Activities

Despite recent improvements to the formal education system in Bangladesh, teaching techniques still focus on memorization and exam-centered lessons. At Olympic, we believe that it is essential to impart on children a holistic approach to literature, art, history, logic and current issues from an early age.

To have a long-term impact on students’ life, we partnered with Fulki and launched their ‘Integrated Educational-Cultural Programme’ in five schools around our factories. This program enables students to learn about topics such as their rights and apply them in their day-to-day life. It also engages local youths as facilitators. We hope that in this process, both facilitators and students will enhance their creativity and become responsible citizens.

To deepen our workers’ knowledge on issues surrounding SRHR, Olympic provided 10 hours of training to Peer Educators with the help of Change Associates. Topics such as reproductive health, STIs & HIV/AIDS, Gender Based Violence & Discrimination and family planning were addressed through this training.

To learn more about Change Associates’ training expertise, please visit change-bd.org

Olympic is proud to be partnering with UNDP-UNV Innovation Hub in reaching out to the Bangladeshi private sector. We have been selected as one of the companies with most impact on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are featured on the UNDP-UNV Innovation Hub’s new Responsible Business webpage.

For more details on Bangladesh’s sustainability leaders, please visit www.impact-bangladesh.org

We recognize the need for women to be hired at all levels of our organization. Women can contribute to our company in a unique way, using their diverse perspectives, creativity and problem-solving techniques to improve our company. We recently piloted a scholarship program which provided free vocational and soft skills training for 6 women in the packaging department who wish to move up the ladder and become assistant machine operators. This type of skilled work, traditionally performed by men, provides a wage and leadership opportunity worthy of these women’s capabilities.

We are partenering with Quay Asia to ensure that our leaders are supported in every way. For more information on Quay Asia’s innovative projects, please visit quayasia.com

Last October, Olympic took part in a private sector forum organised by the United Nations Development Programme and UN Volunteers Innovation Hub. With over 200 other private sector companies in attendance, the forum aimed at exploring ways of reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through partnership with companies like ours. Our Head of Sustainability and our consultant on Risk and Compliance shared their perspectives on how businesses can contribute to and profit from the SDGs.

To learn more about our team’s contribution to this project, watch this short video.

Accessing quality and affordable healthcare is a challenge for the majority of people in Bangladesh. Thanks to the hard work and collaboration of the CWCH, our workers now have access to a general practitioner and a nutritionist in exchange for a nominal fee at the Lolati Health & Nutrition Centre. Our goal is to provide nutrition advice to everyone who visits the centre for a doctor’s consultation.

The CWCH has been dedicated to providing healthcare to factory workers for over 13 years. For information on the services they provide, please visit cwchbd.org

Diabetes, anemia, reproductive health, nutritional status, etc. These are all being screened by the Centre for Woman and Child Health as part of the complete health assessment they are conducting for our workers. We believe that healthcare should be affordable and accessible. With our clinic opening soon, we thought it would be useful for our workers to know how they are doing, and how we can help them.

The CWCH also runs a hospital in Ashulia, an area predominantly populated with factories. For information on the services they provide, please visit cwchbd.org

Maya Apa, Bangladesh’s leading online health platform, is partnering with Olympic to provide answers to our workers’ SRHR questions. Maya’s aim is to help women, their families and their community so they are empowered and can enable themselves to take informed decisions in their lives. The Maya Apa team visited Olympic factories a dozen times to promote their free online service and provide medical consultations on the spot. They have also installed a kiosk in our factories’ medical centres so that workers without smartphones can easily access their services.

To learn more about Maya Apa’s groundbreaking work, please visit www.maya.com.bd

Nutrition is a key ingredient to health and productivity. We believe everyone should have access to safe and nutritious food, starting with learning about what constitutes good nutrition. In partnership with Change Associates, we provided 10 hours of training to Peer Educators, who successfully shared their knowledge with their colleagues.

To learn more about Change Associates’ training expertise, please visit www.change-bd.org

Olympic is proud to have supported the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh’s 2nd Annual Conference on Sustainable Development. Olympic’s Head of Sustainability, Marion Pellegrin, participated in a panel discussion on SDG 12: Sustainable Production and Consumption. In addition, Olympic offered biscuits to attendees throughout the conference.

When it comes to working conditions, we don’t mess around. While lack of compliance is still a major issue in Bangladesh, we are committed to providing a work environment which follows the Bangladesh Labour Act, as well as international standards.

The most important aspect to us is Occupational Health and Safety. We provide our workers with some of the safest and most hygienic facilities in Bangladesh. We provide clean drinking water, health assessments, medical care and insurance, fire safety equipment and training, as well as the many safety features of our factories.

As for employment conditions, we pay our workers a fair wage, grant them the leave they so greatly deserve, share 5% of our profits with them and pay for overtime as prescribed by the law. We do not, under any circumstance, employ workers under the age of 18. For more details on our working conditions, please read our Full Report [available soon].

Quality is our first priority. From raw materials to finished goods, we conduct tests at all stages for quality and safety. By using the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning system, we can reduce the potential for error and keep track of our entire production process.

All our workers are trained to adopt Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), which includes all forms of hygiene. In order to ensure that all our policies are respected and known to our consumers, we are ISO 22000 certified. In addition, SGS tests our products and audits our factories once a year, according to various standardized criteria.

The quality of our sustainability projects is also our top priority. We contracted a team of independent professionals to conduct a full assessment of our workers’ needs. Our projects are shaped and informed by the findings of this third-party study.

In the last few years, we have donated to various educational institutions and events in Bangladesh. These include debate competitions, graduation ceremonies and university events. We also fund an annual Energy Plus football tournament which is meant to encourage youth to partake in healthy, productive activities as a part of their daily lives. We also donate on a monthly basis to four madrassas and one primary school for the employment of Science, Mathematics and English teachers.