Catarina's World

The combination of the rapidly expanding global fashion and beauty industry and the internet is providing opportunities for developing countries.

Environmentally responsible fashions can become cultural ambassadors that change global value sets and lead to other economic changes that also foster greater respect for the environment.

It enables them to use their creative talents and cultural heritages to create jobs and sell products that are environmentally responsible. And even better, results can come swiftly thanks to the internet. Their ideas, designs, and products can be displayed online and sold rapidly around the world.

Experts at UNCTAD’s “Best of Nature” conference believe fashion, cosmetics and perfume can lead to significant increase of employment in developing countries. We are mainly talking about small businesses which there, as well as in the rest of the world, is an important component of progress. With the right marketing such creative work can be not only profitable but promote different cultures and biodiversity as well.

Biodiversity is a source of creativity and new products for the perfume industry. It is vital for supply chains to be transparent so that natural ingredients are responsibly harvested to make sure that the supply of valuable plants is not exhausted, Michel Mane, President of Mane USA said. He added that “by establishing techniques for the growth of perfume ingredients in developing countries we are able to ensure the ecological viability of our ingredients. By using both cutting-edge, environmentally benign agricultural practices and providing local employment we are able to ensure the ecological viability of our ingredients”.

More than 40% of Unilever’s turnover is now in developing countries, said Giulia DiTommaso, Unilever’s Director of External Affairs for Africa, the Middle East and Turkey. They are one of the largest buyers in the world of ingredients such as palm oil and have noticed increased consumer interest in environmentally friendly products. Unilever is hence focusing on sustainable use of water, soils and, not to forget, respect for biodiversity.

A vital issue is how environmentally responsible products can be certified and traced. We want to be sure of what we are buying. According to Sean Ansett, Managing Partner of At Stake Advisors, “customers will want to be able to trace their purchases “from farm to fork and from mine to mobile phone”. Current technology is showing that such traceability is now possible, if difficult”.

“There are “tool sets” to allow corporations to improve the transparency of their supply chains. Doing so generates brand trust and loyalty, especially as customers increasingly demand that products be environmentally responsible”, Tim Wilson of Historic Features said. They supply such tools to customers like Wal-Mart.

Definitions of “natural” and “organic” still have not been set by for instance the European Union, but are under development and definitions hence still vary from country to country.

Organic African fashion popular in the West

African fashion is increasingly popular in the developed world and is creating thousands of jobs in Africa. There is for instance a fashion school in Niger that’s helping 150 African designers develop their talents.

What Africa needs is the capacity to mass produce fashion, says Anggy Haif, a Cameroonian fashion designer. The continent lacks the infrastructure and industry needed for widespread production of natural-fibre clothes. But there is a huge market for that kind of clothes and many jobs depend on developing such facilities.

So now that concern over the environment is mounting, and words such as “green” and “sustainable” and “responsible” are heard widely, environmentally responsible fashion and beauty products have the opportunity to shift from niche products to being much more widely used. Environmentally responsible fashions can become cultural ambassadors that change global value sets and lead to other economic changes that also foster greater respect for the environment.

Wouldn’t it hence be an idea for aid and donor organisations to devote more time and money to assisting developing countries with getting the infrastructure and know-how needed to develop more such companies? To do so would lead to sustainable development that would enable the nations to gradually work and trade themselves to a better standard of living. As opposed to most aid it would not just have a temporary effect but would assist the developing world long term starting now.

photo: Ethan Allen Flickr

What was new about the “WikiLeak scoop” a few days ago? Anybody following international news have heard about alleged Pakistani involvement in Afghanistan from US officials.

Anybody following international news have heard about alleged Pakistani involvement in Afghanistan from Hillary Clinton and other US officials.

Last week Hillary Clinton actually said there must be someone in the Pakistani government that knows Osama bin Laden’s wheeabouts. Can you get more blunt than that?

So what was the point of making the trove of 90,000 classified military documents public? The only reason they got so much attention was by only released them to The New York Times, Guardian and Der Spiegel. They were no scope and I don’t understand why they caused so much consternation? The only difference they make is that now some Afghans lives are in danger.

WIkiLeaks goal in disclosing secret documents is to reveal “unethical behavior” by governments and corporations. Catch is since it was founded in 2006 it has only been able to disclose secrets from Western countries.

But what about secrets from inside the ISI or Pakistani government? If the 90,000 documents were from inside the ISI they would have been truly sensational. Or if WikiLeaks published classified information from say, the Iranian, North Korean, Russian or Chinese government.

But chances of that ever happen are next to none. Who inside such regimes would dare to take the risk? Pity since that kind of information would make WikiLeaks a worth while organisation. As it is they provide one sided information from the West without being able to deliver information that would really make a difference.

What does WikiLeaks want to accomplish?

