Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah
UNDP World Business and Development Awards
New York
United States of
America
September 24, 2008
Thank you Kemal, for
those warm words – and more importantly, for all you’ve done to call the business community to action, and to challenge
companies to “make ending poverty part of their day-to-day business.”
The playwright George Bernard Shaw once said
that “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds … cannot change anything.”
Today, we celebrate progress that reflects far more than the changing of minds. These World
Business and Development Awards reflect the transformation of mindsets.
Think of how far we’ve come.
It was the year I was born that Milton Friedman famously argued that the only social responsibility of business is to increase
its profits.
And it was not so long ago that the private sector, especially big corporations, was seen as indifferent
to or even complicit in the hardships of the developing world.
Yet today, business leaders like all of you are
rewriting the value equation – to show that true worth comes not only from profits but from making a positive difference.
More and more, when we look at some of the cruelest challenges our human family faces, we find it is business leading
the charge of innovation for human development – inventing new tools, initiating new partnerships, re-imagining service delivery…
to bring life-saving vaccines and life-altering technologies into the hands of the poor.
You might say we’re seeing
a rising tide of “Blue Ocean” thinking in development… as companies find exciting new ways to serve consumers at the bottom
of the economic pyramid… and to offer them choice and value and services that help them lift their lives.
And in
some of these cases – especially sectors like microfinance and mobile telephony – we’ve learned that doing business with the
poor can be an engine of growth and success. After all, we’re talking about a market that is 4 billion people and 5 trillion
dollars strong.
But meeting here in New York, on the eve of the world’s review of the Millennium Development Goals,
the private sector must ask itself, “Are we content with just testing the waters? Or will we set sail for the open sea the
developing world represents?”
Because right now, the goal of halving global poverty by 2015 is seriously off-track.
Large disparities and inequalities exist, within and among the world’s nations. And government can’t get the job done alone.
We need the power of the private sector to provide the kind of sustainable solutions we can scale up to meet humanity’s needs.
One of the issues that matters most to me is education. Going to school is a critical rung on the ladder up from
poverty. And for girls in particular, who are still kept out of school in disproportionate numbers, an education is a source
of empowerment within their families and communities… and a gift passed on to future generations, as educated girls become
educated women who raise educated children of their own.
Traditionally, education has been the public sector’s
domain – and always should be. They will always have the rudder in their hand. But I believe these wide blue waters are
beckoning the private sector to dive in and smooth the passage– not exclusively from a profit perspective, but as an indispensable
investment in the kind of employees, customers, and communities on which your long-term success depends.
Schools
need your help as technology providers. Content developers. Managerial experts. Children and communities need your help
as mentors, trainers, and role models.
And I’m proud to say that in Jordan, local and global business leaders are
taking the plunge – like Cisco and other technology companies in the Jordan Education Initiative, which have helped bring
Internet-enabled learning to our schools… and Mawared, Abraaj, Orange, and others who are supporting Madrasati -- a program
we launched to upgrade more than 500 of our public schools.
I hope that by the next time these prestigious awards
take place, Arab businesses will be in the running too.
Because the fight for education and the fight against
poverty demands the contributions of companies on every continent.
Not just your resources but your resourcefulness.
Not just your advice but your advocacy.
Not just your skill but your spirit of entrepreneurship
and bold thinking.
With your support, I know we can make the MDGs a reality – so a boy or a girl who is born this
year can someday look back and say, “2008 was the year the world meant business for development and hope.”
Thank
you very much.
