News & Media

AHL Business Solutions (Pvt) Ltd (AHLBS) receives recognition during the 4th National Shared Services & BPM conclave held on 14th November, 2014 on the Theme – ‘Process Agility & Cost Optimization in Service & Support Functions in New Delhi, India.

The Shared Service unit of AHLBS received the excellence award under the category of ‘Shared Services in India & Sri Lanka – Single Domain’.

Congratulations to the AHLBS Team, this achievement was possible as a result of your hard work and commitment.

AHL Business Solutions (Pvt) Ltd is the Business Systems and Services Segment of Goodhope Asia Holdings Ltd, providing all information technology and business systems and BPM services to the Goodhope Group.

The SSC/BPM unit of AHLBS is capable of managing IT wrapped Transaction Management Solutions to IT enabled end-to-end process management and KPO services utilizing various IT platforms and adopting continuous process re-engineering towards enhancing business value creation

Shared Services Forum (SSF) with RvaluE Consulting as Knowledge Partners is a forum involved in conceptualizing and organizing various industry related events such as the Annual National Conclave with a focus on Shared Services & BPM. The key objectives of the Conclave are to capture and disseminate understanding/impact of BPM Organizations through Shared Services and hybrid models, spreading and recognizing the adoption of BPM industry in the subcontinent, fully leveraging the best practices from global shared services and off-shoring operations.

These Awards have been established to honour, recognize and promote BPM strategies and for demonstrating winning practices by Companies that are broadly comparable in this regard.

Read more - Shared Services Forum

Goodhope Asia Holdings Ltd representing the entire Goodhope Group of companies applied for two out of approximately 30 categories in the World Training & Development Congress 2014.

This year, Goodhope competed alongside industry giants like Hindustan Unilever, Jindal Power, Dominos Pizza, Infosys BPO, TATA Consultancy services, State Bank of India, Vishakapattanam Steel Plant, Zurich Bank Insurance (Hong Kong), Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance, amongst others and emerged as winners.

The two categories applied for were:

1. Excellence in Content Development Award – this showcased the excellent work done by Goodhope Group’s Learning & Development Team in developing training modules for our Oil Palm Plantations Segment in collaboration with the Goodhope Research and Development Center based in Indonesia.

2. Award for the most innovative use of Training & Development as an HR Initiative for Organizational Development – This focused on the ‘Corporate Challenge’ initiative, a unique employee development program launched in Goodhope’s Corporate Office for all employees. This program which was sub-divided into Champions Search and Champion Challenge is aimed at developing leadership and analytical skills of employees. Champion Search gave employees a forum where they were challenged to solve issues facing real-life business scenarios using a case-study and presentation format enabling them to showcase their capabilities and innovative ideas to the senior management team. Champion Challenge allowed the winners of Champion Search to work with teams from another program known as ‘Talent Development’ whereby they received an opportunity to participate in another unique program which revolves around  real-business cross-functional projects aimed at delivering tangible business results, closely aligned to the overall business strategies of the Goodhope Group. 

The Congress deliberations and award ceremony took place on 15th Feb at Taj Land’s End Hotel in Mumbai, India.

The World Training & Development Award is organized by the Human Resources Development Management Committee of the World HRD Congress. It is the only award of its kind in the world that gives public recognition of achievements in training & development to individuals as well as companies, whether large or small and whatever the nature of their businesses or services.

For the first time Goodhope Asia Holdings Ltd applied for the ‘Asia’s Training and Development Excellence Awards 2013’, which was held at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Singapore on 1st August 2013.

We applied for 2 categories out of a total of around 30 categories and were successfully recognized as the Winner for both categories which are as follows:

1. Best Leadership Development program for Middle Management

2. Best Apprenticeship Program

Congratulations to the Human Resources Teams of Goodhope Group for your efforts towards making this possible!

Goodhope Asia Holdings Ltd would like to re-iterate that all its plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia strictly follow a ‘No Burning' policy when undertaking land clearing and development activities.

