Corporate social responsibility is now a critical component of a successful business strategy. Companies that prioritize these efforts position themselves to become drivers for significant economic and social change in the communities where they operate. Summit Group founder Muhammed Aziz Khan says that’s a central part of what he envisions for his company in Bangladesh.
As the founder of the firm that built the country’s first power plant, Khan speaks with pride about Summit’s role in building and expanding the infrastructure needed to provide electricity throughout the densely populated country of 174 million people. He calls being part of the modernization of Bangladesh “the biggest satisfaction” in his professional life.
It’s a vision shared by Ayesha Khan, managing director and chief executive officer at Summit Power International. She says corporate responsibility “is very important for Summit because as corporations become large, they become very important stakeholders for the society. We want to be able to be a corporation that is responsible to both its shareholders and for all its stakeholders.”
Summit Group’s Role in Providing Electricity in Bangladesh
Incorporated in Singapore, SPI is a leading infrastructure developer and operator in South Asia, encompassing a group of businesses dedicated to the development and operation of power generation and liquefied natural gas infrastructure. The organization’s portfolio delivers reliable energy to governments and state utilities.
SPI established Bangladesh’s first independent power plant in 1997 and has since become the country’s largest independent power producer. The company accounts for 17% of Bangladesh’s total private installed capacity and 7% of the nation’s total installed capacity. SPI owns and operates 18 power plants. SPI also operates Bangladesh’s second floating storage and regasification unit and LNG import terminal.
The company’s success in building power-generation infrastructure played a critical role in expanding the reach of electricity in Bangladesh. In the mid-1990s, about 20% of the country’s population had access to electricity. That number is now 100%.
Muhammed Aziz Khan and Summit Power Focus on Building Business and Social Infrastructure
Muhammed Aziz Khan says Summit Power supports the community it serves in two key ways: by expanding and improving both business infrastructure and social infrastructure. He’s made education one of the areas where Summit focuses its corporate social responsibility efforts.
“Education is the biggest enabler of equality in the world. And therefore, we focus on how to educate the people around the power plants or around any of our facilities,” says Khan. “In most of the places, we built schools and handed them over to the local authorities so that the children can study.
“I am very pleased to say that we are teaching more than 9,000 children in Bangladesh, disadvantaged children who would not otherwise be able to go to school. It’s another great satisfaction to be able to provide an equalizer in society.”
Summit Group sponsors a variety of education programs. For example, the Alor Pathshala program operates seven schools in Bangladesh, educating students between the ages of 6 and 16 in hard-to-reach areas for more than 15 years now. Khan is the founder-chairman of the Prothom Alo Trust that funds the program and now serves as a trustee.
Summit Group has provided funding to Jaago Foundation, which offers an English version curriculum in both digital and in-person classes to children from financially disadvantaged homes. Summit also provides funding for the Society for Education and Inclusion of the Disabled (SEID), which offers day care and school services, the SEID-Summit Community Therapy School for underprivileged children with special needs for over a decade now.
Additionally, Summit supports the Dhaka Residential Model College, Tagore University of Creative Arts and the Proyash Institute of Special Education, one of the leading special education Institutions in Bangladesh.
Summit Views Its Business Model as a Corporate Responsibility
Both Muhammed Aziz Khan and Ayesha Khan emphasize that they view the very nature of the company’s business as a corporate responsibility because of the importance of reliable electricity, especially in a developing nation. They say support of education is one facet of a focus on corporate responsibility in all phases of the business.
“I think the biggest corporate social responsibility we have is to provide low-cost energy infrastructure to the people of this region, especially to the people of Bangladesh. That is our biggest responsibility,” says Ayesha Khan. “The business that we are doing is a socially responsible business.”
Ayesha Khan adds that while Summit will continue to fund corporate responsibility efforts, she makes sure to keep the business focused on its primary goal. “I tell myself, and I tell my team, and I tell everyone with who I’m working with, that the most important focus that we need to have is to be able to bring low-cost energy infrastructure to the people of Bangladesh — because that is what they need the most.”
Muhammed Aziz Khan noted that corporate social responsibility, from providing electricity across the country to supporting education and other programs, is ingrained in the company’s DNA. He says both personally and as a business leader, he sees efforts toward creating equality as central to civilization.
“Equality is a human goodness,” Muhammed Aziz Khan says. “Corporate social responsibility is part of this larger expectation of humanity. The creation of wealth should not only be for personal gain and pleasure, but also for the improvement of humanity.”
