For the nutrition product company Herbalife Vietnam, contributing to a healthier generation is deemed a mission rather than merely an act of goodwill to the community. Over the years, the company has therefore set aside resources for the wellbeing of the community, not only underprivileged people but the general public as well.
Huge funds are being spent each year by Herbalife Vietnam for this noble cause, but for the company’s CEO, Vu Van Thang, such contributions are by no means a burden, as Herbalife Vietnam is happy in its journey with the community.
Support for children
In August this year, Herbalife Vietnam handed over a token check worth VND468 million to Viet Tri Center for Orphaned and Disabled Children in the northern province of Phu Tho, enrolling this shelter as the sixth Casa Herbalife Vietnam Center. The donation is used over the 2022-2023 period to support 127 underprivileged children at the center.
The Casa Herbalife Vietnam program was first launched in 2013, and to date, six Casa Herbalife Vietnam Centers have been established, improving nutritional conditions for over 1,000 underprivileged children nationwide. These centers are in HCMC, Hanoi, Binh Dinh, Hau Giang, Nghe An, and now Phu Tho. Children at the centers are supplied with daily nutritional meals to ensure their physical development, and as of the end of 2021, Herbalife Vietnam had spent VND14 billion on this program for the first five centers.
“We are happy as the Casa Herbalife Vietnam is further expanded in accordance with the long-term social corporate responsibility (CSR) program of Herbalife Vietnam and Herbalife Nutrition Foundation,” said Vu Van Thang, Herbalife general director for Vietnam and Cambodia.
Apart from providing nutritional meals daily to Casa Herbalife Vietnam Centers, the company has also launched the Nutrition for Zero Hunger at these centers since 2020, encouraging children to adop a healthy lifestyle by doing physical exercises, eating more veggies and shying away from harmful substances such as candies. Some 300 children have joined this initiative.
A social issue of concern is the high number of children drowning due to the lack of swimming skills. Fatalities due to drowning, having fallen from some 3,300 in 2010 to nearly 2,000 last year, remain high, and therefore, Herbalife Vietnam has responded to a program waged by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to oganize swimming courses for children. The company is coordinating with the Vietnam Olympic Committee to run training courses in Cao Bang, Thanh Hoa, Can Tho and Dak Nong provinces.
The first course was kickstarted in Cao Bang Province on August 23, 2022 with the participation of 50 children, who were equipped with not only swimming skills but also knowledge about drowning and preventive measures as well as first-aid support such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Patronage for sports
As nutrition is highly required for sports, Herbalife Vietnam has actively reached out to the country’s sports teams and athletes. The company has signed an agreement with the Vietnam Football Federation to sponsor the national men’s and women’s football teams as well as U22, U23 and Olympic squads with nutritional products for the 2021-2024 period.
Commenting on the sponsorship agreement, Vu Van Thang of Herbalife Vietnam said the deal showed the strong commitment by Herbalife Vietnam to accompany Vietnam’s sports, and via sports to encourage a healthy lifestyle in the community. “This sponsorship is built on the continuous support by our company to many sports events and activities of the country in the past decade,” he said.
In April last year, Herbalife Vietnam also cut deals to supply nutritional products to 110 outstanding athletes and 40 outstanding disabled athletes in 2021-2022. In addition, the company has regularly made donations to Vietnamese prize-winning athletes at regional and international tournaments including SEA Games, ASEAN Para Games, ASIAD, ASIAN Para Games and the Olympics.
Environmental protection
As a CSR-minded company, Herbalife Vietnam has also attended to environmental protection with practical initiatives. In 2020, the company introduced the Go Green program with specific activities to minimize the discharge of plastic wastes into the environment.
Specifically, the company has replaced all carry bags for its products by non-woven mutiple-use fabric bags, rejected single-use plastic utensils at the company as well as at events it has organized, and called on members and partners to recycle plastic packaging items.
With these activities, the company has reduced 50 tons of plastic that should have otherwise been used.
Herbalife Nutrition has also organized the Simply Recycle contest not only in Vietnam but across the Asia-Pacific region as well, calling on its independent members to participate in recycling plastic containers of Herbalife products. For every 25 plastic cans or bottles being recycled, a tree will be planted by the non-profit organization One Tree Planted as a partner of the contest.
During the contest from June to August last year, the company’s independent members managed to recycle over 440,000 cans and bottles, accounting for over 61% of the volume collected and recycled in the Asia-Pacific, according to Herbalife Vietnam.
When Covid-19 was devastating the country, Herbalife Vietnam also swiftly lent a helping hand, donating VND2.33 billion to the Vietnam Fatherland Front to help fight the pandemic, and VND1.41 billion worth of protective gears to frontline medical workers. The company and its employees also donated VND875 million to the Covid-19 vaccine fund and VND290 million worth of relief aid for the poor.
In a talk with The Saigon Times, when asked if the multiple CSR programs placed a heavy burden on the company, Vu Van Thang said support to the community was a proud endeavor, “especially when it comes to support for children.” He asserted that “supporting children’s physical development at Casa Herbalife Vietnam Centers is fully aligned with the company’s mission to contribte to a healthier generation.”
