WASHINGTON, DC - July 15, 2013 — This week on BIZ + SOCIAL, we bring you the best from the New Global Citizen, Business Fights Poverty, the Guardian and more.

GLOBAL PRO BONO

GSK Program Lets Employees Tackle Global Health Issues Through Volunteerism

Lynda Bryant-Comstock has spent most of her 21-year career at GlaxoSmithKline on the development side rather than in the field. As director of health care reform strategy and planning for the pharmaceutical giant’s Research Triangle Park office, she has focused most of her energy on identifying various health care markets – not visiting them herself. But about a year ago, her company offered her the opportunity to shift gears entirely. GSK flew her to the Maputo, Mozambique, office of Save the Children, where she helped with development and got a hands-on look at life in the African country.  Read More…

IMPACT & INNOVATION

Moving the Conversation from a Handout to a Handshake 

Goodluck Jonathan, the President of Nigeria, stood on the dais in front of a hundred or so of the most influential people in Africa. “Oil is old news—agriculture should be the new frontier of Nigeria’s growth…The concept that farming is only for rural people, only for poverty alleviation must go…There is no reason that Nigeria should be a net importer of food.”  Jonathan’s bold statements were a call to action for all those assembled to transform the concept of farming from an approach to managing poverty to one of wealth creation for Nigeria and for the African continent.Jonathan was among those who gave opening remarks at this week’s summit, Realizing the Potential of African Agriculture: Catalytic Innovations for Growth, hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation as part of the Foundation’s Centennial Series. Read More…

LEADERSHIP

Ethical Business: Companies Need to Earn Our Trust

In 1997, when I was director general of the Institute of Directors, I made a speech urging business leaders to recognise and deal with their ethical responsibilities. “Business is in danger of losing its licence to operate and failing to deliver growth and prosperity,” I said. While no one appreciates hearing “I told you so”, it seems that my words continue to ring true today. A globalised economy, a diverse workforce and a public more alert to ethical issues has meant that the landscape in which businesses operate is all the more complex. The IBE annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics shows a sharp decline in those who think business is behaving ethically. Another survey shows that fewer than one in five trust business leaders to tell the truth. And movements such as Occupy call into question the very basis of the capitalist system. Read More…

CITIZEN DIPLOMACY

Professional Connection: the Future of Cultural Diplomacy 

Two weeks ago Deirdre White, the CEO of CDS, spoke at the Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the USA hosted by the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy. The symposium, “The Use of the Arts in Promoting Dialogue, Fostering Peace, and Initiating Mutual Understanding Amongst World Cultures and Civilizations,” paid particular emphasis to America’s use of arts to promote a positive image abroad. As one of the closing speakers of the four-day symposium, Deirdre offered a different perspective on cultural diplomacy at an event heavily focused on its traditional forms. Deirdre emphasized that we are at a critical crossroads where the traditional definition of cultural diplomacy—the exchange of ideas, language, art, religion, and social structure through the interaction of people—must be expanded to include business as well. Read more…

ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

The Rise of Social Entrepreneurship in China

The beating heart of NuoMi, a small clothing design business, lies in a modest, three-story house in a nondescript suburb about an hour’s drive from downtown Shanghai.  The bottom floor has been retrofitted to make space for design tables and sewing machines. The kitchen doubles as a packing and storage facility.  The bedrooms upstairs are offices, some holding a couple of tables and computers while others house racks and racks of clothes in a perpetual battle with overflowing filing cabinets for space along the walls. At first blush, it is not much different than the thousands of other small businesses sprouting up all over Shanghai.  Yet, what makes NuoMi different is the mission underlying its business model – their labor force is comprised of poor, underprivileged families who have children with disabilities. Read More…

 MORE

Avoid the Deadly Temptations that Derail Innovators

A Deeper Look at Economic Growth

Mixing Business and Social- what really is a Social Enterprise?

Agriculture and Manufacturing Offer Opportunities For African Trade

Three Big Ideas for Designing Innovations to Work at Scale