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European Baha’i Business Forum
hen the Spirit in Business World Conference convened in New York City in April 2002, it attracted more than 500 participants from 30 countries for exploration of the theme c‘Ethics, Mindfulness, and the Bottom Line.” Organized by the Spirit in Business Institute, the conference was part of an increasing discussion throughout the business world about improving practices through ethical and spiritual means. Marcello Palazzi, businessman and founder of the Progressio Foundation,1 was one of the organizers of the conference and is also a member of the European Baha’i Business Forum (EBBF), a group that is working to change practices by integrating practical business needs With the principles of the Baha’i Faith. Though the combination of religion and business will seem incongruous to some, members of the EBBF believe that religion— specifically its moral and spiritual influence—are just what is needed
1 The Progressio Foundation is dedicated to “crafting strategic enterprise initiatives that advance human progress.” It has been involved in developing agendas for international social development projects such as the State of the World Forum, the UNESCO Business Forum, and Habitat 11.
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to guide the business world as old ways of business are confronted with the challenges of globalization and a collapsing moral framework.
The group began in 1990 as an informal network based in Paris, with the intent of bringing together Baha’is in business to discuss ways to deal with ethical problems they encountered in their work. Gradually, though, the organization began to expand its focus. The group’s charter was written in 1992, and in 1993 the EBBF was registered in France as a nonprofit organization.
It has since grown from its inital 15 members to include nearly 300 people involved in business and management in some 50 countries. There are affiliates of the EBBF in nine European nations, and in Brazil, Ecuador, Russia, Turkey, and the United States.2
“The EBBF’s work,” said Mr. Palazzi, “is about the values and principles which unite men from all religions and countries in their practice of business. Good business, like good governance, rests on these values and principles. Without them, there is nothing.”
George Starcher, Secretary—General of the organization, said that “a major transformation will be required on the part of individuals and the values that govern the world economy. Appropriate global approaches and institutions will have to develop to solve global problems.”
Mr. Starcher, who has been with the group since its beginning, has an MBA from Harvard and spent two decades with a leading international management consulting firm before founding his own management consulting practice. He is now a member of the Board of Directors of the European Center for Continuing Education (CEDEP) at Fontainebleau, France.
The mission of the EBBF, according to its Web site, is “to promote ethical values, personal virtues, and moral leadership in business as well as in organizations of social change.” Its seven essential values are “ethical business practices; the social responsibility of business; stewardship of the earth’s resources; partnership ofwomen and men in all fields of endeavor; a new paradigm of work; non— adversarial decision—making through consultation; the application
2 A full list of affiliates and contact information is available on the EBBF’s Web site, <www.ebbf.org>.
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of spiritual principles, or human values, to the solution of economic problems.”
“All seven of our core values exemplify Baha’i principles,” said Mr. Starcher, “and all are fundamental to achieving a responsible business community.” Some of these motivating ideas are unique to the Baha’i Faith, which holds that work is a form of worship.
While it is motivated by Baha’i principles, the organization is open to anyone who shares the same values and seeks to pro— mote ethical and responsible interests. These ideas are not exclusive to religion, but the EBBF is proving that spirituality can be a strong motivator for change. Mr. Palazzi, who is not a Baha’i, says that what is needed is “an active engagement of more faiths from around the world.”
“My foundation,” he said, “is working with the EBBF to do so in a new initiative, the Spirit in Business World Institute, which aims to integrate business leaders from as many faiths as possible. . .. Whilst not new, this need is more pressing than ever, in the wake of the Enron scandal, the Argentinean economic collapse, stock market deflation, and the general divorce of business from ethics. Its professionalism, integrity, good management, and networking capacity have created a unique community of committed business leaders.”
Wendi Momen, President of the EBBF, has been involved with the group since it was founded in 1990. Dr. Momen is a non— executive director of the Bedfordshire Health Authority and a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United Kingdom.
“The main functions, it seems to me,” Dr. Momen said, “are to enable people in business who are non-Baha’l's to become familiar with and to adapt to their own situation the ethical and economic principles found in the writings of the Baha’i Faith and to help Baha’is who are in business to use these principles ever more fully in their businesses. [The EBBF] also needs to reach out to young people who are entering business with these values and principles.”
The organization’s first participation in a major conference took place in March 1995, at the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, Denmark, where EBBF members delivered six symposia on such themes as “Basic Values for a
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Prosperous World,” “Developing an Ethical Business Environment,” and c‘Encouraging Entrepreneurship in Women.” The EBBF was also involved in the development of the follow—up conference, Copenhagen +5, which was hosted in Geneva in July 2000. There the Forum again sponsored six sessions, addressing ethics, prosperity, and the changing role of business.