Part of me likes what they are doing, but since they will only be able to reveal secrets from the West I don’t think they have a mission to fulfil. At least not if they continue leaking “scoops” that are common knowledge.

WikiLeaks and Julian Assange are a bit of a question mark. He says he’s a journalist but according to the New York Times he is not. They call him an activist but to what end isn’t clear. If it is his desire to promote peace I don’t think he has accomplished anything so far.

So what did he accomplish by bringing his organization into the debate on Afghanistan? WikiLeaks had to close some time ago due to lack of funding so presumably the aim was to get sponsors? Or just become famous? Some people go to extremes for fame and glory.

The pr coup he achieved was brilliant. He is now a household name and so is Wikileaks. Just a pity that by showing little regard for the hard moral choices and dearth of good policy options facing decision-makers, he is as reckless and destructive as soldier or soldiers who leaked the documents in the first place.

All WikiLeaks has achieved so far is, putting Afghans who provided leaks to the US in danger as well as – again – show us that technology has diminished our control over what the world knows. So now WikiLeaks needs to step up to the plate and deliver scoops of classified information from inside totalitarian states. That would justify their existence. If not, what can such an organisations accomplish?

(Photo: US Department of State – Flickr)

Seems to me that most political ideologies are on the shelf at the moment. Or maybe they have just gone on leave? Many social scientists currently consider political ideologies dead, but I wouldn’t go that far because it would imply the end of innovative and creative development in the intellectual world. And that wouldn’t only be an unlikely but also disastrous development.

My father was an international entrepreneur already in the 1950's, leading his life and businesses in global ways that were unusual then.

Capitalism and individualism, for instance, are alive and kicking, but then again, they have been since time immemorial, and always will be.

But sure, communism is dead in all but name and socialism today lacks innovative, new ideas. Its proponents keep on repeating the same old slogans that are no longer relevant. And where can you find true conservatism today?

Liberalism or center right politics has been the name of the game for quite some time. But even those ideologies are now being questioned after the global crisis hit and leading economists couldn’t agree on how it could have happened, why it wasn’t spotted and, worse, can’t agree on how to fix it.

Ideologies make politics lively and exciting so it’s most likely just a question of how long it will take before new ideologies take shape. Actually if we don’t, politics will be even more of a status quo than it is, so some new political ideologies would be most welcome.

Maybe it would be an idea to concentrate on globalism for the time being instead? The original use of the word in business context goes back to Harvard Business Review in the 1940′s. The idea signified the freer movement of goods, services, ideas and people around the world. My father was an international entrepreneur already in the 1950′s, leading his life and businesses in global ways that were unusual then. In those days airports were like small clubs where they all knew each other, unlike today when everybody’s flying. How often do we meet people we know at an airport nowadays? Unusual, even in first class lounges. With a father like that it probably makes sense that I’m as international as I am.

In some ways politics is actually getting more and more global. Look at the G20, ASEAN and the EU, for instance. We are more and more taking part in multinational, multicultural alliances attempting to align national politics with international aims for the greater good. The problem is that there are, and has been for a long time, far to many vested interests resulting in agreements only benefitting one group. And as we all know, agreements, or business deals for that matter, that don’t benefit all interests don’t last. So maybe it’s time to try and find long lasting solutions that will increasingly create better terms of living for more people on a global scale?

It is in everybodys interest that we elaborate the global perspective even further and work towards a world where everybody can eat three meals a day, have basic schooling and access to health care. That doesn’t mean that we should leave free markets and the ability to earn a lot of money behind. Cultural and national differences will always be there thankfully, since it would be seriously boring if all human being were all the same.

International issues should be a more important part of new political ideologies. We are just one big integrated global market. Even Coca Cola nowadays considers themselves an international and not just an American company. So why shouldn’t politics follow suit? After all where would Coca Cola be today if they had concentrated on only the US?

(Re-published on request)

G20 rich and emerging countries have been quite successful in holding protectionist pressures in check in recent months.

Will G20 leaders continue to be successful in keeping trade protectionism at a minimum?

However, some G20 countries, in contradiction to pledges at their London and Pittsburgh summits last year, have actually implemented new measures to restrict trade. Luckily however their scope has been limited and the group has continued to avoid an escalation of protectionism.

The Financial Times noted that the new import-restricting measures imposed over the past six months by G20 countries had affected at most 0.7 percent of G20 goods imports. Or to put it in another way – or 0.4 percent of world imports about half the increase in the previous six months.

G20 must remain vigilant however since when a global recession is easing off the temptation to resort to protectionism is huge. And we don’t want the world to go down that road, do we? In today’s global market it is of vital importance to facilitate trade and not to restrict it, so let’s hope G20 continues to battle protectionism.

