WASHINGTON, DC - September 30, 2013 — This week on BIZ+ SOCIAL, we bring you the best from the New Global Citizen, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and more.

GLOBAL PRO BONO

GSK and Pfizer Inc Team Up to Fight Black Fever in India

This spring, pharmaceutical giants GSK and Pfizer Inc forged a new partnership. They committed to sending two of their employees to work together to address one of South Asia’s most deadly but infrequently discussed health challenges, visceral leishmaniasis or “black fever.” When it comes to insect-borne infectious diseases, health experts often reference the world’s deadliest insect-borne disease, malaria. Visceral leishmaniasis, also known as “black fever,” or by its Hindi name, Kala azar (KA), is similarly deadly but less well known.  Each year the world’s second-largest parasitic killer, KA, infects an estimated 500,000 people. It is especially prevalent in India and South Asia, as it is transmitted by small sand flies. Read More…

IMPACT & INNOVATION

Crowdfunding to Safer Births in Ghana

Simple, trusted, and affordable technologies that change and save lives are still often inaccessible in the developing world.  Husband-and-wife team, Ewa Wojkowska and Toshi Nakamura, left a decade-long career in the United Nations to change that. The duo created Kopernik, a sustainable “last-mile” distribution company, coupled with an on-line marketplace of simple, yet innovative, life-changing technologies designed for the developing world.  Laura Asiala recently had an opportunity to catch up with Ewa, one of Advance’s 50 emerging women leaders (2011) and recipient of Rutgers University’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year award (2012), for a quick conversation on the organization’s recent efforts to improve the healthy birth rate in Ghana.  Read More…

LEADERSHIP

Four Areas Where Senior Leaders Should Focus Their Attention

It was getting close to lunch time and the people seated around the table — the CEO and seven of his direct reports — were clearly getting antsy. But it wasn’t because they were hungry. In fact, they’d been eating snacks all morning, mostly out of boredom. The COO was at the front of the room, talking through slides projected on a screen. The conversation was primarily one way, with the COO explaining and, when necessary, defending his work. Finally, when we broke for lunch, the CEO took me aside and told me what we all already knew: “This is a waste of time.” When you bring a senior leadership group together in a room, it’s a massive commitment of resources. The hotel and food are the least of it. Even the consultant, if you’re using one, is a negligible cost compared to the investment of monopolizing the focus of seven or eight highly compensated, time-starved leaders. Read More…

CITIZEN DIPLOMACY

US Center for Citizen Diplomacy Announces You Had Me at {Hello} Photo Contest Winners

In a campaign to drive engagement and inspiration, the US Center for Citizen Diplomacy (USCCD) held the “You had me at {Hello}” photo contest, which called for submissions of photos illustrating exemplary citizen diplomacy. “We want to see visual evidence of citizen diplomacy in action,” the USCCD communicated through its blog. From pictures of volunteer work, to study abroad experiences, exchange students, and multi-cultural dance troupes, the photos were as diverse as those who entered. Seventy-eight individuals and 56 organizations submitted a total of 134 photographs over the contest period.  The collection of photographs represented an impressive 38 countries. It was a close race. Votes reached as high as 160 on the Facebook voting page with the top photos only leading by a few votes.  The internal jury had the difficult job of selecting only two winners among a pool of excellent submissions. In the end, two individuals and two organizations were selected. Read more…

ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

Can a Towel Matter?

For a long time, I have focused my studies and work on the topic of sustainable business initiatives as a catalyst for social and economic development. But it wasn’t until I arrived in Kanjiramattom as an MBAs Without BordersAdvisor that I ever thought to consider the economic and social implications of an object so seemingly simple as a towel. Kanjiramattom is a tiny village in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Situated between the sweeping Malabar Coast and the intensely lush tropical backwaters, it’s where I had my first opportunity to visit a handloom cooperative. Here I came to appreciate, for the first time, the extensive skill, effort, and time required to hand weave a piece of thorthu: the traditional Kerala fabric woven of pure cotton and known for the superb qualities—soft, light-weight, quick-drying, and highly-absorbent—that have made it historically indispensable in Kerala households.  Kanjiramattom is also where I met Mani-chettan—a master thorthu handloom weaver, and one of the last of his kind. Read More…

More

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The Clinton Global Initiative Way of Mobilizing Fast Cash in Times of Crisis 

Sri Lanka Needs Citizen Participation in Politics To Truly Achieve Peace

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Dow and CDC Development Solutions Partner to Develop Sustainable Solutions for Ghanaian Enterprise

Creating Shared Value Through Partnerships