News and Cluster Activities
EBBF member Jean Pierre Méan co-oganizes the Trust and Integrity event at Caux
Submitted by Daniel Schaubacher
July 29, 2009: The conference "Trust and Integrity in the Global Economy" attracted 160 participants from 39 countries at Mountain House – the conference centre of Initiatives of Change in Caux, a mountain resort high above Lake Geneva, Switzerland. EBBF member Jean-Pierre Méan, Vice-President of Transparency International, Switzerland, and Chief Compliance Officer, Group Legal Counsel of SGS SA, Geneva, between 1996 and 2008, led one daily workshop "stream" on the theme of "Reshaping business around core values", with senior business leaders who are "passionate to reshape business". see www.caux.iofc.org/en/node/43300
Vienna welcomes values based leadership and solutions in social economic development.
Another packed hall welcomed Sarvenas and Faramarz Ettehadieh who organized an event in Vienna dedicated to AIESEC students and alumni. The full day event included presentations and workshops offering new paradigms of leadership and a number of social economic development concepts and solutions from the presenters' direct experience in their Two Wings foundation dedicated to the education of women in developing countries.
EBBF presenting at Jade International Conference in Pristina
Submitted by Ralph Blundell
This years Summer Conference of JADE www.jadenet.org was hosted in Pristina, Kosovo, and EBBF member Ralph Blundell joined the conference for a panel session discussing 21st Century Global Economy and Consequences for Traditional Economic Models.
JADE is a student-run, pan-European network representing more than 20,000 young entrepreneurs in 280 local non-profit organisations, called Junior Enterprises. Founded in 1992 as an international non-profit and non-political organisation to promote entrepreneurship among European students, JADE fosters the development of Europe’s Junior Enterprises.
If ever a country needed an injection of responsible entrepreneurship from its young people, it is Kosovo. As Europe’s youngest country, Kosovo is in transition and rebuilding after a war which almost completely destroyed its economy and structures of Civil Society. Today, like many post-conflict countries, business is under-developed and corruption is a serious problem.
Kosovo declared independence a little over 1 year ago, and 60% of its population are 25 years old or younger. The Kosovo UNI Group is the first junior enterprise in the Country, and only joined Jade as Consultative Member in July 2008. Imagine their excitement at hosting a conference for 200 participants from all over Europe just 12 months later.
The conference finally attracted participants from 16 European Countries and the USA and Brazil, and the rich agenda focussed on Sustainable Development in the 21st Century.
Valmir and his local team from the UNI Group along with the JADE organising committee secured the participation of businesses large and small, the Minister of Finance, the EU special representative, academics, and of course, EBBF.
The second panel in which Ralph participated was asked to address questions on the current global crisis and what it meant for the worlds’ economy and our traditional economic and business models.
The key message Ralph conveyed was that the current economic and financial crisis, unprecedented in modern times, was not technical in nature nor a surprise. Rather it is a crisis of trust and integrity, and therefore ethical in its foundation.
“18 months before the crisis hit us, global banks saw it on the horizon” he said. The most responsible banks, and that was many of these firms, began to shift their business models not only to mitigate risk, but to ensure they didn’t exacerbate the problem”. He went on to say that... “A number of financial institutions, recognising the looming crisis openly debated with their staff their wider responsibility to the global family and sought to create a discourse about integrity”.
- Ralph Blundell second from left
But highlighting the ethical nature of the issue he told the conference... “In other cases firms dumped toxic assets, some even began planning new investment in real estate from January 2009 in the certain knowledge that the market would have collapsed, and once the crisis hit hard we had short-selling of banking stocks to make money out of misery”.
Drawing on stories from successful and ethical businesses and the excellent EBBF statement made at the Global Ethics Forum in Geneva, Ralph said ... “Business must accept that with its wide influence and real power to shape the world comes a special set of responsibilities. While we, the public, look to regulators and Governments to ease our plight, the real change must come from business itself. All of us need to understand that, beyond material well-being, our real purpose is to serve humanity. Running a successful and profitable business is not at odds with this.”
Unsurprisingly the conference received this message warmly, and for Europe’s poorest country still struggling to emerge from conflict the message was particularly relevant . The formal panel debate soon spilled out into the coffee break and energetically continued.
Ralph told INSPIRE ... “I never cease to be impressed and humbled by our young business people. This new generation not only expect more from the business world and our public leaders, but they are prepared to step up and take the risks and responsibilities themselves.”
On a practical level EBBF is delighted that the relationship with JADE and the UNI Group is continuing. “We are now talking to the UNI Group in Kosovo about running an event on Spiritual Leadership in the Autumn and establishing a mentoring programme for young business people, have established links with a Dutch NGO helping to build sustainable economic and educational capacity in Kosovo, and two Austrian JADE members are planning to return to co-facilitate an intensive entrepreneurship ‘hothouse’ with their local partners” Ralph said.
