Past honorees
2013
The 2013 Business for Peace Foundation Honourees were recognized with a ceremony in the Oslo City Hall on 14th of May 2013. They received the Business for Peace award for their outstanding efforts in ethical business and corporate social responsibility. The Honourees have been named by the independent Award Committee of the Foundation.
Margaret Mussoi L. Groff, Brazil, Chief Financial Officer of ITAIPU Binacional, the world’s largest hydropower station in terms of power generation. She has been engaged in motivating female employees to seek professional development which resulted in an increase of female managers from 10 to 21 percent in nine years, in ITAIPU Binacional.
Connie Hasemann, Denmark, founder and CEO of Telehandelshuset AS. Hasemann is a strong advocate for social change through sustainable business. With a mission to help disabled people show they are a valuable labour resource on equal standing with others, Hasemann established what is now one of the leading social enterprises in Denmark.
Arif Masood Naqvi, Pakistan, Founder and Group Chief Executive of The Abraaj Group, is a leading investor operating in Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Turkey and Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. His work in promoting responsible business practices by looking at the stakeholder, rather than exclusively a shareholder approach, is pioneering in the private equity industry.
Dean Cycon, USA, founder and owner of Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company. He has worked for more than 25 years on development issues in indigenous communities, including coffee-producing villages around the world. He created Dean’s Beans to prove that businesses can promote positive economic, social and environmental change in developing countries, and be profitable at the same time.
Nadia Al-Sakkaf, Yemen, the Chief Editor of Yemen Times. This is the country’s first and most widely read independent English-language newspaper, a leading voice in Yemen on issues of media, gender, development and politics. During the May 2011 leadership crisis in Yemen, Al-Sakkaf and her organization were vital in reporting the news and putting the political situation in context for international readers.
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2012
The 2012 Business for Peace Foundation Honourees were recognized with a ceremony in the Oslo City Hall on 7th of May 2012. They received the Business for Peace award for their outstanding efforts in ethical business and corporate social responsibility. The Honourees have been named by the independent Award Committee of the Foundation.
Ibrahim Abouleish is founder of SEKEM, an agricultural and pharmaceutical company. Dr. Abouleish has launched Sekem initiative for Sustainable development in Egypt in 1977. It has been the backbone of Sekem activities and projects in several fields. His initiative was founded to realise the vision of sustainable human development. SEKEM aims to contribute to the comprehensive development of the individual, society and environment.
Eduardo Eurnekian is the president of Corporacion America, an economic holding group with companies involved in infrastructure, agriculture, energy, retail, banking and services, which operates in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Mr Eurnekian is Honorary Chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, a nongovernmental organization with the mission of developing educational programs and public awareness campaigns based on the values of solidarity and civic courage, ethical cornerstones of the Saviors of the Holocaust.
Vladas Lasas He is co-founder and/or co-owner of several companies in logistics, hi tech, clean tech, ecommerce,including UPS Authorised Service Contractor in Lithuania Skubios siuntos UAB, Elinta UAB - Industrial and Power Plant Automation, Elinvision UAB - Computer Vision R&D. He was selected by several media organisations by reader vote as a one of the most admired business leaders in 2011 for his work in the social initiatives.
David W. MacLennan is the President and Chief Operating Officer at Cargill, Inc, the USA's largest privately held corporation. Under McLennan’s leadership Cargill has earned and maintained a reputation for ethical business conduct where they received many environmental awards for. He believes in protecting and conserving the environment and makes Cargill develop ways to reduce environmental impact throughout global operations and help conserve natural resources.
Reginald A. Mengi is owner and Executive Chairman at IPP Limited, one of the largest private companies in Tanzania engaged in media, manufacturing and mining. He generously funds grassroots schemes such as Village Community Banks, youth and women’s groups. He is also involved in environmental projects and since 1988 has funded and campaigned for the planting of24 million trees on Mount Kilimanjaro to reverse the melting of its famous snowcap. For these contributions Mengi has been conferred with many environmental awards.
Latifur Rahman, Chairman and CEO of Transcom Group, which is one of the largest corporate houses in Bangladesh, comprising 14 public and private companies. Rahman’s companies, judged to be one of the best employers complying with the labour standards & industrial laws is considered to be the trend setter for others. For his stringent stance on responsible and ethical business, he is highly respected & invited by Citibank, N.A., HSBC and Universities to deliver lecture on ethical standards in business
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2010
The 2010 Business for Peace Foundation Honourees were recognized with a formal ceremony for their outstanding efforts in ethical business and corporate social responsibility. The Honourees have been named by the independent Award Committee of the Foundation.
