Business for Peace (BfP) is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

based in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Each year, the foundation names up to seven Honourees who receive the Oslo Business for Peace Award, in recognition of their individual and business-worthy contribution to the building of trust, stability and peace. The Honourees are selected by an independent committee composed of winners of either the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...

. The Foundation works worldwide to understand how ethical and responsible business can contribute to building trust, stability and peace. Each year, the Foundation arranges the Oslo Business for Peace Summit, which concludes with the presentation of the Award to that year's Honourees.

Background

The Business for Peace Foundation was established to inspire business leaders and businesses to reconnect with society, to the mutual benefit of both. The Foundation works to demonstrate that business can be a force of mutual good, able to contribute significantly to the building of trust, stability and peace. The Foundation promotes the concept of "being business-worthy", seeking to raise business practices from short-term win-lose dynamics to fulfilling longer-term business aims. The foundation draws inspiration from the dictum: BfPF Ceremony 2

The Award Committee of the Business for Peace Foundation selects Honourees who each have demonstrated that it is possible for a business to enter into partnership with society, while remaining profitable and capable of longer-term growth. The goal of the Foundation is to provide its Honourees with a platform from which to share their business wisdom with the world, hoping to inspire other business leaders to emulate their examples. Kofi A. Annan has stated that ''"It is important to inspire and encourage businesspersons to be conscious of the role they can play as individuals to foster stability and peace. I think the idea behind the Oslo Business for Peace Award, and the potential impact it may have, is inspiring"''.

Nominations to the Award

The Business for Peace Foundation works together with nominating partners that help search the world for candidates who embody the values described by the criteria for the Oslo Business for Peace Award. Beginning in 2009, the Foundation has entered into a formal collaboration with the

International Chamber of Commerce The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC; French: ''Chambre de commerce internationale'') is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its over 45 million members in over 100 countries have interests spanning every s ...

, the largest business organisation in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise. The Foundation also works together with

Principles for Responsible Investment Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI or PRI) is a United Nations-supported international network of financial institutions working together to implement its six aspirational principles, often referenced as "the Principles". Its goal is to u ...

, the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

and the

United Nations Global Compact The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding United Nations pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is a princ ...

, in searching the world for eligible candidates to the award. The honourees named by the foundation are also able to nominate candidates for the award in subsequent years. Oddvar Hesjedal serves as secretary of nominations, guiding the nomination process through the year and assisting the award committee in its work.

The Criteria

The Oslo Business for Peace Award aims to highlight ethical and responsible business practices, and the commitment of business leaders as individuals towards creating sustainable long-term success of benefit to their businesses, society and themselves. The independent Award Committee evaluates the Nominees according to three criteria established by the Business for Peace Foundation. To be considered Business-worthy, and a candidate for the Award, the Nominees must be: * Examples to Society and their Peers. The Nominees are acting as examples to the general public and inspiring the business community by showing how to achieve success through ethical and responsible practices. * Advocates of Ethical and Responsible Business. Nominees are outspoken advocates of ethical and responsible business principles, and of social responsibility in corporate governance. * Trusted by the Communities their Businesses Affect. Nominees have developed and cultivated successful international or national businesses in a manner that is recognized and appreciated by the communities within which their business is active, ideally by creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society.

Being Business-worthy

Being business-worthy is to apply your business energy ethically and responsibly with the purpose of creating economic value that also creates value for society. Being businessworthy embodies tested and true ethical and responsible principles for longer-term business interactions that build trust between the parties involved. Business deals are sealed with a handshake, and lasting business relationships are created when handshakes are made in good faith between partners intent on creating mutual benefits for one another. The foundation has coined the word 'business-worthy' to describe the qualities it looks for when searching the world for worthy nominees to the award. 2010 Honourees

In the spirit of

corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethicall ...

, ethically aware businesses build win-win enduring relationships, forging a union between not only the business partners, but also with the societies which are touched by their business activity. The Business for Peace Foundation seeks to demonstrate that there are legion examples where businesses work as a force of good together with society, achieving results that build trust and contribute to stability and peace. It is the ambition of the foundation that these examples will inform decision makers worldwide, inspiring them to redirect their business activities in accordance with business-worthy principles. In the January–February 2011 issue of

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massach ...

