TELUS International Philippines wins Social Empowerment Award

(In photo: (L-R) Bodge Calica, HR Director of TELUS International Philippines, accepts the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards (AREA) 2011 in Southeast Asia for social empowerment award from Enterprise Asia’s President William Ng and Sunita Rajan, Senior Vice President of BBC Advertising for Asia.

Manila, Philippines—Top call center and outsourcing services provider TELUS International Philippines (TIP) won the social empowerment award at Enterprise Asia’s Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards (AREA) 2011 for Southeast Asia.

The awards ceremony was held on June 10 at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, where over 500 attendees, including business and government leaders, diplomatic representatives, social and community leaders and local and international media, were present.

“We proudly accept this award as this distinguishes our unwavering commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR),” said TIP president Javier Infante. “It is rewarding to be recognized for all the efforts of our TIP team members who volunteer their time and work with our CSR partners to help improve the lives of those who need help,” added Infante.

The award honors businesses that promote the empowerment of economically disadvantaged individuals or communities. It recognizes organizations that have shown outstanding leadership and achievement through active engagement and contributions to community development.

TIP has a strong dedication to community involvement and CSR. Every year, TIP holds the TELUS Day of Giving, in which team members from its three sites gather to volunteer their time to make a difference in their local communities, in partnership with various philanthropic organizations including Bantay Bata, Bantay Kalikasan, and Gawad Kalinga. TIP’s longstanding partnership with Gawad Kalinga was highlighted in the entry for these awards.

Gawad Kalinga is a local community development foundation dedicated to reducing poverty in the country through nation building. For the project called Forming Heroes through Nation-Building, TIP built the first-ever TELUS GK Village in Pook Masagana, Tandang Sora, Quezon City. The village has a two-storey multi-purpose hall and 71 houses, which were completed in October 2010. For the same project, TIP aims to finish a second village in Barangay Kasama Ka, Batasan Hills, Quezon City with 123 houses by 2012.

CSR is a key component of the TELUS corporate culture. “We want our team members to take pride in their contribution to a broader cause, not only to the company,” states Cris Rosenthal, TIP’s vice president for human resources. “Our partnership with GK allows us as a company to support our ‘we give where we live’ philosophy and play a part in reducing poverty and helping build a better nation.”

Enterprise Asia’s AREA recognizes Asian organizations that champion sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship in various categories such as green leadership, investment in people, corporate governance, health promotion, social empowerment, SME CSR, and responsible business leadership. TIP’s entry in the social empowerment category was chosen over numerous entries from different companies across Southeast Asia.

About TELUS International Philippines, Inc.
TELUS International Philippines, Inc. is a leading Philippine-based provider of contact center and business process outsourcing solutions. It is a subsidiary of TELUS Communications, a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.9 billion of annual revenue and 12.3 million customer connections including 7 million wireless subscribers, 3.7 million wireline network access lines, and 1.2 million Internet subscribers. For more information about TELUS International, please visit telusinternational.com.