Sojitz Group is working together with local communities to contribute to societies all over the world. We have named “personal connection” as one of the key concepts behind our CSR activities and are currently providing provide educational support and other assistance which directly impacts the people in these communities.

Educational Support in Vietnam (Scholarship Program, Visits to Scholarship Recipients’ Homes, Donations of Picture Books and Bookshelves to Schools)

Sojitz Group has been running a scholarship program in Dong Nai Province, located to the east of the southern city of Ho Chi Minh; in the northern city of Hanoi; and in Da Nang City, in the central part of Vietnam, providing scholarship money every year to academically outstanding elementary, middle, and high school students. Since 2019, Sojitz employees have visited the homes of scholarship recipients in Da Nang City. From 2020, in addition to giving scholarships, Sojitz has donated 32 picture books and bookshelves to each of Da Nang’s 40 elementary schools.

Despite the rapidly growing economy, economic disparity remains significant in Vietnam. Even in families where the parents work for a company, salaries are often at the minimum wage set by the government or a low salary close to that amount, forcing many students to give up on their education to assist with the household income. However, the government has established the goal of quickly becoming an industrialized nation, aiming to shift away from former labor-intensive industries in order to promote industrialization by bringing in high-level, strategic industries, including electronics, machinery, shipbuilding, energy conservation, and automobiles. Therefore, Vietnam must quickly develop the human resources to support the sustainable growth of these industries.

Furthermore, Sojitz Group also considers the development of human resources absolutely essential, not only to support its various businesses in Vietnam but also to lead the sustainable growth of various industries in the country. We believe that making medium-to-long-term contributions to this development, as outlined in the Medium-term Management Plan, will help promote the businesses we strive to create—those that grow together with local communities.

Scholarships are provided to students that have passed the selection criteria established by Sojitz and the Department of Education & Training in Dong Nai, Hanoi, and Da Nang. Between FY2012 and FY2021, Sojitz granted scholarships to a total of 4,267 students, who are applying themselves to academics through use of this program.

Sojitz Group will continue to establish and expand various businesses in Vietnam, contributing to the country’s sustainable growth by carrying out a full range of social contribution activities, including education support.

 

Award ceremony in Dong Nai Province		Award ceremony in Da Nang City

 

Visiting the homes of scholarship recipients		Sojitz donated picture books and bookshelves to elementary schools

 

Commemorative Photo

 

 

The cumulative number of scholarship recipients

Supporting the Education and Professional Development of Vietnam’s University Students in Science and Technology Fields

Japanese companies, especially small and medium-sized companies, are facing a shortage of talented employees from foreign countries, particularly university graduates of science and technology programs. Conversely, there are many such university students in Vietnam who wish to work in Japan, but who do not have the opportunity to find employment at Japanese companies.

To provide a solution to both countries’ challenges, Sojitz, in cooperation with the Kawasaki Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other parties interested in foreign personnel exchanges with Vietnam, established an organization called HuReDee in 2018 to support the development of talented overseas personnel. In cooperation with three Vietnamese national universities (Hanoi University of Science and Technology, the Hanoi University of Transport and Communications, and the University of Information Technology in Ho Chi Minh City), HuReDee offers classes to teach Japanese language and business etiquette to specially selected students who wish to work for Japanese companies. HuReDee then provides job placement services to companies in Japan that have a need for overseas talent, forming sponsorship agreements with the companies to cover the universities’ costs of operating the courses.

Sojitz supports HuReDee’s classes at local partner universities and also supports collaborations with new universities by leveraging the networks in Vietnamese governmental and educational institutions that it has cultivated over the years. Sojitz Group is also pursuing new sponsor companies throughout its networks in Japan and is working to promote further opportunities for exchange between Japan and Vietnam.

In 2019, 2020 and 2021, 85, 71 and 53 students participated in HuReDee’s courses respectively, and many Vietnamese university students have already been hired by Japanese companies.

 

A graduation ceremony for the 25 students in the second HuReDee class at Hanoi University of Transport and Communications (Vietnam National University)

 

Website: HuReDee

Sojitz Vietnam President Speaks at Foreign Trade University in Hanoi

On December 2nd 2020, Sojitz Vietnam President Tadahiro Kinoshita gave a lecture at Hanoi’s Foreign Trade University at an event hosted in cooperation with JETRO. President Kinoshita spoke on the subject of balancing social contribution with business activities when doing business in Vietnam to around 80 fourth-year students from the university’s Japanese language faculty.

Hanoi’s Foreign Trade University, along with Hanoi University of Science and Technology, is considered to be the most competitive university in Vietnam. Sojitz Vietnam employs numerous Foreign Trade University graduates, making it a university with which Sojitz is well acquainted.

In his lecture, President Kinoshita introduced the forestry and woodchip business that Sojitz has been engaged in since 1993 as one of the many businesses that Sojitz operates in the country. He touched on the fact that this business has contributed to regional development in Vietnam, such as by restoring vegetation to areas that have been devastated by traditional slash-and-burn agriculture and war, as well as through job creation by involving local farmers in tree planting and cultivation. Students who attended the lecture stated that it allowed them to learn how Sojitz has contributed to Vietnam’s postwar reconstruction and forest restoration through its business activities, and about how the company balances business with consideration for social and environmental issues.

 

Sojitz Vietnam President Tadahiro Kinoshita during his lecture		Students attending the lecture