, professor

Michael E. Porter Michael Eugene Porter (born May 23, 1947) is an American academic known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, and he was one of ...

and Mark R. Cramer proposed what they called Creating Shared Value, while declaring that "Companies must take the lead in bringing business and society back together". Their notion of shared value corresponds well with the criteria of business-worthiness informing the Business for Peace Foundation's search for Honourees.

The Award Committee

Following the nomination process, the Honourees are selected by an independent committee composed of winners of either the

. Present members of the committee are businesswoman Ouided Bouchamaoui, peace activist

Leymah Gbowee Leymah Roberta Gbowee (born 1 February 1972) is a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women's nonviolent peace movement, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her ef ...

, professor

Finn Kydland Finn Erling Kydland (born 1 December 1943) is a Norwegian economist known for his contributions to business cycle theory. He is the Henley Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also holds the Richard P. Simmons ...

and professor Eric S. Maskin. Previous members include human rights advocate and lawyer

Shirin Ebadi Shirin Ebadi ( fa, شيرين عبادى, Širin Ebādi; born 21 June 1947) is an Iranian political activist, lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist and founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. On 10 October 2003, Ebadi wa ...

(2014 – 2018), economist

Michael Spence Andrew Michael Spence (born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American economist and Nobel laureate. Spence is the William R. Berkley Professor in Economics and Business at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and the Philip H. Kn ...

(2009 – 2017), professor

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance ...

(2009 – 2013) and professor

Wangari Maathai Wangarĩ Muta Maathai (; 1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan social, environmental and a political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. As a beneficiary of the Kennedy Airlift, she studied in the Un ...

(2009 – 2011).

The Oslo Business for Peace Award

The statue "the Just Man" has been created by the artist Bruce Naigles, and is presented to the Business for Peace Honourees during the formal award ceremony at

Oslo City Hall Oslo City Hall ( no, Oslo rådhus) is a municipal building in Oslo, the capital of Norway. It houses the city council, the city's administration and various other municipal organisations. The building as it stands today was constructed between ...

. Honourees also receive a diploma noting their exemplary business wisdom.

Business for Peace Honourees

2009

Anders Dahlvig Anders Dahlvig, born 1957 in Sweden, is the former president of the Swedish furniture store chain, IKEA. Dahlvig started working for IKEA in 1984 and has held various positions since, including Store Manager, Country Manager of United Kingdom and ...

, Sweden *

Mo Ibrahim Mohammed "Mo" Ibrahim ( ar, محمد إبراهيم; born 3 May 1946) is a Sudanese-British billionaire businessman. He worked for several telecommunications companies, before founding Celtel, which when sold had over 24 million mobile phone s ...

, Sudan *

Jeffrey R. Immelt Jeffrey Robert Immelt (born February 19, 1956) is an American business executive currently working as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates. He previously served as the CEO of General Electric from 2001 to 2017, and the CEO of GE's Medi ...

, United States * Mohammed Jameel, Saudi Arabia * Jiang Jianqing, China * Josephine Okot, Uganda * Zhengrong Shi, China

2010

Francis Yeoh Francis Yeoh Sock Ping (born 23 August 1954) is a Malaysian businessman, and the eldest son of late Malaysia billionaire Yeoh Tiong Lay. He was appointed a managing director of YTL Corporation in 1988 and grew it into a multi-disciplinary ...

, Malaysia * Emily Cummins, United Kingdom * William Rosenzweig, United States * Roberto Servitje, Mexico * Venkataramani Srivathsan, Nigeria *

Ratan Tata Ratan Naval Tata, GBE (born 28 December 1937) is an Indian industrialist and former chairman of Tata Sons. He was also the chairman of the Tata Group from 1990 to 2012, serving also as interim chairman from October 2016 through February 2017. ...

