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I prefer to call the employees colleagues

03 December 2013 / 21:12:50  GRReporter
2943 reads

"For me, the financial crisis raging in 2008 was the second big bang in the history of mankind. It has proved that capitalism in the form in which we know it is not fair and cannot lead to economic development. I think that the next revolution will be that of "conscience and wisdom" and it will lead to what I call "caring capitalism," as stated by Nidal Eses, one of the global leaders, at the beginning of his presentation during the annual meeting of the organization Global Thinkers Forum in Athens.

Nidal’s idea that he is already successfully implementing in his company, The Guardian of Eses4Ventures, is for the global economic development to be realized through innovative and creative ideas. In his scheme, the employees and the owners of the companies are equally interested in improving the performance and income, the main objective being to reach the true value rather than the price of the products.

Nidal invests in various sectors, giving an impetus to young freelancers and start-up companies to realize their visions. "The only two things that we need are creativity and innovation. We cannot blame others for our misfortune but must build our own happiness."

"Creativity and innovation combined with sustainable technologies are the only way to deal with the problems in the economy," said Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish. He is the founder of the SEKEM initiative that is an example of such a development and of a stable organization in the 21st century. Using as its name the transcription of the hieroglyph meaning "sun vitality", SEKEM is the first organization that develops biodynamic farming methods in Egypt. These methods are based on the idea that organic farming enhances agro-biodiversity and does not lead to unnecessary waste. All products within the system can be either sold or re-used in the farming process, thus creating a sustainable process.

In addition to its business, SEKEM takes care of the development of society in Egypt in general. For this purpose, a kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, the programme "Work and Education" for children from poorer families, a medical centre and, more recently, the Heliopolis Academy for Sustainable Development  have been created in the community.

For his work, Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish received, during the forum, the Excellence in Positive Change Award. His business model, which combines commercial success with social and cultural development, is being studied at Oxford University.

"The future is not far away, it is around us, waiting for young entrepreneurs to materialize their ideas. Entrepreneurship is not heroism, it means to materialize the idea through consistency and vision, and to find the people who will support us in this," said Professor Marc Ventresca, organizational and economic sociologist at Said Business School, Oxford University.

Despite the difficulties, "Greece must do everything possible to retain its brains. There are huge opportunities to create start-up companies in various sectors," said Panos Papazoglou, Managing Partner of Ernst & Young. He added that the major opportunity for investors in Greece is the highly skilled workforce.

In confirmation of his words, the managing director of the Upstream company for mobile technologies, Marco Veremis, said that the company was established in Greece because of the availability of well-qualified engineers in this field. He received this year's Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award of Global Thinkers Forum.

Former Israeli ambassador to Athens Ram Aviram agreed with the statement that in Greece there are many well-trained workers in all areas, urging the companies from Israel to seek employees in the country. He pointed out that a large percentage of innovation in the future will be directed towards the water industry since water resources are decreasing globally. According to Ram Aviram, innovation must be related to the utilization of sea water and its processing to convert it into drinking water. "I do not agree that the next global conflict will involve water. From experience I can say that people cooperate rather than fight for it," he said.

Tags: EconomySocietyInnovationCreativitySustainable developmentGlobal Thinkers Forum
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