| Danial Norjidi |
SOCIAL innovation should be everybody’s business, and in fostering social innovation, all sectors have a role to play.
This was highlighted in one of the discussions at the recent 15th Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility (AFCSR) 2016, which took place in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
The AFCSR is the premier platform for promoting CSR thought leadership and best practices in Asia. Convened annually in a different Asian location each year, it is the longest-running and most-established CSR conference in Asia.
The second plenary session of the conference saw panellists discuss the topic, ‘Lifting the Bottom of the Pyramid: How Corporate Social Innovation can help win the War on Poverty’.
The discussion saw panellists explore the role of all sectors in fostering social innovation. While there was resounding agreement that social innovation should be everyone’s business, there were various ideas on what each sector can do.
From left: Eddie Razak, Runa Khan, Martin Pun, Aisa Mijeno and Dr Bradley Googins during the panel discussion. – DANIAL NORJIDI
On hand to moderate the session was Dr Bradley Googins, Professor Emeritus at the Caroll School of Business, Boston College, USA.
In the session, partnerships were identified as being a key strategy in ensuring that all sectors — government, business, and non-government organisations (NGOs) — are engaged in socially innovative work.
One of the panellists to feature was Runa Khan, Executive Director of Friendship, an NGO working with Bangladesh’s poor communities. Established in 2002, Friendship now touches directly 4.2 million lives a year, providing integrated services in health, education, sustainable economic development, disaster management, good governance and cultureal preservation sectors.
In the session, she noted that partnerships enable multiple players to fill in the gaps of the needs of those at the bottom of the pyramid.
“If you have a mindset of doing good for a community, you need to trust and respect the organisations at the grassroots level and work in partnership with them,” she said. “There must be humility, deep understanding, and mutual respect to fill in the gaps together.”
Eddie Razak, Executive Vice President for Social Innovation of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia, a government agency set up to steer Malaysia into an innovation economy and achieve high-income nation status, also spoke in the session.
He highlighted that there are ways to bring corporations together, citing the example of the Collective Impact Initiative, wherein the public and private sectors work together to address a specific issue and equally invest in such.
Specific to corporations, panellist Martin Pun, Head of Yoma Strategic Holdings in Singapore, focused on the importance of company leadership in setting the direction.
“Social innovation has to come from the top and has to be part of corporate culture,” he stated, adding that good employees work for corporations with a purpose. He also affirmed that social innovation is increasingly part and parcel of employee engagement programmes.
The fourth panellist, Aisa Mijeno, co-founder and CEO of Sustainable Alternative Lighting urged, “Hire more millennials.”
Aisa’s company creates sustainable and cost-effective ecologically designed lamps that are activated by water and salt.
She stated that while there is no shortage of innovation, the challenge is one of scalability. Mijeno remarked that her innovation of creating alternative lighting sources for communities in off-grid areas was made possible through a corporation-sponsored incubator programme, which allowed her to test and refine her innovations.
In the session, it was highlighted that embedding social innovation in the culture of a corporation and forming strategic partnerships to address pressing societal concerns are seen as ways to engage more individuals and organisations to think creatively and develop viable solutions.
The AFCSR was organised by the Asian Institute of Management-Ramon V del Rosario, Sr Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (AIM-RVR CSR Centre) and Asia Inc Forum.
It is supported by Intel as the Strategic Partner; SPA Group Myanmar as Host Sponsor; Jebsen & Jessen as Diamond Sponsor; Bangkok Bank, Fuji Xerox, Phinma Group and edotco Group as Gold Sponsors; City Love and Hope Foundation, KT Care Foundation and Capital Diamond Star Group as Country Sponsors; and Myanmar Times, Frontier Myanmar, 3BL Media, The Media Alliance, Asia Outlook, Borneo Bulletin and EIN Presswire as Media Partners.
Association Partners include Asean CSR Network, AmCham Myanmar, Australia-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce, British Chamber of Commerce Myanmar, CCI France Myanmar, EuroCham Myanmar and the League of Corporation Foundations Philippines.
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