Business Call to Action: transforming lives through business

Today, the UK Government and the United Nations Development Programme will be hosting an event of over 80 CEO’s in London. The Business Call to Action event will bring together business leaders from around the world and challenge their companies to explore new business opportunities that use their core business expertise in a way that contributes both to the Millennium Development Goals and to their commercial success.

Last July, in a speech at the UN, the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a new global partnership to deal with what is a development emergency: the shortfall in progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The PM and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, have both made clear this is a global Call to Action which cannot be achieved by governments alone, and where the private sector has a unique role. The speech was accompanied by two statements, one by Heads of State and the other by business

The Business Call to Action Website, includes more on the event and the MDG Call to Action, speeches, a live blog from the event, video, films and photos.

I believe the event is significant for two reasons. First, it showcases the important contribution that businesses can make through their core business. The event will look at new business ideas and initiatives which go beyond philanthropy, and that will support economic growth and reduce poverty in developing countries.

Numerous other examples of this sort of good practice are highlighted by Business Action for Africa and showcased on our Google Map. The second reason that the event is important is that it implicitly recognises that growth, enterprise and employment are the only long-term solutions to poverty.

If you are interested in fighting poverty through business, I would urge you to join Business Fights Poverty – a professional network of experts and practitioners from around the world that we have just set up. The Business Call to Action event is the start of a long journey - it will take a movement of like-minded people, not just an event, to make the difference that is needed.

Where does development come from?

In a speech at the United Nations, which Zahid (from Business Action for Africa) blogged about yesterday, new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a renewed, collective drive to achieve the Millennium Development Goals laid out in 2000. He declared, “For too long we have talked in the language of development without defining its starting point in wealth creation – the dignity of individuals empowered to trade and be economically self-sufficient.” Alone here in my office, I said “YESSS!!!” and pumped my fist and highlighted the sentence in agreement. It sounded like Gordon Brown might dig our Economic Opportunity Program.

But what is the role of private sector firms in creating and expanding economic opportunity? The Prime Minister is right that it goes way beyond generosity. Instead, it is the private sector’s aptitude for “wealth and job creation that, if fully mobilized for global purpose, will help meet our goals.” Stated another way, the comparative advantage of business in development is rooted in core, profit-making business activity and the natural multiplier effects it engenders.

It’s time to break down the association between altruism and social value creation. Companies can create social value without altruistic motives, and altruistic motives don’t guarantee that social value will be created. For a long time companies seemed to fear mixing motives, and used one set of tools for shareholder value creation and another, distinct set for social value creation. Today we find leading companies combining these tools to leverage core business interests, assets, and activities for enhanced development impact. And if these companies manage to enhance their own long-term business prospects in the process? All the better.

A new partnership for meeting the MDGs

Today, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in a speech at the UN, called for a new global partnership to tackle what he described as a "development emergency" – the shortfall in progress against the internationally agreed UN Millennium Development Goals. The speech was accompanied by two statements, one by Heads of State and the other by business. The UN Secretary General endorsed the Prime Minister's proposal for a UN Summit next year to review progress and accelerate action.

There were two refreshing aspects to his speech. One was a clear recognition of the role that business has to play, in partnership with others, in meeting the development goals. The other was the recognition, so often underplayed in these discussions, that “trade, wealth creation and job creation are the only routes to long term prosperity”:

And it is time to agree a new partnership for prosperity:
in each country, the government undertaking a rigorous examination of the obstacles to business formation…
in each country, development agencies helping to create the infrastructure necessary for growth…
in each country, the power of entrepreneurship unleashed…
in each country, a focus on agricultural productivity…
in each country, government and businesses being long term partners in a joint mission on economic development.

…perhaps for too long we have talked the language of development without defining its starting point in wealth creation – the dignity of individuals empowered to trade and be economically self sufficient.

To turn passionate words into practical action, we all have to step up to the challenge. As I argued in a speech today, Business Action for Africa is one example of the business community’s vision, big-thinking and readiness to support such an effort.