For the 2024 Lunar New Year, Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (SABECO) spared no effort to expedite its offerings, with more than 10,000 gifts given to people in 25 localities throughout the countries.

Thousands of Lunar New Year gifts have been offered over the years

Each gift set was worth $30 and included lucky money bags and several essentials.

Lunar New Year-themed entertainment and activities have been organised across cities and provinces, offering communities the chance to enjoy and participate in the excitement of hunting lucky prizes courtesy of Bia Saigon.

As a brand associated with the cultural and culinary values of Vietnam and using the dragon as a symbol of sustainable prosperity, Saigon Beer wanted to send encouragement and gratitude for their contributions to overcoming the challenges of the old year and look forward to a prosperous Year of the Dragon.

Over the years, the Saigon Beer brand has fronted annual community support events to help local people deal with socioeconomic difficulties, spreading the spirit of sharing during the festive season.

The company has been implementing various initiatives and community support programmes since 2020, channelling over $1.8 million to almost 28,000 beneficiaries across all provinces and cities in Vietnam. The initiatives, ranging from essential gifts to lucky money envelopes and transport tickets, aim to ensure that workers and disadvantaged individuals can enjoy a warm and joyous Lunar New Year.

SABECO’s festive gifts included everyday essentials

Commitment to support

While continuous product improvements and vibrant marketing campaigns for Saigon Beer aim to conquer consumers and reaffirm its position as a top Vietnamese brand, community initiatives are a way for SABECO to fulfil its commitment to supporting local people and contributing to the country’s sustainable development.

Last year, SABECO and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) held numerous activities to improve local lives. Total assistance in 2022-2023 reached about $1.25 million to directly and indirectly cover 500,000 beneficiaries through the Fostering Sports initiative, which has upgraded 30 community sports playgrounds, and placed over 70km of solar street lights across the country through the Light Up the Rural initiative.

SABECO also spread the spirit of sport and promoting healthy and active lifestyles in the community through a youth football tournament in the northern province of Thai Binh in 2023, which drew the participation of 10 football teams from various localities.

Considering youth support as part of its sustainable development strategies, SABECO has been supporting training and mentoring courses for more than 500 young people to strengthen their knowledge of startups and digital transformation, enhance their competitiveness, develop their business sense, and create more jobs.

SABECO and the HCYU are creating stronger conditions for the younger generation to develop their potential, creating positive value for the community. They have been expediting a series of activities to support the development of young talent, accompanying young people to form business startups, supporting their livelihoods, training, and capacity building.

A series of capacity-building activities have been launched across the country over the past two years, in places such as Lao Cai, Ha Nam, Quang Ngai, Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong, and Can Tho, creating a springboard to enable more than 500 rural youths to start businesses and contribute to local economic development.

Young examples with excellent achievements have been swiftly honoured by businesses through the Luong Dinh Cua Award, which was initiated by the HCYU to champion young people who are involved in rural business development.

Last year, more than 40 young farmers with outstanding achievements in business, startups, and production were honoured along with nine excellent projects from the Rural Youth Startup Project competition.

With the large network of the HCYU and its partners, SABECO has amplified the influence of community initiatives and significantly contributed to Vietnam’s national strategies and goals on building new rural areas, green growth, digital transformation, and talent development.

Promoting strong values

In light of SABECO’s sustainable development strategy, the company focuses on its pillars of country, culture, consumption, and conservation to bring the best for Vietnam. There are four main elements: encouraging responsible consumption, business and production along with conservation and environmental protection, contributing to sustainable development, and promoting Vietnamese cultural values.

“Bia Saigon was born in Vietnam and grew up here. The company has a 148-year history in this country, and we are proud to produce a Vietnamese beer with good quality that can compete globally,” said Dinh Nguyen Thi Huong, head of Corporate Communications at SABECO.

The company’s sustainable brewing implements impactful solutions that support SABECO’s commitment to strengthening its sustainable business operations under Vietnam’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulation and the country’s wider green growth strategy.

“We develop in parallel with the country’s green growth goals. In the process of carrying out our production and business activities, we not only comply with Vietnamese laws, but also with environmental regulations, and those on EPR to ensure that all of our activities do not harm the surrounding environment,” Huong added.

Instead of using fossil fuels to power its boilers, the company has switched to plant-based biomass fuel made from rice husks, sawdust, cashew shells, and leaves, implemented a wastewater treatment system, used sustainable packaging by down-gauging cans and light-weighting cardboard boxes and bottles, and reused beer glasses and bottles.

It has also made additional steps to reduce its environmental effect. These include pushing improvements in water consumption, where the amount utilised per litre of beer produced has been lowered from five litres in 2018 to less than three litres last year.

In 2023, SABECO implemented the second phase of a rooftop solar power project in the production system. A total of 17 of its 26 plants have been using renewable energy sources, saving 25 million kWh of electricity per year. It is estimated that 18,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide will also be reduced each year, contributing to the company’s net-zero emissions target by 2050 while also helping to support Vietnam’s green growth.