Ratan Tata is chair of the Tata group, India’s largest conglomerate. Tata gives away on average eight to fourteen per cent of its net profits every year through dedicated philanthropic programmes.
Stef Wertheimer is the founder and honorary chair of Iscar Metalworking Company in Israel. He employs an integrated workforce of Arabs, Jews and Christians. In his company, employees work side by side towards a common goal, shedding the stereotypes so prevalent in the Middle East. Wertheimer also initiated the Arab-Jewish Executive Development programme, bringing together Jews and Arabs in intensive courses on entrepreneurship.
Francis Yeoh is managing director of the YTL Corporation Berhad, Malaysia’s leading integrated infrastructure conglomerate. He believes that a sustainable business means one which can thrive in the long term and that true sustainability has four equal components: social, economic, environmental and cultural.
Roberto Servitje Sendra is chair of Grupo Bimbo, Mexico, a multinational baking enterprise. Grupo Bimbo has a significant social responsibility programme, which is tightly related to health, the environment, society (poverty and food distribution) and the wellbeing of its workers. On the environmental front, it has set a leading example through its efforts to recycle and to reduce water consumption while supporting a major reforestation campaign in Mexico.
Venkataramani Srivathshan is managing director of Nigerian operations at Olam, a leading global supply chain management company for agricultural products and food ingredients. He has created the rice extension farming and out-grower programme that allowed Olam Nigeria to increase overall returns to rice farmers through enhanced productivity, improved quality and guaranteed buy-back of crops.
Emily Cummins, United Kingdom. She designed and created a multi-bucket water system to transport water effectively across southern Africa. Her sustainable fridge uses solar heat to provide refrigeration cheaply and easily. Her product is now serving the everyday refrigeration needs of countless families across southern Africa.
Wiliam Rosenzweig is managing director of Physic Ventures, USA, whose purpose is to invest in companies which create value through delivering innovative solutions for preventing disease, promoting consumer-driven health and ensuring a sustainable planet for future generations.
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2009
The 2009 Oslo Summit on Peace through Trade recognized seven outstanding honourees for their contribution to a better understanding of the relationship between ethical business practices and peace. The Honourees represent a variety of businesses, ranging from a seed company in Africa to multinational conglomerates. All reflected a strong awareness of the value of sound business ethics.
Anders Dahlvig started working for IKEA in 1984, and assumed his current position as CEO in 1999. Under Anders Dahlvig’s leadership, IKEA has placed sustainability at the heart of its product development and supply strategy.
Dr. Mohamed “Mo” Ibrahim is a Sudanese-born British mobile communications entrepreneur who is currently on the board of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. In 2006, the foundation launched the Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The prize is awarded to African heads of state who deliver security, health, education and economic development to their constituents, and who democratically transfer power to their successor. With a $5 million initial payment, plus $200,000 a year for life, the prize is believed to be the world’s largest.
Mohammed Jameel is President of Adbul Latif Jameel Co. Ltd. Mr. Jameel has developed several community programs promoting job opportunities for thousands of young Saudi men and women each year.
Jeff Immelt is the Chairman of the board and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. based conglomerate General Electric since 2000. Under Mr. Immelt’s leadership, GE implemented a new initiative, under the name of “ecomagination” to ramp up development of clean technologies and lighten the company’s environmental footprint.
Josephine Okot is the founder and Managing Director of Victoria Seeds, a full line seed company in Uganda. She founded Victoria Seeds for the purpose of delivering quality seed to “small holder” farmers who produce over 90% of agricultural output in Uganda.
Jiang Jianqing has served as Governor of the Shanghai Bank and the Pudong Subsidiary Bank before becoming the Head of the Investment and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). Under the leadership of Mr. Jianqing, the ICBC became the first Chinese bank in the country’s domestic banking to introduce and apply the notion of “Green Credit”, strictly constraining credit inputs for heavily polluting and/or high energy-consuming corporations.
Dr. Zhengrong Shi is the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Suntech Power, one of the leading solar energy companies and the largest solar module manufacturer in the world. Eight years after starting his own company, he is considered to be one of the world’s leaders in the development and commercialization of renewable energy technology.
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