers at Sungai Buloh Hospital, University Malaya Medical Centre and Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

“Milk products were also donated to law enforcement, government agencies, and the media who were still on duty during the movement control order (MCO) period and in conjunction with the World Milk Day in June earlier this year.”

DLMI always prides itself in caring for stakeholders and communities that are in need and underprivileged through its various corporate programmes.

DLMI’s Program Cakna Susu was launched in Lembah Pantai constituency in 2019 to ensure underprivileged children have access to affordable nutrition. ― Picture courtesy of DLMI
DLMI’s Program Cakna Susu was launched in Lembah Pantai constituency in 2019 to ensure underprivileged children have access to affordable nutrition. ― Picture courtesy of DLMI

These key ongoing corporate outreach programmes are anchored to its Grass to Glass philosophy and its purpose of Nourishing the Nation.

They reach out to underprivileged communities across the country, run programmes in schools to raise awareness of the goodness of milk and encourage physical activities.

DLMI also has its Farmer2Farmer programme under the FrieslandCampina Dairy Development Programme that provides knowledge and skills transfer from its Dutch member farmers (using its 140-year Dutch dairy heritage) to local dairy farmers.

This improves their livelihoods and sustain their dairy business, helps increase their yield and the quality of milk for now and generations to come.

Dairy Development Programme is a partnership between two nations of ensuring sustainable farming and long term food security. ― Picture courtesy of DLMI
Dairy Development Programme is a partnership between two nations of ensuring sustainable farming and long term food security. ― Picture courtesy of DLMI

And more recently, over 17,000 packs of milk products were donated to more than 1,000 underprivileged families and B40 students that were stranded in the universities through non-governmental organisations like Yayasan Salam, Yayasan Basmi Kemiskinan, Yayasan FoodBank and also via Masjid Tun Abdul Aziz.

(Left to right) UM Deputy Vice Chancellor Student Affairs, Prof IR Dr Abdul Aziz Raman receiving milk contribution from DLMI Managing Director, Tarang Gupta. ― Picture courtesy of DLMI
(Left to right) UM Deputy Vice Chancellor Student Affairs, Prof IR Dr Abdul Aziz Raman receiving milk contribution from DLMI Managing Director, Tarang Gupta. ― Picture courtesy of DLMI

All these contributions are in line with Dutch Lady’s slogan #StrongerMeStrongerUs, which aims to give consumers nutritious and high quality dairy products, to keep Malaysians strong, healthy and resilient during this difficult time.

Besides aiding fellow Malaysians impacted by the pandemic, DLMI also champions awareness related to nutrition and contributed its milk products to underprivileged school children and families.

These activities include Program Cakna Susu in Lembah Pantai and monthly milk sponsorship to Universiti Malaya via its Food Bank and the Autism Café Project.

(Third and fourth from left) Lembah MP Fahmi Fadzil and DLMI managing director Tarang Gupta handing out the first cartons to 20 recipient families identified to receive the 1 carton per month of nutritious milk for six months in the Program Cakna Susu that was launched in 2019. ― Picture courtesy of DLMI
(Third and fourth from left) Lembah MP Fahmi Fadzil and DLMI managing director Tarang Gupta handing out the first cartons to 20 recipient families identified to receive the 1 carton per month of nutritious milk for six months in the Program Cakna Susu that was launched in 2019. ― Picture courtesy of DLMI

“This is why we strongly encourage our employees to give back to our fellow Malaysians who have been loyally supporting the Dutch Lady brand for the last 57 years,” added Tarang.