All of Goodhope's plantations adhere to a strict zero burning policy, which is enforced without exception. This is in line with the Group's commitment to following environmentally friendly practices and the principles and criteria as set-out by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

At present all on-going plantation land development operations undertaken by Goodhope uses mechanical methods of land clearing which is considered to be one of the most environmentally friendly mechanisms as all of the organic matter is returned to the soil.

The management and staff of all our plantations are highly trained and very conscientious in ensuring that the no-burn policy is adhered to.

As the dry season approaches, employees in all our plantations vigilantly look-out for any fire breakouts in the surrounding vicinity. As a part of their readiness, employees are continuously trained on how to control and manage fires and extensive mock fire drills are conducted regularly.

Goodhope Asia Holdings Ltd does not have any plantations in the Island of Sumatra.

On March 3, 2013 AHL Business Solutions (Pvt) Ltd, was certified by the British Standards Institute (BSI) for ISO 27001:2005, its ‘Information Security Management System (ISMS)' standard.
The scope covered by this certification is specified below.

The management of information security in providing;

• IT Infrastructure Services,
• Software Development Services,
• Business Processes Management Services (BPM) ,
• Business Systems Support and
• IT Governance and Strategic Support

The management credited this achievement to the dedicated efforts and absolute commitment of all AHLBS staff members.

As part of the Group's social responsibility activities, the Corporate Office of Goodhope Asia Holdings Ltd (GAHL), sponsored the construction of the second phase of a ‘Transit House' under the auspices of the CCC Foundation to accommodate outpatients of the Cancer Hospital in Maharagama, Sri Lanka. This ‘Transit House' known as CCC House is located within the premises of the Cancer Institute in close proximity to the Cancer Hospital. Reaching the hospital in time for their treatment is hassle free and easy as residents need only cross the bridge that leads them directly to the Hospital.

GAHL is contributing LKR 60 million for this project, whilst the SMT and corporate office staff also made voluntarily contributions. These funds have been used towards the construction of the second wing of the CCC House. This project in total comprises of 188 beds for the accommodation of cancer outpatients and their caretakers. Ms. Janaka Jayawickrama, Mr. Kevin de Silva and Mr. Priyantha Hapuarachchi were involved in the monitoring the progress of the construction representing Goodhope.

This second wing of the CCC House had its soft opening on Saturday March 2, 2013 attended by donors, sponsors and officials of the CCC Foundation.

The CCC House offers its patients a calm, clean and safe environment where they are able to rest and recover between treatments. The House offers bedrooms with attached bathrooms for children and their caretakers, while adults are accommodated in dormitory style rooms. Playrooms, relaxation areas, a prayer room, dining rooms, gardens and sitting rooms are some of the additional facilities that residents can avail themselves of. Volunteer groups teach the children and a counselor is also available once a week.

The CCC (Courage, Commitment, Compassion) Foundation is a not for profit voluntary organization based in Sri Lanka and Australia. CCC's vision of ‘Building Bridges of Hope' is about linking people and organizations between Australia and Sri Lanka to implement best practice in medical treatment and care as well as provide better conditions for patients and care takers through infrastructure improvement projects.

Visit the official website for more details: www.cccfoundation.org.au

Article in Newspapers: www.ft.lk/2013/03/09/ccc-completes-transit-home-for-out-door-cancer-patients/

For the second year running, the Sungai Purun mill of PT Agro Indomas, Goodhope's flagship plantation in Indonesia, was duly recognized as meeting the required standards set by the Indonesian government on environmental performance.

The final results released on November 28, 2012, by the Minister of Environment Office in Jakarta, Indonesia beheld Sungai Purun mill receiving the Green Rating for the second year. This milestone shows the commitment that Goodhope places on environment sustainability in our business operations.

