HONG KONG SAR – 9 June 2021 – Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C). The yearly Citi-HKCSS Community Intern Program (CIP) continues, lighting up the way for local business university students to venture into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and social awareness. 2021 marks the 11th year of the program.
CIP is sponsored and organized by Citi and co-organized by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS). The program is a first-of-its-kind cross-sector collaboration between academia, business and the NGO sector to provide local university students with internship opportunities at local non-profit organizations in order to cultivate the concept of CSR and broaden young talents’ understanding of the community.
The program gives Hong Kong’s future business leaders the chance to work with local non-profit organizations to tackle obstacles faced by the Hong Kong community. 80 business school students from 10 local universities are selected and will be placed into 40 different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) this summer, enabling them to contribute their knowledge and expertise to build capacity for the NGOs.
At the launch ceremony, Ms. Wendy Hu, Managing Director and Team Head, Hong Kong, Citi Private Bank said: “Citi has always been proud of our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility. This is the 11th year we have run CIP, nurturing the concept of CSR in more than 770 leaders of tomorrow. We believe understanding both the community and its challenges are central skills essential to being a future leader. We are committed to continuing this program and collaborating with our partner HKCSS to be the catalyst that enables young talent to bring good and positive changes to our society.”
Mr. Chua Hoi Wai, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, has also added: “This year marks the 11th anniversary of CIP. We are glad to continue our partnership with Citi in this meaningful program and would like to express our gratitude towards our university partners and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for their continuous support. In retrospect, business students contributed their expertise and innovative ideas to the NGO sector through this internship program. The alumni’s devotion to the society and their continuous efforts to put CSR into practice are our drive to sustain the program. We hope the interns in 2021 continue to brighten the community with the spirit of CIP and Corporate Social Responsibility.”
The 80 interns will work in 40 NGOs for 160 hours or more during July and August of 2021. They’re serving various community groups, including low-income families, the elderly and persons with disabilities, as well as helping in environmental conservation, providing strategic and operational assistance to their assigned NGOs in areas including but not limited to network building, brand-building, fundraising, social enterprise business, operations and community service support. They will also be given 20 hours of in-depth training on NGO operation and pressing community issues such as poverty gap, population ageing and environmental conservation. The training also includes seminars on CSR and cross-sector partnerships, visits to non-profit and social enterprises, as well as opportunities to interact with various underprivileged groups.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
About HKCSS
The HKCSS is an umbrella organisation of 490 agency members that provide over 90% of the social welfare services in Hong Kong. HKCSS launched the Caring Company Scheme in 2002 to build a cohesive society by promoting strategic partnership among business and social service partners and inspiring corporate social responsibility through caring for the community, employees and the environment. HKCSS puts much effort in building capacity for social enterprises through the Social Enterprise Business Centre (SEBC) to advance social entrepreneurship and mobilize social innovation.
