Melco advances the economic prosperity of local SMEs

Melco Resorts & Entertainment recognizes the importance of working hand in hand with its stakeholders to create lasting impact, and the Company’s long-term commitment to operating globally, while thinking and acting locally by supporting local SMEs, remains strong. The inevitable disruptions to supply chains experienced by businesses around the world over the past few years have further accelerated the pace at which Melco has prioritized local procurement. Currently, sourcing from local enterprises and distributors accounts for 87% of Melco’s overall purchases, of which 57% comes from Macau brands and SMEs.

In the past year, with the aim to identify and implement customized initiatives to boost procurement and revenue growth opportunities for the sustainable economic prosperity of local suppliers and SMEs – including through establishing long-term partnerships to help enhance SME competitiveness, and contribute to the sustainable prosperity and development of the business community in the Greater Bay Area, Melco has continued to develop related opportunities to foster greater partnerships and advance the capacity of local SMEs.

Roadshows generate MOP 9 million for SMEs

In its pledge to support economic prosperity for Macau’s SMEs, Melco concluded its Heart of House Roadshow series for 2023 in December, helping 270 local SMEs and NGOs generate a total of over MOP 9 million in additional revenue throughout the year. During this time, Melco invited local SMEs and NGOs to participate in 171 Heart of House Roadshow sessions, promoting their brands and businesses while selling directly to 16,000 colleagues working at properties including City of Dreams, Studio City and Altira Macau.

Local business owner and participant of the December roadshow, Mr. Lee Kin Man, Director of Riko Zakkaya, said, “Thank you to Melco for inviting us to participate at its Heart of House Roadshow. The rent-free opportunity has helped our products reach a larger audience and enabled us to increase our revenue.” Fellow participant Ms. Zhu Chu Ting, General Manager of Rositina Company Limited, added, “We really appreciate this opportunity and quality platform provided to us by Melco – it enables SMEs like ourselves to generate better market exposure and promote our products to a new audience while helping us generate added revenue.”

Launched in 2016, Melco’s employee-area Roadshows provide an innovative channel for local SMEs to generate revenue by selling directly to its colleagues. Rent-free retail spaces in the Heart-of-House areas of City of Dreams, Studio City and Altira Macau are provided exclusively for local SMEs and NGOs. The roadshows serve as an effective platform for increasing revenue and market exposure for Melco’s SME partners.

FAOM x Melco shopping carnival

Ahead of the Chinese New Year, the first “Privileges for You” Shopping Carnival of the year was co-hosted by Macau Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) and Melco on January 27 and 28 at FAOM Kin Fai Service Center and Li Chang Integrated Service Center. In addition to SME-run booths offering festive CNY goods and food items, daily necessities, household goods, books, toys, cosmetics, gifts and services and more, a variety of themed parent-child creative workshops, including for the making of festive fai-chun, foods and desserts, as well as red packet financial management workshops were available throughout the event.

Benefiting approximately 60 SMEs and the local community in Macau, the event is dedicated to boosting revenues for local businesses, local workers’ recruitment opportunities and the overall local economy.

Outreach efforts

Melco presented a series of targeted outreach events in 2023 to benefit 200 local SMEs and businesses.

To help build local suppliers by providing them with the latest industry information and updates, the Melco SME Academy continued to host regular capacity-building workshops and events. A series of training sessions and workshops, offered both in-person and virtually, covered a variety of topics including human trafficking and modern slavery in the industry and supply chains, sustainability awareness for foods including seafood, cage-free eggs and meat, occupational safety and health (OSH) and Melco property introductions.

Established in 2020 and supported by Melco’s in-house Learning Academy, the Melco SME Academy helps local businesses succeed by providing access to the latest industry trends and training and technical knowledge, better equipping businesses to face shifting challenges.

Specifically, a Melco property awareness session at Studio City held in October enabled Melco representatives to better understand the products and services on offer from local suppliers, while also allowing local suppliers to gather a deeper understanding of Melco’s operational requirements and standards. During the event, the Melco Supply Chain team led SME representatives on a tour of Studio City Water Park, allowing SMEs a first-hand experience of the attraction’s material considerations from the perspective of guests and employees. Melco’s Supply Chain team then introduced the company’s procurement process and standards to SME representatives and registered suitable SMEs as Melco suppliers.

Additional SME outreach events included the return of Melco’s ‘To the Table by SMEs’ to discuss food safety and hygiene standards with local businesses, and to provide an opportunity for direct dialogue between SMEs and the Melco culinary team and F&B management executives and representatives.