(5 April 2022) Amgen Korea (GM: Sang Noh), one of the world’s leading biotechnology companies, announced on 5 April the launch of the Blue De:Light campaign to make and donate solar lanterns for children in energy-poor countries, to mark Science Month in April.
The Blue De:Light campaign was planned as part of the U Belong project, which Amgen Korea started last year in an effort to realize its ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) aspirations to help make the world a better place. The U Belong project since 2021 gives employees a chance to get hands-on for community outreach programs designed to help the marginalized, promoting the Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (DI&B) values in the local community it serves. It can also be a chance for employees and their family members to feel a stronger bond as a member of Amgen Korea, and be reminded of the community’s diversity, inclusion and belonging.
For this year’s U Belong project, as a true biotechnology leader, Amgen Korea launched the Blue De:Light campaign to make and donate solar lanterns, which uses environment-friendly alternative energy, for children in energy-poor countries. A total of 64 Amgen Korea employees participated to manually assemble 200 solar lanterns, together with their children and other family members, and write a Letter of Hope for children who can now have light at night. A special event was also arranged where participants shared the video of their making a lantern and spending 1 hour without the power while trying the lantern they made. The lanterns will be donated, along with Letters of Hope they wrote, to energy-poor countries in Southeast Asia and Africa (Nepal, Liberia, Malawi, Myanmar, Uganda, Tanzania, Thailand, Kenya, the Philippines, etc.) within this year.
Ji-Bin Jeon from Compliance, one of the participants in the campaign, said, “I have been taking part in the U Belong project since last year and it has given me an exciting opportunity to make a difference in the communities together with colleagues and family while working from home. I hope the lantern I made with my family finds its new home for children in energy-poor regions to be able to read, study and have their valuable time back even at night so that it can help these children appreciate the joy of learning and stay hopeful as growing up. I want to continue to be part of company’s community outreach programs to feel even stronger sense of belonging and lend the communities and underrepresented a helping hand.”
It is estimated that 1 billion people globally are living without the power and 90% of the elementary schools in Africa are suffering from routine power shortage. An environment-friendly solar lantern can help children in these energy-poor countries live and study as their peers would otherwise do. In Korea, they are delivered through the Miral Welfare Foundation worldwide.
Guided by its business strategies incorporating ESG goals, Amgen Korea as a global leader in biotechnology does not stop at simply developing and delivering transformative medicines for patients in Korea, it strives to be socially responsible and grow together with the community by launching many different CSR programs. In addition to the employee-driven hands-on U Belong project, Amgen Korea has also launched, under Amgen Korea’s Corporate Responsibility 2025 project ▲the Golden House campaign for better living condition and prevention of bone fractures for seniors living alone ▲the Grow up, Bio up campaign for life science education of children and adolescents ▲the Amgen-KAST Biotechnology Awards to support young promising scientist in life science ▲The Blue Wish Campaign to grant wishes for children with critical illnesses.