(photo:downingstreet – flickr)

How do you map health clinics or water delivery sources in a slum? Humanitarian agencies will be seeking answers to these and other questions as vulnerable populations settle in a sea of shacks on the outskirts of cities and towns across the world in the next few years.

So you thought you were badly hit by the recent downturn? Not compared to these people.

And to make the situation worse the global economic downturn could push as many as 21 million people in the Asia-Pacific region and at least 14 million people in Latin America into extreme poverty, according to the UN and World Bank. Many of them will, needless to say, seek their fortune in cities.

There hence is a huge need for programs to reduce vulnerability in urban settings. According to the World Bank’ Development Report 2010 half the world’s people now live in cities, a share that will rise to 70 percent by 2050. Of urban population growth (5 million new residents a month), 95 percent will be in the developing world, with small cities growing fastest.

So you thought you were badly hit by the recent downturn? Nothing compared to these people, I’m afraid. So what are we going to do to give them a decent life? Aid to developing countries from richer nations will fail to hit aid targets set five years ago at the Gleneagles summit, a study suggests. Total aid will be USD107 billion in 2010 against 2005 pledges of USD128 billion, the OECD has forecast. It also said that of the USD21 billion gap between promises and likely actual aid, the large majority – USD17 billion – was a result of the donors not hitting their targets, while just USD4 billion was caused by the global financial crisis reducing their national income. In other words the global crisis have hit the worlds poorest and most vulnerable people massively. And you thought you were badly hit by the recent downturn? Nothing compared to these people, I’m afraid.

Also we mustn’t forget that countries with a lot of poverty easily gets trapped in crime or worse, become failed states. And I don’t need to tell you how easily failed states can follow in the steps of Afghanistan and Somalia, do I? So it’s in the interest of all of us to help eradicate poverty in the developing world. But what can we do that will work and not turn out to be just another pledge never met? Now after the recent global crisis it is actually more urgent than ever.

Maybe a group of nearly 50 organizations came up with the answer? They said in a letter to political leaders circulated this month that a global tax on banks’ financial transactions should be introduced to fight poverty, protect public services and tackle climate change. The campaign for a “Robin Hood Tax” is backed by charities such as Oxfam, as well as aid agencies, unions, green groups, financiers and economists. Presumably the logic is that since they caused the global crisis that has pushed millions and millions of people into extreme poverty they have an obligation to help give the poorest a decent life?

Do you think a Robin Hood Tax is the way forward? Or what other solutions are there? As it is billions of people are leading a life you and I have seen but cannot really comprehend what it would be like. So now let’s move beyond self interest and come up with innovative solutions that work!

Photo: Flickr – Maciej Dakowicz

Negative events have dominated the news for a couple of years. So now when the wind’s turning let’s capitalise on it and be optimistic. How about we all make it our new years resolution to be optimistic? What have we got to lose? After all without hope there’s just time. And if time is all that’s left in the world we will be in the sorry state of just killing time. So let’s start a new chapter and make 2010 The Year of Optimism!

Let's all make a chain of optimism around the world and make sure 2010 will be remembered as The Year of Optimism!

Leaders owe it to their followers to spread optimism without excluding reality. We need to inspire and give people not only hope but resilience. What’s going to happen to your company, your job or you if you are not optimistic and keep making intelligent attempts to succeed?

Sure we have to be clear about the challenges we face due to external factors. But we also have to look not only at what mistakes we did but also at what we did right. Let’s find new ways of doing things. Tough times after all does provide new opportunities to succeed.

Now is not the time to throw in the towel but to have the courage to move on to pastures new. Highlight the good things companies and people are doing now despite the tough times.

Look at how the recession is affecting the business, both positively and negatively. Don’t forget your customers and their buying habits and how you can serve their current needs better. When you are able to provide an equally good, or even better, service during a recession, your customers will never forget you.

Adversity does bring opportunities as well as positive changes if you let it. Don’t be negative and overcautious since that will squash all possibilities of turning this recession into a success. Having said that I should add the importance of not promising something you can not deliver. Much better to undersell and overdeliver!

It’s possible that hard times are here to stay for quite some time yet, but you still have to be optimistic. Sooner or later the tide will turn and you have to look at possibilities instead of concentrating on what can’t be done and being too cautious to take a calculated risk. If you do you will be left behind when good times are here again.

Pessimists actually have a 19 percent higher mortality rate than optimists, according to a Mayo Clinic study. So let’s do things that make us happy and be optimistic in 2010. That will make us more motivated to make a difference and improve the performance of our company, our work, our lives and altogether have an impact on the performance of the whole world.

Let’s make 2010 the year when we all join forces, are optimistic and aim for the stars!  The worst that can happen is that we will have even better health, more friends and better quality of life.

Wishing you all A Fantastic New Year!   2010 – THE YEAR OF OPTIMISM

Photo: PhotoXpress Peter Barrett