Max Oliva, Associate Director, Social Impact Management
This year’s Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation has been awarded to the organizations leading the fight against malaria in Africa, which are: The Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre (Tanzania), the Malaria Research and Training Centre (Mali), the Kintampo Health Research Centre (Ghana) and the Manhiça Centre of Health Research (Mozambique).
I had the opportunity to spend a week at Ifakara visiting the Centre there, while doing a case study on how Novartis has been integrating corporate responsibility to the core of their strategy. There, we went more in depth on their Malaria program, supported by the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, and it certainly was very interesting to see the work being done in regards to its prevention, through social marketing and others, viewing their access to effective treatment of malaria, attacking the mosquitoes, the parasite, etc.
My most sincere congratulations to the people who have been working for the past years on this project. There’s certainly still a very long way to go but it is fundamental that their work is recognized and we can focus more our attention to the problem and its solutions.
Archive for May/2008
May
Prince of Asturias Award for fight against malaria in Africa
Written on May 29, 2008 by Max Oliva in Corporate Responsibility, Development, Philanthropy
May
La maldición de la riqueza natural
Written on May 27, 2008 by Joaquín Garralda in Corporate Governance, Corporate Responsibility, Development
Joaquín Garralda, Vice Decano de IE Business School, Director del Centro PwC & IE de Responsabilidad Corporativa
Ayer asistí a un taller sobre la Iniciativa de Transparencia de las Industrias Extractivas (EITI en inglés), en el que la doctora Karl, profesora de la Universidad de Stanford, mantenía que la causa de la pobreza e inestabilidad social de la mayoría de los países que son ricos en recursos naturales, en especial en petróleo, no se debía fundamentalmente a que los gobiernos fueran corruptos – que lo son a menudo y que es la parte visible del iceberg en muchos casos -, sino porque se había truncado la relación “natural” entre los ciudadanos y el estado.
Históricamente el estado va creciendo a partir de las aportaciones que hacen los ciudadanos con sus impuestos; sin embargo, en el caso de muchos países ricos en petróleo, el estado puede crecer mediante las transferencias de recursos de los demás países, sin tener que apelar a las rentas y ahorros de sus ciudadanos. Esta diferencia, tiene varias consecuencias. Por un lado, el estado, al no pedirles nada, no necesita tenerlos de su lado o aprobar sus proyectos. Por otro, al tener una fuente de ingresos que no está sometida a un intenso escrutinio por los ciudadanos, suelen utilizar los recursos de una manera arbitraria, favoreciendo a unos grupos frente a otros. Estos grupos favorecidos, suelen estar elegidos por el líder político de tal manera que le deban todo – como ya recomendaba Maquiavelo en su obra “El Príncipe” – lo que les hace ser profundamente fieles – en formas y conductas – a quien les ha favorecido. Para tratar de evitar la más mínima posibilidad de que el poderoso albergue una ligera duda de su lealtad, que le indujera a cambiar de colectivo favorecido con la misma arbitrariedad con la que les benefició en su momento, sus comportamientos son radicales y repetitivos. La consecuencia lógica de esta situación es que los líderes que alcanzan el poder cuando el precio del petróleo está alto, permanecen en él durante un período mayor que la media de los países, siendo además muy posible que el sistema político degenere en una dictadura deshumanizada.
May
Training and Mentoring Program for Women-Led Businesses in Africa
Written on May 26, 2008 by Max Oliva in Development, Social Entrepreneurship
Waya Quiviger, Director of Special Projects, Social Impact Management
IE Business School is pleased to announce a new “Training and Mentoring Program for Women-Led Business”, as developed by Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) together with the Center for Diversity in Global Management and the Department of Entrepreneurial Management at the IE . Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) is an African NGO working to foster peace in Africa. Since its inception in 1996, FAS has striven to strengthen and promote the leading role of women in the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts on the African continent.
This Training and Mentoring Program is generously sponsored by the Government of Spain (AECI). Its aim is to assist 25 entrepreneurial women who have established business enterprises with strong growth potential in Liberia, DRC, Rwanda, Senegal, Mozambique and South Africa. Once identified, these 25 female entrepreneurs are paired up with one or two volunteer International MBA students who, over the course of the summer, will 1) meet them in person in Madrid during the women’s on-site training; 2) visit them for 2 to 4 weeks in their respective countries and give them personal assistance for their business locally; 3) continue their business consulting over email. Of the 25 candidates, 10 will be selected after the summer to present their business plan to a panel of investors in Geneva in October. Some IMBA students will have the opportunity to accompany their business mentee to Geneva.
May
A visual account on world changing events
Written on May 12, 2008 by Max Oliva in Uncategorized
Max Oliva, Associate Director, Social Impact Management 
Year after year events take place at IE and elsewhere which demand remembrance, sharing and continuity on the conversations they entail. It is an energy which can hardly be shared if not lived and due to an overloaded agenda of work which awaits for us at the office as we return to our daily schedules; whichever experience quickly diffuses between layers of paper and email. Or not? How about a visual experience? This is what TED is doing with their annual gathering.
Certainly their videos on TED Talks already make accessible their content to a broad range of people who cannot make it to the event. But this visual portrait of each session helps not only retain the key messages but perhaps relieve for a brief moment the experience which took place at each conversation. I looked more into detail at that conversation given by Ben Zander; I was not on that specific session, but I have been twice in sessions with him and it certainly allowed me to relieve those moments. Perhaps it is an exercise worth exploring if you want your audience to leave your events with something to take home with them.
May
Innoversity: de la diversidad intangible a la innovación empresarial
Written on May 9, 2008 by Max Oliva in Diversity
Yanire Braña, Directora Programa MET
Publicado en MateriaBiz.
Competencia por el talento y el poder de la marca son condicionantes fundamentales del ambiente de negocios actual. En este marco, la gestión de la diversidad es un componente esencial de la innovación para crear y mantener ventajas competitivas.
En estos tiempos globalizados de mercados cambiantes, la innovación es la única vía para mantener o crear una ventaja competitiva sostenible en el tiempo. Pero las empresas más innovadoras saben que innovar no se reduce únicamente a crear o modificar productos o servicios.
En ocasiones, lo importante es la creación de una infraestructura de personas y procesos para responder a las necesidades actuales o futuras. Muchos de estos procesos son formales, explícitamente definidos y documentados. Otros, no menos importantes, son informales y toman la forma de rutinas o modos de trabajo que evolucionan con el tiempo. Ahora bien, la necesidad de crecer y rentabilizar el negocio hace que muchas empresas centren su mirada en la innovación relacionada con sus competidores y clientes.
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