Conference features speakers from business, development organizations
October 19The University College of Citizenship and Public Service hosted socially-responsible business and community development leaders in a conference this weekend. Entitled "Balancing Society and Economy," the conference aimed to introduce students to concepts of active citizenship, social enterprise, and corporate responsibility. Keynote speaker Bill Reese, the chief operating officer of the International Youth Foundation, a charity focused on developing youth, lauded the abilities of the private sector to advance global development. "Your generation doesn't get the credit it deserves," he said. "Entrepreneurship is not only in the business arena. We have to have an asset-based approach to social development." His speech linked business and community development and said the social sector and the free market should not be viewed as separate. "Too often we look at [foreign aid] like international welfare rather than an investment," said Reese, who is also the Chair of the US Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid. Foreign aid, he said, not only helps create jobs and business opportunities worldwide, but also helps guarantee US security. "It is in our national interest to provide for the health and safety of countries around us," Reese said. Increasing interdependence and easier communication have aided developing countries in creating businesses, said Reese, who mentioned that Brazilians were unable to make a phone call in the 1970s. "FedEx has done more for international trade than NAFTA," he quipped. Reese also praised the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. "Those institutions, if they were wiped out, would be recreated," he said, and they reflect "the greatest creativity since the foundation of this country." Reese was quick to point out popular misrepresentations of the institutions. "Don't be taken over by sloganeering," he said. "'Globalization' is a term used by people who are not too well-informed and who are 'smoking' us." The private sector has a large role in developing nations as 51 percent of the world's largest economies are businesses, he said. According to Reese, in the 1960s and 1970s, the dominant way of thinking was to force strong governments on developing nations. "There was no discussion of organization, nothing at all about growing the private sector," he said. Instead, according to Reese, business had to rely on government as a way for standards to be upheld. "When it comes to disputing a contract, businesses want a fair deal." Governments are more responsive to business than ever before because there are more democracies than ever before. In a democracy, Reese said, "there is an ability for people to come from humble roots and lead a society." "For most people, progressively moving up a ladder is unheard of," he said, referring to the job markets in developing countries. "It's not a career, it's a livelihood they're looking at. Most countries would think of five percent as full employment." Reese praised new opportunities for working in the social sector. "The exciting thing is that you can make a career in those areas," he said. "I'm not going to convince you that you can become rich working for a non-profit, but you can have a profession." Reese's speech followed an afternoon of panel discussions by socially-responsible business and community leaders. Representatives from City Year, United Leaders, Timberland, Zipcar, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters sat on the panel. John Winter, director of social responsibility for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, spoke of visiting the plantations where Green Mountain coffee is grown. "There's a humility in going down and seeing coffee growers and seeing how they live," he said. The company's coffee is grown in Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Guatemala and Sumatra. A student asked Winter if marketing coffee grown in a socially responsible manner helps business. He responded by saying that it's a "whole idea" that consumers purchase. "People choose Green Mountain because they believe the values they espouse are held up in that bag." Robin Chase, founder of the hourly car-rental service Zipcar, said that a product must be attractive and competitive, and social responsibility gives it a "leg up." "Zipcar makes smart, economic sense, it's convenient, and by the way, it has environmental benefits," she said. Reese responded to the panel by saying that there should be more such accountability in the business world. Instead of corporate social responsibility, "there should just be responsible business," he said.
