CC BUSINESS
Rising above the storm For Fabio Muscat, CEO of Ozo Group, the challenges brought about by the pandemic offered an opportunity for his company to give back to the local community. He tells Martina Said about the Group’s latest CSR campaign, and shares his outlook on the months and years to come.
A
s a company that operates primarily in the services and hospitality industries, the last few months have been especially challenging for Ozo Group, as Malta ground to a halt and closed its doors to visitors to control the spread of COVID-19 through its communities. But for this company, the very same challenges were turned into an opportunity to give back. Over 23 years, Ozo Group of companies have evolved into specialists in their field, outsourcing personnel to the hospitality, care, manufacturing and security industries and offering specialised cleaning services for aircraft and hospitals, among others. Fabio Muscat, CEO of Ozo Group, reflects on the reality of the current scenario, and says that his business has been affected negatively just like the rest of the business community, particularly those in the hospitality sector. “This industry has been shut down for the past three months and
the opening of this sector will happen at a slow pace, which effectively will not see us going back to where we were prior to the pandemic,” he asserts. “In other industries, such as manufacturing, we need to see the aftereffects given that consumer expenditure has dropped drastically and, therefore, this will impact the order books in the future. On a positive note, the company has been agile in providing innovative services, such as sanitisation, which has become a necessity during these difficult times.” Mr Muscat says that 65 per cent of Ozo’s workforce operates within the hospitality industry, making this the hardest-hit segment of the group. In other areas, he asserts that demand has remained stable. Seeing as most preventative measures have now been relaxed, what are his forecasts for the recovery of local business? “We are confident that the country’s resilient economy will bounce back to growth and, within the coming 18 months, we believe that we will be close to where we were preMarch 2020,” says Mr Muscat. “The opening of the airport and port by 1st July gives us confidence that the economy will get moving again, and we believe that it will pick up its momentum after winter.” Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Malta, Mr Muscat sought to engage his workforce in a way that gives back to local communities through a Corporate Social Responsibility campaign called #thankyoumalta. Leading by example, the nationwide campaign sought to assist several communities and local councils in cleaning and maintenance work around the islands. “Ozo Group of Companies believes in being responsible and has a duty of care towards our stakeholders and society at large. The pandemic led to a national crisis which Government managed and led exceptionally well, even from the economic and financial support perspectives,” Mr
Photos by Alan Carville
Muscat explains. “These economic initiatives gave us the opportunity to maintain our workforce. What else could we do other than #thankyoumalta? We felt that once we have been supported in the best way possible, we had to give back to society with what we do best: offer our care through our people.” Within the first month of the campaign, Ozo Group offered its services to 35 local councils, 400 social housing properties, and engaged over 750 members of its workforce to offer over 90,000 free services towards local Government. Mr Muscat states, “we are grateful for the support offered by Government, the monies of which come from the taxpayer.
“In other industries, such as manufacturing, we need to see the aftereffects given that consumer expenditure has dropped drastically and, therefore, this will impact the order books in the future.” 46
JUNE/JULY 2020