Ranked #1 in the World
2006 ought to go down in history as a turning point in the transformation of development and social action. Three symbolic events marked the start of a new era in development and social activism: the metamorphosis of Bill Gates from entrepreneur into philanthropist, the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Muhammad Yunus, and the publication of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by C.K. Prahalad.
These three individuals are symbolic of the new era of social action and highlight the keys to the new models of economic development:
- The view of markets as potential solutions (not only as problems)
- Decision-making driven by analysis and science (not only personal conviction and passion)
- Decentralized solutions from the bottom up (not only centralized and from the top down)
- Reliance on personal inventiveness and entrepreneurship (as opposed to major policies and institutional decisions)
- Perception of the business enterprise as an essential tool for development (not as an outside, potentially detrimental agent)
- Perception of development as opportunity for business (not only as social responsibility or charity)
The Bankinter Foundation for Innovation unveiled yesterday in Madrid its latest publication on Social Innovation (English Version or Spanish Version), for which I was asked to write the introduction. Several business and social leaders attended the presentation and confirmed that the Spanish social sector too is undergoing a similar transformation, although we’re still awaiting the emergence of a Spanish Bill Gates.
My co-presenter and head of the Spanish Accenture Foundation, Ana Millan, described how Accenture-Spain invests .5% of their billable hours providing consulting to Spanish non-profits free of charge with the objective of helping them improve their operations and re-assess their strategies. I can only hope Ana will be able to persuade Accenture worldwide to follow suit. This could be a fantastic initiative for both, the social sector and Accenture.
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