At the Chosen Leading CEO Council held at the weekend at Hyatt Regency Oubaai the key underlying themes of a number of solutions to poverty that were presented centred around mentorship and corporate unity.
Making a bold statement, Danny Jordaan, head of the 2010 World Cup local organising committee, said: "The gap between rich and poor is clearly widening. It is one of the biggest challenges facing South Africa, and we need ethics and soul in directing our resources and efforts to the right places."
The 2010 MTN Business Leading CEO Council’s event was attended by more than 100 delegates. Two separate debates took place simultaneously on the first evening, one for male and one for female members, which each addressed the contentious topic, ‘You are rich, they are poor. Should you be doing anything about it?’
Education, mentorship and corporate unity were the key underlying themes of the many solutions that were presented.
Business leaders must unite
The men’s discussion highlighted the fact that government policies have failed to properly address the issue of poverty and that to be more effective and achieve tangible results, business leaders need to unite and work together. As a solution, 28 action items were stipulated. These included long-term initiatives such as attracting foreign investment and funding of skills training, to smaller actions like donating old work clothes to employees when you grow out of them and ‘adopting’ a child for R1000 a year. The establishment of an ‘Ubuntu Index’ was also mooted.
Similarly, female council members emphasised the need to start with education, and also underscored the importance of mentorship in uplifting disadvantaged people. Both the business leaders and young protégés pledged to make financial donations to organisations listed in an ‘accountability directory’, which should list organisations and social issues that need urgent funding and resources.
"Both groups have come up with strong, practical suggestions on how to combat the poverty issue," said Alison Gregg the founder.
Software company Microsoft along with the country’s 24 brightest young minds and Stellenbosch based artist, Strijdom van der Merwe, built a fingerprint to giant scale at Herold’s Bay beach. This was a reminder to local leaders to leave behind a positive legacy for future generations.
