We are pleased to update you on Tradenet Maldives’ ongoing efforts to strengthen corporate governance and ensure full compliance with regulations. As part of our Strategic Action Plan for 2024-2026, we have implemented key internal initiatives that promote transparency, accountability, and operational integrity. These steps are aligned with the Code of Corporate Governance of the Privatisation and Corporatisation Board, which focuses on fairness, responsibility, and transparency across all our operations.

Strengthening Internal Policies

Significant progress has been made in establishing a robust internal governance framework. The following key policies have been developed to uphold ethical practices and operational integrity:

• Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection Policy: Promotes the reporting of unethical behaviour while ensuring whistleblower protection.

• Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse Policy: Safeguards a respectful work environment for all employees.

• Enterprise Risk Management Policy: Identifies, assesses, and mitigates risks across the organisation.

• Stakeholder Relations Policy: Enhances communication and collaboration with external stakeholders.

• Employee Grievances and Complaints Policy: Provides a formal mechanism for employees to raise concerns and seek resolutions.

• Right to Information Policy: Promotes transparency by ensuring public access to key organisational documents in line with the RTI Act.

• Dividend Policy: Outlines the framework for fair and transparent dividend distribution to shareholders.

• Board Charter: Establishes the roles, responsibilities, and operations of the Board to ensure effective governance.

• Revised People Operations Policy: This major update enhances employee management practices, aligning them with the latest governance standards and improving operational efficiency.

• Revised Procurement Policy: Updates procurement processes to ensure transparency, competition, and alignment with governance principles.

These policies reinforce our commitment to upholding the highest standards of governance, ensuring fairness, accountability, and transparency in everything we do.

Website Revamp for Compliance and Public Transparency

In response to assessments from the Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) and Transparency Maldives, we launched a redesigned website in July 2024. This major update improves our compliance with corporate governance standards. In line with the Right to Information (RTI) Act, we now provide easy access to essential documents such as tenders, job announcements, audit reports, and bid submissions. Website compliance improved from 5.9% in Q1 to 88% by the end of Q3, reflecting our commitment to transparency and building public trust in our operations.

Internal and External Audits

Throughout 2024, internal audits were conducted across key departments, including Accounting & Finance, Procurement, Quality Assurance, and People Operations & Admin. This year, we completed six internal audits, covering the last two quarters of 2022 and all quarters of 2023. We are now conducting audits for 2024. These audits help identify areas for improvement in compliance and operational efficiencies, contributing to a 38.7% increase in compliance.

In addition to internal audits, we are proud to have completed the External Audits for 2021, 2022, and 2023, alongside finalising our Annual Reports. This is a major achievement in ensuring transparency and accountability. Completing these audits strengthens our governance framework and demonstrates our commitment to upholding high standards of financial reporting and regulatory compliance.

Strengthening Risk Management

We have also made significant progress in implementing our Risk Management Framework, which enhances our ability to identify, assess, and mitigate potential risks across the organisation. These measures align with the Code of Corporate Governance's emphasis on maintaining robust internal control systems and effective risk management practices, ensuring long-term sustainability and organisational resilience.

Institutional Capacity Building and SOP Development

We have achieved 46.69% progress in building institutional capacity, including the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for key areas such as Procurement, Data Retention, and Employee Complaints. These SOPs ensure governance standards are consistently applied across all departments. In addition, we have introduced internal training programmes to align all employees with new policies and procedures.

Strategic Action Plan (SAP) Implementation

Our governance efforts directly support the broader goals of Tradenet’s Strategic Action Plan for 2024-2026, which focuses on Financial Sustainability, Digital Transformation, Institutional Capacity Building, and Empowering the Community and ICT Ecosystem. By embedding corporate governance principles into our operations, we are driving sustainable growth, improving accountability, and enhancing organisational effectiveness.

Monitoring Progress Through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

We have established Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track progress in governance and compliance. These KPIs include:

• Compliance with audit recommendations.

• Timeliness of policy implementations.

• Efficiency improvements in internal processes.

Monitoring these KPIs allows us to measure progress and make adjustments as needed to ensure we meet our governance objectives and maintain best practices.

Future Governance Initiatives

Looking ahead, we are committed to further strengthening our governance framework through the following initiatives:

• Expanding internal audit activities to cover additional departments.

• Introducing advanced risk management tools to better identify and mitigate potential risks.

• Enhancing digital governance systems to streamline compliance tracking and reporting processes.

• Launching new employee training modules focused on compliance and governance to foster a strong governance culture across all levels of the organisation.

• Collaborating with departments to optimise our governance systems further, ensuring operational efficiency and compliance with best practices.

• Pursuing international standardisations such as ISO certifications to align our processes with globally recognised standards, reflecting our commitment to excellence and continuous improvement in governance and operational performance.

We will continue to update our stakeholders on these initiatives, ensuring that Tradenet upholds the highest standards of transparency, accountability, and fairness, contributing to long-term sustainable growth.