Citibank Berhad

– Community engagement at Citi is a shared responsibility. We call it Pathways to Progress. Through Citi Foundation, we continuously invest in financial inclusion, youth entrepreneur development and urban transformation initiatives.

Citizenship is core to Citi and a responsibility shared by all of our businesses, clients, suppliers and communities. We continuously invest in initiatives that enhance financial inclusion, create job opportunities for youth and introduce new approaches to build and sustain vibrant cities.

In Malaysia, Citi has proactively embraced a “More than Philanthropy’ approach to our strategic community initiatives. Our focus areas are in Urban Transformation, Financial Inclusion and Youth Economic Opportunities.

Citi Foundation grant partners in Malaysia are Think City, a subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad. Think City is a community-based urban regeneration body that seeks to create more sustainable and livable cities. Citi has partnered Think City over the last 6 years pioneering corporate sponsorship of urban migration research, development of cultural and arts initiatives in the heart of Kuala Lumpur City and in the past two years, a focus on Laneway Improvements to transform dilapidated laneways into vibrant community spaces with opportunities for healthy living based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the New Urban Agenda set by the United Nations (UN-Habitat).

An extension of Think City’s focus on urban transformation includes a strategic approach to inner-city social problems including homelessness and social stigma related to migrant communities in three laneways in historic Kuala Lumpur.

Think City also provides opportunities for selected community and civil society partners to jointly address significant social issues. There is also a significant environmental dimension that will involve waste management opportunities with local communities.

In the area of Youth Entrepreneurship, Citi is in partnership with the Asia School of Business supporting The Rapid Youth Success Entrepreneurship (RYSE) Program to improve youth unemployment rates in urban Malaysia. Low-income students from community colleges in the country are taught innovation and design thinking by the Asia School of Business team in addition to social entrepreneurship skills and e-commerce.

At a regional level, Citi Malaysia together with UNDP work collaboratively with government in the UNDP Youth Co-Lab program. The UNDP and Citi Foundation Youth Co-Lab Summit brings together each year, young social entrepreneurs throughout the country to compete and develop innovative business proposals to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Initiative has the support of the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (Magic) as well as the relevant government bodies involved in science and entrepreneur development. Citi employees are our best community ambassadors, generously giving their time and contribution to local charity giving and community support programmes. In 2020, Citi employees raised over RM125,000 supporting 41 community projects for 17 charitable and non-government organizations via a virtual Global Community Day initiative in Malaysia.

Our journey in serving communities has always been aligned to Citi’s mission of enabling economic progress. Through Citi Foundation, we were able to positively impact community through our projects in promoting more vibrant and sustainable living in cities, providing a brighter future for youth in low income families, empowering women and girls to build financially independent lives and encouraging the development of youth entrepreneurship in the country.