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September 21, 2006
Crisis = Danger & Opportunity. The Clinton Global Initiative is here.
Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE's Social Impact Management
The 2006 Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting, wich is truly designed to inspire action, is taking place September 20-22. You can watch it ALL through LIVE Webcasts.
I have just seen the "Building a Sustainable Future" session, moderated by Peter C. Goldmark Jr.
Program Director, Environmental Defense with panelists such as:
John Chambers, President & Chief Executive Officer, Cisco Systems Inc.
Al Gore, Chairman, Generation Investment Management
Klaus Kleinfeld, President & Chief Executive Officer, Siemens AG
Muhammad Yunus, Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank
Business accountability on sustainability issues, social enterprises as an engine of change, global warming and the impact we can all make in order to face the crisis were some of the subjects covered in the session. Al Gore makes reference to the global warming issue with brilliant symbolism, evoking the chinese symbol of crisis, which holds the meanin of both Danger and Opportunity. His closing speech was remarkable, I truly recommend it. Not only has he become, as we've stated before on this blog, a great and moving public speaker, but I'm still impressed by his "Impact and influence on the audience" capability, making you not only believe his message, but most importantly, making you commit to solving the crisis of our generation.
Just to understand his "moving" ability, Sir Richard Branson commited $3Billion to renewable energy initiatives. This implies the investment of 100% of profits from Virgin's transportation businesses over 10 years to combat global warming. This is an impressive announcement, not just monetarily, but actually comitting ALL your profits to this stake is something I still can not grasp.
If you have time, go into the live webcast of the remaining sessions and if not, I truly recommend leaving a couple of hours of your weekend to do so.
Some of the more than 100 commitments, amounting nearly $2.1 billion only on the first day are:
Abraham's Vision. Gadi Kenny commits to fund summer 2006 Vision Program, where Abraham's Vision educators took Jewish & Palestinian American students to the Balkans to engage in analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Learn more here.
Mobilize $500 Million To Benefit 50 Million People. To leverage Opportunity International's 35-year microfinance experience to mobilize $500Mby 2010 for financial services for 50 million poor, providing a better future for themselves and their communities. Learn more here.
Laboratory Services Strengthening. Working with the Ugandan government, FIND will create a model for reliable diagnosis of poverty-related diseases by identifying deficiencies in current services and addressing them through social franchising. Learn more here.
Watch all the Web Casts here.
Posted on 21 September 2006 in Corporate Responsibility, Social Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy, Nonprofit, Net Impact Chapter, Jobs, Environment, Diversity, Development, Corporate Governance
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