At pharmaceutical company Traphaco, business growth has always been going hand in hand with environmental protection and corporate social responsibility (CSR), the three factors to lay a solid foundation for the long-term success. According to the manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceutical products, alongside business goals, ensuring the benefits of the community and protecting the environment also play crucial roles in the company’s journey to maintain sustainable development.

Since the start of 2021, due to the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic, many sectors have been badly affected and faced many challenges in governance and business operations. According to Traphaco, however, a company knowing how to respond well to the pandemic could overcome crisis-induced obstacles. When the pandemic broke out, many companies established steering boards to review their entire production procedures, focused on core business activities, and refrained from business expansion. However, this pandemic also gave businesses an opportunity to review their long-term development strategies, as well as to realize the importance and the urgency of sustainable development. Enterprises that have implemented governance in a proper and professional manner would be able to remain stable and overcome hardships with less damage than those lacking a sound corporate governance. Sustainable development strategies To follow the path of sustainable development, Traphaco has clearly defined its business goals. Reality has proven that enterprises which followed a sustainable business strategy from the start such as multi-national companies and long-established businesses have higher resilience than the rest, especially small and medium enterprises. The Covid-19 pandemic also showed that given the restrictions in shopping and reduction on spending, customers, business partners, consumers usually opted for products from the best manufacturers, prestigious brands, and those having core values accumulated over a long time. Dao Thuy Ha, board member and deputy general director of Traphaco, said at seminar on sustainable development last week that the company has managed to apply sustainability standards to its governance and business development to respond well to the health crisis, as as such, the company has managed to spur growth this year. Despite the pandemic, the company’s revenue in 2021 is estimated at VND2,170 billion, increasing 14% year on year, while its after-tax profit even expands by an estimated 25% to VND265 billion. According to Ha, responsibility and sustainable development have become a mission at Traphaco, not only for the management but also throughout the company’s workforce. Therefore, Traphaco has become the sole drug firm to be honored among the “Top ten sustainable enterprises 2021” by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry this year.

Spreading the CSR spirit during pandemic As a company operating in the pharmaceutical industry, Traphaco has accompanied the Government, frontline healthcare workers and people across Vietnam since the start of the Covid fight in the country. Traphaco has donated VND500 million to support the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines for the community through the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in Hanoi City. Nguyen Anh Tuan, vice chairman of the Board of Directors at Traphaco, said: “As a pharmaceutical company, Traphaco JSC has always been consistent with its mission of taking care of the people’s health.” Also, Traphaco has cooperated with TML Volunteer group to implement a project to manufacture heat-resistant Covid-19 sample collecting booths. Under the project, 15 mobile booths were presented to the four northern localities of Hanoi, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, and Thai Binh. Being equipped with air conditioners, ventilation fans, and disinfection lights, the mobile Covid sample collecting booths deployed by Traphaco and the TML team help medical staff partially avoid hot weather, high temperatures while wearing protective gear and especially minimize the risk of Covid transmission due to close contact with a large number of people undergoing Covid-19 testing. In addition, in late August this year, the company presented 65 gifts worth a total of VND130 million to employees and students of Hanoi University of Pharmacy that volunteered to come to HCMC to support the treatment of Covid patients. In the third quarter of 2021, learning that many of its customers who operate pharmacies in the central and southern regions were facing difficulties, the management board of Traphaco launched a program to offer T-B Fresh mouthwash as gifts to 8,000 pharmacies in the south and 4,000 others in the central region. In the Health Ministry’s program to offer bags of Covid medication to Covid patients under home-based care, the T-B Fresh mouthwash manufactured by Traphaco was selected as one of the products in the bag. Traphaco proactively arranged to supply 200,000 bottles of the mouthwash and transported them to HCMC to promptly support the program.