The team were delighted this week with the number of you – over 1,000 – who joined us for Business Fights Poverty Online 2020: Rebuild Better. This is the first time Business Fights Poverty has put together a full-week programme online, and our Founders Zahid and Yvette Torres-Rahman said afterwards that “the most special part was being able to connect and meaningfully engage with such a diverse, global set of people – both panelists and participants – in a way we have never been able to before.” So thank you to everyone who joined us and contributed to a week that was both uplifting and intensely practical.
We were also delighted to receive a wealth of content from around our network, supporting the daily themes of the conference – Purpose, Opportunity, Skills, Equality, and Collaboration. I’m particularly excited about the variety on offer; in addition to excellent written articles, blogs and podcasts, we’ve published how-to videos and educational seminars as well as insightful fireside chats with thought-leaders and expert practitioners. And don’t miss the Business Fights Poverty Online 2020 Digital Pass, which gives you access to recordings of every session, as well as concise written summaries.
This week, I’ve really enjoyed hearing the personal perspectives aired in our fireside chats and podcasts. In particular, Jane Nelson, Director, Corporate Responsibility Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Philip Thomson, President, Global Affairs, GSK explored how a developing sense of social purpose has influenced the pharmaceutical industry’s contribution to strengthening health systems around the world. Looking to the future, we need to build on the existing response to COVID-19 with cross-sectoral action to prepare and prevent future pandemics. In addition, our fascinating interviews have included:
- How businesses are supporting survivors of domestic violence, as well as also finding ways to prevent it by engaging with the perpetrators, with Alice Allan Challenge Director, Business Fights Poverty and Jane Pillinger, Open University
- A deep dive into gender equality in ride hailing, the gig economy and the transport ecosystem, in a podcast with Alex Roscoe, IFC
- What are the skills we need for the future? A podcast with Joyce Mbaya-Ikiao, Founder and CEO of Zydii – the digital learning platform contextualized for the African learner.
- A chance to hear directly from former NASA quantum physicist and thought-leader on sustainable development through partnership, Darian Stibbe, Executive Director, The Partnering Initiative (TPI).
- And fireside chats with Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, CEO, Oxfam GB, on Opportunity; Siân Owen, Director of Stakeholder & Portfolio Management, BTEC & Apprenticeships, Pearson UK Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, Executive Vice President, African Center for Economic Transformation on Skills; Henriette Kolb, Manager Gender and Economic Inclusion, International Finance Corporation on Equity; and Colin Mayer, Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford on Collaboration.
We’ve also had articles exploring practical challenges and the action being taken to meet them. For example, we’ve heard:
- How digital technology for micro-entrepreneurs and SMEs will catalyse inclusive growth, in the words of Richard Wright, Director of Behavioural Science, Unilever, Management Team, TRANSFORM and Amrote Abdella, Regional Director, Microsoft 4Afrika.
- How sustainable supply chains build better business, according to Ruth Rennie, Director of Standards and Assurance at the Rainforest Alliance
- Two solutions and two challenges for financing impact start-ups, offered by Jerry Marshall, Chairman, Transcend Support Ltd.
As a consumer, it was interesting to find out which supermarkets are best protecting the rights of workers according to Oxfam’s 2020 Supermarket Scorecard, with Rosa Polaschek, Private Sector Policy, Oxfam. But having the choice of where to shop for our food is, in itself, a privilege. As we begin to understand the full impact of COVID-19 on exacerbating poverty and food insecurity, Michelle Thompson, Director, Head of Partnerships and Brands at The Power of Nutrition explains why nutrition is still such a problem,and what we can do about it.
An important theme of the week has been inclusion, ensuring that diverse voices are heard and that no-one is left behind as we rebuild better. During Thursday’s webinar on the inclusion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in core business, Dazon Dixon Diallo, Founder & CEO, SisterLove, reminded us powerfully that inclusion unleashes “the creativity which has been ignored and undervalued for a long time”. Many of our written articles addressed this in one way or another:
- As we all wrestle with the impact of systemic racism, Alice Alan, Challenge Director, Business Fights Poverty, provided five immediate actions companies can take to address white privilege.
- The importance of ensuring to ensuring to #ListenToGirls” is highlighted by Ema Jackson Global Campaigns Manager Plan International UK
- Business Call to Action and Oxfam introduced us to a two-part online masterclass series on how businesses can identify, value and address women’s priorities, needs and voices – and why this matters.
- Mark E. Meaney, PhD Scholar in Residence Faculty Director, First Peoples Worldwide University of Colorado, Boulder explains how inclusion of Indigenous Peoples can help eradicate poverty.
- Julie Wallace, Global Head, Community Engagement, Standard Chartered and Katie Hyson, Director, Thought Leadership, Business Fights Poverty explain that developing skills and creating quality jobs for young people becomes an urgent priority for ensuring the future stability of society, reducing poverty and providing some means of survival for millions around the world, in the wake of COVID-19.
- And I particularly liked CottonConnect’s approach of surveying farmers in India and Pakistan on how to increase agricultural and financial resilience, as explained by Hardeep Desai, Head of Farm Operations, CottonConnect.
After a packed week, we are taking a little time to reflect on our next steps, and invite your feedback on the conference as well as the opportunities and challenges that you face as we Rebuild Better together.