Young Leaders Seminar "Companies as Development Agents"

Objective

During a two-day workshop, 16 students and young professionals discussed the role of business in development.

Programme

On the first day, participants received practical and theoretical input on the topic: Timo Herold from University of Ulm presented an approach for how to develop a corporate code of conduct.

Subsequently, Prof. Dr. Ingo Pies showed that companies can be development agents while furthering their own interests. Organizing investments into public goods and enabling cooperation can make both business and the poor better off.

Noara Kebir from MicroEnergy International explained how the company plans to start up its operations in Tanzania: through cooperation with a local microfinance institution, MicroEnergy wants to supply solar energy solutions to customers in rural Tanzania.

On the second day, students developed their own business models to provide energy to people in rural areas in a developing country. Thilo Zelt from GEXSI joined the jury for the review of these business models. After that, he talked about his own work with investments in Jatropha cultivation.

On the last day, students discussed the roles and expectations of different stakeholders, a local community, the national government and a rural development organization, in a role play. They found that identifying opportunities for mutual benefit is a much more viable strategy for negotiation than communicating only one’s own interests.