April 3, 2023
The entrance ceremony was held on April 3. President Yoshiya Miyabe gave a speech to the new employees as follows:
Introduction
Congratulations to all of you on joining Kanematsu Corporation.
I'm very pleased to be able to welcome you to our company. Kanematsu's future is in your hands.
We had no choice but to hold last October's job offer ceremony online due to the COVID situation, so I'm delighted to see all of you in person at today's initiation ceremony. As we relocated the company headquarters last November, this is the first-ever initiation ceremony to be held at our new office. Once again, I would like to congratulate all of you
Focusing on diversity
Today we are welcoming 37 new members to the company. Fortunately, we have been able to recruit many female and foreign employees this year as well. Kanematsu places importance on diversity, and the reason behind this is that we have a corporate culture that values each and every employee's talents and humanity, regardless of nationality or gender. The rich sense of humanity that your seniors possess is our company's most precious asset, and thanks to which we have been able to create many businesses to this date.
Responding to a new era
As you all know, our world is currently covered with uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as tension in global affairs. In addition, digitalization technologies such as AI, the metaverse, NFTs, and so on are evolving at a rapid pace. Moreover, environmental problems are becoming severe every year and the world has steered its way toward decarbonization. Accordingly, the environment surrounding our company is also changing significantly with increasing speed.
For over 130 years since our founding in 1889, we have conducted business activities with a pioneering spirit and creativity to contribute to social and economic development, adhering to our Corporate Principle that leads to the current SDGs. Over our long history, we have had many eras where the future seemed uncertain, like the one we are in now. However, we have a track record of being able to adapt to many changes until today, leveraging the Corporate Principle that has been inherited. I'm confident that we will be able to cope with the new era as long as we have the courage to change in a flexible manner, placing our unwavering philosophy as the axis, in the years to come. I hope you create unprecedented new value by maximizing your ability acquired by combining the flexible mindset, individual characteristics, and wisdom of you with various backgrounds.
We introduced activity-based working (ABW) following the relocation of headquarters last November. ABW is a workstyle that allows employees to freely choose where and when they work according to the content and purpose of their work. As digital technologies permeate into every sector, I think ABW will boost internal communication and bring about new cross-departmental projects.
Closing words
I would like to close my speech with a bit of advice for you. I always say: "Taking action is what counts." Some of you may already have an idea of what kind of work you want to do at Kanematsu, while some of you may be yet unsure about what you want to do. In real life, there are many situations where you have to do things reluctantly, not being assigned to the job you hope for. However, no work is meaningless. I think it's important to "start from what you can do now and where you are, in other words, take action at any rate." When taking action, always be sincere to those around you and put your heart into it. By continuously following this attitude, more and more people--both in and outside the company--will want to work with you, and these people will eventually become your irreplaceable assets. I do believe that this attitude will allow you to lead an abundant life with no regret.
Once again, congratulations on joining Kanematsu.
Let's stay healthy and enjoy our work together. I look forward to your future performances, and this will conclude my speech. Good luck.
President Yoshiya Miyabe
Kanematsu Corporation