Be selfish and solve the world’s issues

KUALA LUMPUR – The scorned character named “selfishness” can be given power by businesses to solve world issues when used correctly through social capitalism.

Co-chair of the Horasis Global Meeting, Datuk (Dr) Vinod Sekhar explained that this “negative” trait can be used positively if done right.

In his welcoming speech at the Global Meeting yesterday, he urged business leaders to play a part in ensuring that the community thrives healthily, because doing so will ultimately enrich businesses.

“Instead of practising capitalism, social capitalism is the way forward to bring up communities to the middle and upper classes of society,” said the chairman and chief executive of PETRA Group.

“The reality we must face is that social capitalism is about tempering greed to work for all,” said Vinod, who was joined by Dr Frank-Jürgen Richter, founder and chairman of Horasis.

Vinod opined that business leaders can no longer sit back, pay taxes and have no part in societal development while leaving it to the politicians to play the field.

He said since businesses make money off the community, it is only rational that businesses make the community a thriving one.

When communities thrive, businesses get richer. Through the selfishness of business leaders to earn more, they can be motivated to uplift society so they can afford the service or products businesses are providing,” he added.

Social capitalism, he said, is a holistic approach of bringing all leaders together from business, government, and civil society to overcome the devastations experienced today, from climate change to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

“Sustainability has to be about the environment and people – and the business community has to stand up to realise they are a serious part of the solution to this,” he said.

The digital Horasis Global Meeting event titled “Toward a New Era of Peace and Sustainability” saw these prominent figures sharing and discussing novel ways to navigate through developments in the post-Covid-19 and post-Putin invasion of Ukraine.

Founded in 2005, Horasis is an independent, international think tank, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, that acts as a gathering place for world leaders, from businesses, government, and society, to discuss issues concerning corporations and society.

Past participants in Horasis meetings and forums include Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres, former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and Nobel Peace Prize winner Egypt’s former vice-president Mohamed El Baradei. – The Vibes, May 20, 2022