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2020 Hindsight - Businesses Must Be Inclusive In Our Abundant World

This article is more than 4 years old.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Many Americans are celebrating MLK Day as they do other holidays - enjoying their time off from work by spending it with family and friends. Many communities have events honoring Dr. King - including community service programs, concerts and panel discussions.

What can business leaders today learn from Dr. King and his many great examples of bravery and leadership? It sounds simple: Do more to help, and do more for those who really need help.

Forbes has been focused on helping global entrepreneurs do more and increase their success. We launched Forbes8 - a video on demand service specifically dedicated to global entrepreneurs. Yes it is a business and must be self-sustaining (meaning revenue and profit goals) but we’re walking out the business from a different perspective: how to provide the most impact? Answering that question is a daily opportunity for the Forbes8 team.

In 2019 we forged relationships with partners who have similar intentions and missions. These partnerships yielded support for and from the New York Urban League, JP Morgan Chase’s Advancing Black Pathways, Fueled by Culture events, a Gen Z app teaching entrepreneurship called Icon and a global partnership with Global Startup Ecosystem - producers of the Africa Future Summits.

The GSE partnership had the Forbes8 team visiting Africa five times last year. We’re delighted with the shared focus on supporting emerging economies and are aligned with their long-term views (they are committed to twelve years of investments with annual summits). For background, the 2nd annual Ghana Tech Summit successfully hosted 100 global speakers and 2000 participants on December 13, 2019. The summit was free to attend, which made it accessible to young entrepreneurs.

With high unemployment rates across Africa, the summit organizers made a bold choice to host the Africa Future Summits at local YMCAs. From the investment in physical improvements (building theaters and production studios) to the youth ambassadors volunteers to the passionate entrepreneurs with varied business plans to solve local problems (energy, food, healthcare, transportation among them - sound familiar?) the summits were big successes. And, the GSE plans to double the countries they’re supporting next year - focusing on the abundant philosophy modern technology provides business and society in emerging markets.

The Ghana Tech Summit programming included career development and business boot-camp sessions, pitch contests and thought leadership panels. As a continent, Africa boasts larger economic growth rates than the rest of the world average. But while the future is promising there remains well chronicled problems including civil unrest, riots and economic inequalities across the continent.

The final night at the summit included a tour of Accra’s Osu Castle - the former office location for the President of Ghana (until 2013). It’s an impressive site, built by the Danes in the mid-1600’s. Among its commercial history, the castle played a role in the slave trade. I’ll admit, touring the castle’s dungeon and imagining the transformation of people to property from a windowless four foot tall room is nightmare inducing. The contrast of beautiful coastal setting and dark history paints a complicated picture, and reminds me to focus on the future and what must be in today’s world.

There are many individuals, companies and organizations aligning to create a better world. Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and said, “The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the underdeveloped, school the unschooled and feed the unfed...No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for the ‘least of these’.”

Happy Birthday Dr. King. We still have a lot of work to do and your words still carry great importance and hope.

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