October 27, 2020 – Recently Mr Noppadol Dej-Udom, Chief Sustainability Officer of Charoen Pokphand Group Co., Ltd., joined the online panel discussion titled “A New Development Agenda: Leapfrogging Out of the Pandemic Economy”, organized by the World Economic Forum as part of the Jobs Reset Summit 2020, presenting experience of C.P. Group in handling the impacts of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as well as providing insights into post-crisis global economic development strategy. 

In addition to Mr Noppadol, who represented a multinational business that operates across the globe, the diverse panel of leaders from multiple sectors included Debora Revoltella, Director of the Economics Department of the European Investment Bank, Fatoumata Ba, Founder and Managing Director of Janngo Capital, and Alfred Hannig, Executive Director of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI).  The discussion was moderated by Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalization and Development at the University of Oxford.

The panelists discussed about the global challenges to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030, and the need to “leapfrog” out of the present economic crisis caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. 

Mr Noppadol presented C.P. Group’s experience in working closely with the government and civil society sectors to mitigate the impact of the healthcare crisis, in line with the Group’s “Three-Benefit Principle” which include the consideration of benefits to the nations, the communities, and finally the business returns.  For example, the Group announced a global policy not to lay off any employee during the Covid-19 crisis, and opened up additional 28,000 positions in various subsidiaries in Thailand.  The Group provided food assistance to people under quarantine and medical staff, as well as built a surgical mask factory to supply healthcare workers.   He also responded to questions about the private sector’s role in economic development in developing countries, stressing the needs for multi-sector collaborations in investing for the future.

“The United Nations estimated that we need to invest about 3.3 to 4.5 trillion US dollars per year to achieve the SDGs by 2030.  To handle such large investment, I think it is vital that all sectors come together to share resources as well as to share the risks,” said Mr Noppadol.  He added “businesses also need to evolve with the growing complexity of the development challenges.  In the past, development work implemented by private sector alone, or in public-private partnership arrangement, often look at individual projects and initiatives to address particular needs.  This kind of focused projects will still be needed, but the new realities also require a more comprehensive approach, such as development of an ecosystem or enabling mechanisms.”

Other distinguished panelists provided strategies for post-Covid economic development.  Ms Revoltella of the European Investment Bank, highlighted Europe’s focus on impact investing for environmental sustainability and transformation of the job market to match the changing demographic character of Europe’s population.  Ms Ba from Janngo Capital pointed out that Africa has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic economically, losing $60 billion a month since its outbreak and suffering massive job loss. “E-commerce could create a net 3 million jobs in Africa by 2025” she said, adding that a lot of investment is needed to unlock the potential of online economy and enhance women’s participation in driving local economic growth.  Mr Hannig from Alliance for Financial Inclusion argued that microfinance can go a long way when it comes to women, especially, in the Global South – and that mobile money accounts can vastly facilitate both access to and servicing of microlending.

C.P. Group Chief Sustainability Officer referred to the role of the business sector during the World Wars, in which virtually all companies and factories were involved in producing war materials.  In comparison, the current Covid-19 pandemic is a common enemy that requires collective effort of all parties to combat.  Similarly, other global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity losses, international and social conflicts, also pose existential threat to humanity.  Professor Goldin concurred with Mr Noppadol’s comparison and expressed hope that the world will learn useful lessons from the current pandemic, as it did from the Second World War, which led to the establishment of multinational frameworks that seek to promote peaceful resolution of conflicts and enhanced multilateral collaborations.

Paris, 21 October 2020: Mazars, the international tax, audit and advisory firm, unveils the new global brand identity of Mazars Group in over 90 countries and territories, reflecting its aspiration to bring totally different dimensions of services to the audit, tax and advisory market, and reaffirms its commitment to building a fair, prosperous and sustainable world.

Hervé Hélias, CEO & Chairman of Mazars Group, said: “The rebranding is to reflect the Group’s achievements in the steady, balanced growth and successful business expansion. With our strong position in the marketplace, in the last fiscal year (2018/2019), Mazars Group recorded revenues of €1.8 billion, up 10.4% (excluding Forex impact of +0.2%) compared to the previous exercise. The increase in revenues was supported by a robust 9.0% organic growth, reflecting Mazars’ continuous business growth that turns it into an international group of companies. Presently, Mazars operates businesses in over 90 countries and territories, having more than 40,000 employees around the world.  

This international expansion is reflected in the geographic spread of the Group’s revenue sources: more than a third of Mazars’ fee income now comes from outside Europe. Asia-Pacific enjoyed the highest growth rate of 22.6% in 2018/2019, and this region now represents approximately 15% of Mazars total revenues.

“Today, we work with nearly 2,000 Public Interest Entity (PIE) clients around the world on their audit; 30% of the listed companies in France are our customers, and in China, we serve almost 140 large-listed companies. At the same time, we serve over 50,000 privately owned and family businesses, from private clients and start-ups to mature international clients.”

At present, despite audit represents nearly 50% of its activity, Mazars still keeps on developing its range of services in accounting, tax, legal, consulting and financial advisory. The diversity of expertise enhances its capability to help clients navigate the increasingly complex of markets regulatory challenges nowadays.

For Thailand business, Rob Hurenkamp, ​​Managing Partner of Mazars in Thailand, said the company aims to be the fifth largest audit firm in Thailand in 2024 from the sixth at present. 

In terms of income, Mazars in Thailand aims for average annual revenue and customer growth rate of approximately 11%, equal to the growth rate last year, which is higher than the industry average.

“Our advantage is our expansion strategy as we stretch to other countries as an integrated partnership with the local businesses with joint management with partners in every country. The strategy enables the Mazars network to closely collaborate to serve clients with maintaining our international standards across the globe. While the other players focus on granting a license and let them all being individual, hence, our networks are more agile.” Said Mr Rob. 

Mr Rob added that to win over the Big 4, which accounts the market shares of 95%, is not an easy task. But the company sees a gap in the market where Mazars can slide in. “As the Big Four businesses are large and operate individually, allowing Mazars to fill the gap in the market.” 

During the COVID-19 challenges, Rob said all businesses around the world were affected more or less. However, there are always opportunities in a time of crisis, he added.

Some businesses such as tourism and related are hit the hardest, while digital and communication are growing significantly. Therefore, the entrepreneurs may be looking for new businesses with high growth potential due to the pandemic. He suggested that in the meantime, companies need to adapt during the hardship periodically. In the acute phase, cash flow is the key, then following by the business restructuring phase, with focusing on business reviving strategic plan.