Ceremony to Commemorate the 10th Anniversary of SumiRiko Joyful Company Limited

In mid-November, I attended the commemorative ceremony of a special subsidiary, SumiRiko Joyful Company Limited（hereinafter SRK-J）, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.

Since I myself am the chairman of the company, I was very happy and looked forward to this ceremony.

SRK-J is our special subsidiary established in November 2013 to promote employment of people with disabilities and contribute to society.

SRK-J started with 5 employees at the time of its establishment, but has now expanded to 23 employees, all of whom are active in a variety of fields, making the most of their individuality.

One of SRK-J's recently hired employees said in his speech, "I am grateful to have a place to work," and "I feel the joy of being able to work every day."

Seeing him be frank and speak with such sincerity about his honest feelings, I was so moved and my eyes filled with tears.

When I talked to him later, he told me that he sometimes makes mistakes in his daily work and that there are days when he does not want to go to the company. At the same time, however, he said that he is happy to be able to contribute to the company and society, even if only a little, and that he does his best every day to respond to the wishes of the people who support him.

The reception was a precious moment for me, as I was able to deeply feel the cheerful expressions and polite attitude of all employees and their daily efforts, as well as the warmth of the people around them who support and watch over them and assist them.

The Sumitomo Riko Group Vision for 2029 sets diversity and inclusion as one of its goals.

Through this ceremony, we pledged once again to make firm progress toward achieving the goal of "Diverse human resources can work with peace of mind and continue to create new value.".