Since the EBBF’s initial participation in the World Summit for Social Development, its prestige and profile have grown, and the organization has expanded its collaboration with other, like— minded groups.
“The most positive reception is from students of business and economics,” said Mr. Starcher. That response has come most notably from AIESEC (Association Internationale d’Etudz’ants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales), the world’s largest student—run, non— governmental organization. AIESEC consists of more than 30,000 students of business and economics representing 85 nations and some 800 universities.
This relationship grew out ofworkshops that the EBBF facilitated at Habitat II in Istanbul. It led directly to collaboration on AIESEC’s general theme conference that year, where EBBF representatives made presentations to the students and distributed its paper “Corpo— rate Social Responsibility and Business Success”t0 the 500 conference participants.
The EBBF recently assisted With organizing AIESEC’s largest international event, the 53rd International Congress in Lenk, Switzerland, held 17—25 August 2001, titled “Youth Leadership Shaping the Global Village.” George Starcher and EBBF member Daniel Schaubacher spoke at the conference on the subjects of moral leadership and future leadership trends.
“Our feeling is that generally, probably students are more open to the values we’re trying to promote than our own generation,” said Mr. Starcher. Of the EBBF’s collaboration With AIESEC, he said, “We give it a very high priority. [AIESEC’S] values are the same as ours.”
Lawrence Miller, a member of the EBBF, now serves as a top advisor to the AIESEC board and is involved with evaluating and overhauling its management scheme, While Mr. Starcher is a member of the International Advisory Group of AIESEC International.
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Another of the EBBF’s major cooperative efforts was coau— thoring, with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the 120—page “Joint Working Paper on Socially Responsible Enterprise Restructuring,” which was first published in April 2000 and has now appeared in a condensed form and has been translated into several languages.
The Russian translation of the joint paper was used as the basis of a two—week training program on the subject of socially responsible enterprise restructuring, which was jointly administered by the EBBF and the ILO. Nine members of Russia’s Parliament were among the 18 participants at the conference, held in November 2001 at the International Training Center of the International Labour Organization in Turin, Italy. Other participants included an economist working for the President of Russia and represen— tatives from offices involving social and labor policy in that country.
Additional collaboration along these same lines is planned, with the possibility of doing restructuring training in some Central and Eastern European countries in the near future.
Michael Henriques, Director of the ILO’s Job Creation and Enterprise Department, said that the venture between the EBBF and the ILO has little to do with the religious orientation of the group, but “more because we had a meeting of minds on the issues of restructuring.”
“I think that ethical issues are coming to the forefront in a whole range of different areas,” he said. “What we call corporate social responsibility has a sense of wider responsibility attached to it—of ethics and so on. I think that we see those issues becoming an increasingly important part of the agenda.”
Socially responsible business practices were also the basis for collaboration between the EBBF and the European Commission (EC), in the form of the EBBF’s response to the Green Paper on “Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility.” The EBBF response outlines guiding principles in corporate responsibility and gives proposals for further collaboration between the EBBF and the European Union.3
3 The submission can be read on the European Commission’s Web site, at <eur0pa.eu.int/ comm/ employment_social/ soc—dial/ csr/ ebbf_eu_en01 1212.htm>.
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The broadening appeal of the EBBF was demonstrated at its 11th annual conference, held 22—24 September 2001 at the dePoort Conference Center in the Netherlands. More than one—third of the nearly 100 participants were not members of the EBBF but still responded to its message of social responsibility and its pursuit of global prosperity. The conference, titled “The Role of Business in Enhancing the Prosperity of Humankind,” was dedicated to exploring the group’s Vision “to enhance the well—being and prosperity of humankind.”
In addition to organizing such conferences and collaborating with other organizations, the EBBF also publishes documents such as “Emerging Values for a Global Economy,” “The Role of Business in Enhancing the Prosperity of Humankind,” “Towards a New Paradigm of Management,” “Ethics and Entrepreneurship—An Oxymoron?”, and “A Spiritual Approach to Microcredit Projects.” All of the EBBF’s publications are meant to articulate its values- based approach to business and how that approach can be successfully applied to modern businesses.
The Forum’s ideas are still new and surprising to some, but both the EBBF and its approach are rapidly gaining acceptance and recognition.
“When the EBBF started,” said Dr. Momen, “hardly anyone was talking about spirituality in the workplace—now it is a commonplace; similarly with values and moral leadership. 50 the EBBF is a much more comfortable ‘fit’ now in the business world and is much more readily accepted... I believe that society needs the values and ideas that the EBBF promotes. It is hard to get across to some that business ethics make good business sense and are not a luxury. It is only when a big company collapses as a result of unethical dealings that people seem to understand this.”