EBBF and Ralph, would like to thank the JADE organising committee for their invitation, and in particular Lindita Komani and Valmir Mustafa.
EBBF member Onno Vinkhuyzen taking Moral Leadership Training to Finland
Submitted by Kimmo Vesajoki
We arranged a Moral Leadership training on Finland. The training was based on materials of Eloy Anello from Bolivia and facilitated by Onno Vinkhuyzen who was visiting Finland with his wife Sylvia Karlsson.
We had a very successful evening, which was introduced by a video of the interview presented on state television of EBBF member and economist Augusto Lopez Claros.
The evening a lot of interest, discussions and profound questions.
Taking EBBF at AIESEC's Iashington event - Rumania
Submitted by Ralph Blundell
The annual AIESEC Iashington conference in Northern Romania has garnered something of a reputation as a must attend event, and this year it attracted participants from across Europe and as far afield as Hong Kong. EBBF member Ralph Blundell was fortunate to be able to join the event where he facilitated three workshops.
AIESEC'ers are lively and demanding participants, and Iashington proved no exception. In anticipation of the challenge Ralph designed and facilitated 2 participative workshops on leadership and one on entrepreneurship, and was rewarded by learning as much as he had to share.
Despite soaring heat with temperatures reaching 51C, and a power cut which killed powerpoint (a small problem) and the air conditioning (a serious problem) everyone stayed engaged and focussed. Two of the workshops went particularly well.
The first, exploring Spiritual Leadership and what it looks like in practice, drew on the Creative Word, Dorothy Marcic’s work, and a range of potent stories from business.
The second, Faith in the Face of No, addressed overcoming personal obstacles when starting your own business. We paid particular attention to vision, commitment, steadfastness and resilience.
Ralph prepared slides and work-cards for the participative elements of both sessions, and these will soon be available in the Knowledge Centre.
Almost as hot as the weather, was interest in EBBF. With some deft last-minute scheduling, the organising committee arranged a well attended plenary session where Ralph presented EBBF. With little time to prepare our new video www.youtube.com/watch and website were invaluable. With tools like these at our disposal promoting EBBF has never been easier, and we gained a new member shortly after the conference.
Ralph has agreed to attend Iashington next summer. This year was all a little last minute but Ralph hopes that in 2010 we will be able to draw on wider EBBF participation. Be prepared to receive an email or call and have your diary ready!
EBBF and Ralph, would like to thank all the organising committee of Iashington 09 for their invitation and we warmly congratulate you on running a superb event. Special thanks must go to Ioana-Maria who took such good care of Ralph, and to EBF member Oscar Mendez Rosa who proved truly inspiring when he visited Kosovo.
Giuseppe Robiati consults with Italian Industrialists on the Social, Ethical and Spiritual Responsibility of Corporations
Borgo Ticino, Italy, July 14, 2009 – Giuseppe Robiati contributed to the Fandis S.p.A. ( www.fandis.it ) sponsored conference series focussing on Corporate Social Responsibility.
Approximately 40 industrial leaders from the Novara area in Northern Italy met last week to explore and ask - What is the role and what is the influence of corporations and enterprises in their communities? And can companies assist the development of the environment they are connected with?
During the course of the conference a series of consultations and reflections brought about a higher awareness and understanding of the importance of creating a broader sense of well being in society to achieve a stable economic system. Mr. Robiati proposed the re-definition of the enterprise, no longer a profit-at-all-costs approach to business, but rather one which includes new objectives such as:
the happiness of its employees
improvement in the quality of life of the community that revolves around the company
improvement in the application of values
improvement of respect for the environment
a more sustainable pattern of production
more sustainable products
"Amongst the gems that we all share, we can find - love; the wish to serve; and unity. Businesspeople need to work on these three gems in their enterprises and will thus gain spiritual organisations whereby human resources will transform into inspired souls" expressed, Giuseppe Robiati, CEO, SCAC Industrial Group and founding member of EBBF.
EBBF Breakfast at ABS in Washington
Nousha Etemad and Tannaz Grant organized an EBBF breakfast event as part of the ABS conference in Washington that attracted over 1,000 participants.
A lively interaction with the participants allowed the two EBBF representatives to introduce EBBF, its values and its global activities.
To make sure you do not miss any of the future EBBF events do check the latestEBBF worldwide agenda of events here.
Contact Us if you wish to organize an EBBF event in your own region, we have a number of interesting presenters and topics to offer or you could organize a more informal gathering amongst friends and contacts perhaps reading some lines and starting a conversation from one of EBBF's publications.
