11 March 2020: Permata Hijau Group (PHG), in partnership with Cargill and CORE held its first supplier workshop in JW Marriott Hotel, Medan. The workshop aimed to communicate to PHG suppliers the importance of sustainability and transparency and to introduce the updated sustainability/ NDPE policy of PHG as well as PHG’s new supplier code. The event was attended by more than 50 participants.

The workshop kicked off with an opening speech by Toto Chandra, PHG’s Director of Sustainability and Altur Manullang, Cargill’s Operational Manager. The speeches were followed by presentation by Henry Cai, PHG’s Head of Sustainability on PHG’s commitment to sustainable palm oil and its updated sustainability policy and supplier code. After that, Altur Manullang, presented on Cargill’s view on sustainability and its commitment to help suppliers in achieving sustainability.

The next session was a technical session where Sahat Aritonang (CORE) explained the Traceability to Plantation (TTP) process and discussed the many TTP tools that suppliers can utilize. The technical session continued with presentation from Abi Ismarrahman (CORE) introducing CORE’s NDPE Implementation Reporting Framework (IRF) where the attendees participated in mock filling of the IRF form.

The heavy technical session was followed with a more relaxed session of experience sharing from Aswan Hasibuan, Sustainability Manager of PT. Sumber Tani Agung and Hotmatua, Marketing Manager of PTPN V who shared their experiences in implementing sustainability in their respective companies.

The event was closed with a lively question and answer session and a closure speech by Henry Cai who emphasize that to thrive in the modern marketplace, companies must embrace sustainability and that there must be a balance between three important aspects in running a business: Profit, People and Planet.