Charles Mohan: Icon of CSR and Media

by Muhammad Hidayat Fahmi

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Charles Mohan, or simply known as Charles among his friends, 45, is very much well-known in both the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Media industries. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Institute Onn Jaafar (IOJ), a non-profit organisation (NGO), and an active part-time News Editor/Anchor for NTV7, a part of Media Prima.

Charles was born in Klang, Selangor and spent his entire school life from Primary 1 to Secondary 6 at the Methodist School (ACS), Selangor – Primary and Secondary. As a kid, Charles always imagined himself to appear on the television screen. This led him to decide on pursuing his tertiary education in media studies where he enrolled at University of Malaya as an undergraduate of the Communication and Media Studies department in the 1994/1995 academic session.

His official involvement in the media industry started when he was hired as a Junior Broadcast Journalist in January 2000 after he graduated and obtained his first degree. As time passed by, Charles gradually climbed up the status quo starting from his promotion to a Senior Broadcast Journalist, Assistant Assignment Editor, Assignment Editor, News Editor, and finally as the Main Anchor News for Edisi 7.

His involvement in the CSR industry was however traced back roughly five years ago with his establishment of IOJ in 2014, making him not only the founder, but also the current CEO of the institution. He highlighted that his involvement in volunteerism initially came from his passion to help the ones in need. He believes that there is a certain limit to what he could contribute to in the media industry as compared to directly involving himself in the CSR industry which is a better platform to giving back to the society.

Having more than 19 years of experience in the media industry, Charles admitted that it has helped him to develop himself in the CSR world as he remarked that both of the industries are actually linked and significant to one another. He mentioned how both industries play important roles in carrying the responsibility to help the community as he commented how the CSR industry, for example, relies heavily on the media to urge for help from the community in assisting less privileged people. IOJ has been using this approach to gather collaborations and funds to support its activities ever since its establishment as Charles himself deemed that a media setup is indeed important in establishing a CSR organisation.

In an interview, Charles opened up about how he always implements the concept of 5W1H, which he learnt in his studies, in IOJ to execute the right help to the right community. For Charles, the media industry is not only a show-business and glamourous industry, but also a platform to solve certain societal issues. “Media especially, is an industry that carry the responsibility to the society, and I have managed to help people’s lives and finding solutions for them through my involvement in the industry”, he remarked.

Throughout his years as the CEO of IOJ, Charles and his team have executed plenty of CSR activities. Among the most notable ones are JomBreakfast, a collaborated frequent event held with different universities all over Malaysia, and Malaysians United Run (MUR), a national run which was declared as the largest held run in the Malaysian Book of Records. Charles held a strong belief in his ideology, “to serve, not to be served” and he aimed for his NGO to one day be able to solve the B40 problems.

In his first involvement in the media industry, Charles commented that the challenges he faced were more towards personal challenges where he had to adapt to the new environment and office politics as a fresh graduate. He admitted that his first involvement in the CSR industry was not as complicated as he already obtained much experience and confidence by the time he initiated the establishment of IOJ.

Nonetheless, Charles agreed that a common challenge that he constantly faces even nowadays is to make sure that he always carries out his responsibility and sustain his accountability. Another challenge that he can relate to is the common misconception and accusation thrown towards his organisation where certain parties claimed that IOJ has political agendas since the name was frequently linked to Dato’ Seri Hishamuddin Hussein, a member of the Dewan Rakyat. However, such fallacy was easily refuted as the organisation is still seen to be standing high even after the change of government last year.

Despite having a busy schedule as the CEO of IOJ, Charles’ attachment with the media industry can never be severed as he always makes time to host the Edisi 7 news whenever he has the luxury of time. In sharing his tips on how he could manage to balance his time to actively be a member in both fields, he simply noted that it is because he enjoys doing what he is doing.

Charles remarked that everyone has their own CSR value and the styles and ways they can contribute differ from individuals. “Volunteering can be done in various scales, even as simple as helping your parents to do house chores”, he added. In sharing his tips and advice to the students, he mentioned that it is important to live a meaningful life by being relevant and helpful to others. He urged the next generation to be competitive, in a healthy manner, to always try to contribute back to the community in whatever ways they can.

As an alumnus of University of Malaya, Charles also frequently attended programmes in his alma mater to share about his success stories. He definitely deserves his title as an icon of CSR and Media, and his achievements were indeed recognised nationally with him being awarded the Malaysia’s High Flyers Award recently in 2018.