This year 1,317 companies across Indonesia were evaluated from the Manufacturing, Mining, Oil & Gas and Plantations industries. Of this total, only 12 companies were awarded a Gold rating, while 119 companies received the Green rating, which included 11 palm oil mills. The Sungai Purun mill of PT Agro Indomas was one of these 11 mills to be recognized by the Indonesian Government to have achieved the required standards.

The Business Services Segment of Goodhope Asia Holdings Limited has successfully adopted an Enterprise Project Management (EPM) system, selecting Microsoft Project Server 2010 as its platform. EPM is a governance framework and a discipline that can be used not only to plan and track existing individual projects but also for managing and monitoring an entire portfolio of projects. The Group opted to utilize the EPM Solution from Microsoft as it provides a complete set of capabilities for managing projects from concept to completion, while enabling several value adding features to projects spanning multiple departments and geographies.

Full story at http://www.ft.lk/2012/03/16/goodhope-adopts-enterprise-project-management-solution/

PT Agro Indomas (our flagship subsidiary plantation company) in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia is pleased to announce progress in the certification process for our Terawan and Sungai Purun Mills in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

For further details please check the RSPO website - RSPO P&C Certification Notification

Goodhope Asia Holdings Limited is a first time Gold sponsor for the world-renowned Palm and Lauric Oils Conference & Exhibition Price Outlook (POC) conference which is held annually in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We are happy and honoured to be associated with this event which is attended by international players from the oils and fats industry from over 40 countries.

Goodhope's plantation company PT Agro Indomas reached another great milestone in environment performance and by being awarded the Green rating in the PROPER programme, 2011. This marks a significant improvement in performance since 2010. At the awards ceremony held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta, on November 30, 2011 graced by the vice president of Indonesia- Dr. Budiono, the Green rating was awarded by Dr. Balthasar Kambuaya, Ministry of Environment, to the two Agro Indomas mills, which are located in Central Kalimantan.

There were 1,002 companies across Indonesia, covering manufacture, mining, energy & gas, agro-industry and services industry involved in this year's programme. Only five companies were awarded the Gold rating and 106 companies, which included the Agro Indomas mills, received the Green rating. Out of a total of 112 oil palm plantation companies audited this year, only nine companies were given the Green rating. This proves Goodhope's commitment to environment and sustainable practices have pushed the Group to the forefront of the industry, while with this commendation also comes greater responsibility on the Group's part, to maintain and enhance the position that has been achieved so far.

With continued dedication and by further commitment to wider environment causes; the Group hopes to reach greater milestones in the future as well.

On June 27th 2011, PT. Agro Indomas Central Kalimantan as a part of PT. Agro Harapan Lestari were recognized by the Bangkal Village Dayak Cultural Leader in Central Kalimantan for its initiative and participation for the rejuvenation, renovation, and restoration of Intan Berlian Dayak Cultural Centre of Bangkal Village in Central Kalimantan. The Company proudly received this award, titled "Champion of Indigenous Dayak Cultural Preservation". In this modern era sacred values of Central Kalimantan's Dayak culture is being forgotten and we are proud to help restore and revive it for future generations.

On Saturday, May 21, 2011 at a workshop and ceremony held by the Indonesian Teachers Association (IGI Kalteng) in Central Kalimantan, Goodhope Asia Holdings Limited was given due recognition for their contribution towards the development of education and teachers' quality in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The award was received on behalf of Goodhope Group by Mr. Mikael Onny Setiawan, CSR Manger, PT Agro Harapn Lestari, the regional managing company of the Group.

The award - "The Most Committed Company on Education" was presented by Mrs. Rusnani and witnessed by the Central Kalimantan Province Head of Education Agency, Mr. Guntur Talajan at Barito Sweet Sinta Hotel in Palangkaraya. This re-enforces our belief on and lends encouragement to the Group's continuing efforts regarding Education Advancement, through our dedicated Agro Harapan Foundation.

IGI is an independent association that focuses on teachers' professionalism and capacity building.