, India *

Stef Wertheimer Stef Wertheimer ( he, זאב סטף ורטהיימר, born 16 July 1926) is an Israeli billionaire industrialist, investor, philanthropist and former politician. He was a Member of the Knesset, and is known for founding industrial parks in Israe ...

, Israel

2012

Ibrahim Abouleish Ibrahim Abouleish (23 March 1937 – 15 June 2017) was an Egyptian philanthropist, drug designer and chemist. He began his chemistry and medicine studies at the age of 19 in Austria. He did his doctorate in 1969 in the field of pharmacology and ...

, Egypt *

Eduardo Eurnekian Eduardo Eurnekian (born 4 December 1932) is an Argentine billionaire businessman of Armenian descent. , he is the fifth richest person in Argentina, with an estimated net worth of US$1.4 billion. Early life Eduardo Eurnekian was born to Armenian ...

, Argentina * Vladas Lasas, Lithuania *

David W. MacLennan David W. MacLennan (born 1958/59) is an American businessman, the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Cargill. MacLennan received a BA in English from Amherst College, followed by an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago. MacL ...

, Canada *

Reginald Mengi Reginald Abraham Mengi (1943 – May 2, 2019) was a Tanzanian billionaire, businessperson, philanthropist, and author of the book ''I Can, I Must, I Will''. Reginald Abraham Mengi was born into a poor family in Northern Tanzania and raised in a ...

, Tanzania *

Latifur Rahman Latifur Rahman (1 March 1936 – 6 June 2017) was the 10th Chief Justice and the 2nd Chief Adviser of Bangladesh. Early life and education Rahman was born in Jessore on 1 March 1936. His father was the lawyer Khan Bahadur Lutfur Rahman. His ma ...

, Bangladesh

2013

Nadia Al-Sakkaf Nadia Al-Sakkaf ( ar, نادية عبد العزيز السقاف; born 8 March 1977) is a former Yemeni Minister and politician. She was the editor in chief of the ''Yemen Times'' from 2005 until 2014, before becoming Yemen's first female Min ...

, Yemen * Dean Cycon, United States * Margaret Mussoi L. Groff, Brazil * Connie Hasemann, Denmark * Arif Naqvi, Pakistan

2014

Selima Ahmad Selima Ahmed (7 July 1960) is a Bangladeshi businessperson and politician. She is the vice chairperson of Nitol-Niloy Group and the founder and president of the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She was elected as member of Ja ...

, Bangladesh * Ouided Bouchamaoui, Tunisia *

Sir Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

, United Kingdom * Kesha Kumari Damini, Nepal * Adnan Kassar, Lebanon * Marilyn Carlson Nelson, United States

2015

* Juan Andrés Cano, Colombia *

Merrill Joseph Fernando Merrill Joseph Fernando (born 6 May, 1930) is the founder and former CEO of the global tea company Dilmah. In 2019, Fernando stood down as CEO of Dilmah, as his son, Dilhan, was appointed the new head of the company. Early life Fernando was bor ...

, Sri Lanka * Zahi Khouri, Palestine * Poman Lo, Hong Kong, China *

Paul Polman Paulus Gerardus Josephus Maria Polman, (born 11 July 1956) is a Dutch businessman and author. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the British consumer goods company Unilever. Polman is also the author of ''Net Positive: How Courageous Co ...

, Netherlands

2016

* Sarah Beydoun, Lebanon * Tore Lærdal, Norway * Dr Jennifer Nkuene Riria, Kenya

2017

* Durreen Shahnaz, Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), Bangladesh & Singapore * Harley Seyedin, multi-national electricity and low carbon infrastructure development, Iran & United States * Murad Al-Katib, sustainable agriculture and contributing to feeding millions of refugee families in the Syrian crisis, Canada *

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...

, South Africa & United States

2018

* Lori Blaker, CEO of TTi Global, United States * Martin Naughton KBE, Founder of

GlenDimplex GlenDimplex (formerly known as Glen Electric) is an Irish based consumer electrical goods firm headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company is privately held, with manufacturing and development centres in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingd ...

, Ireland * Edgar Montenegro, Founder and CEO of Corpocampo, Colombia

2019

* Alice Laugher, CEO Committed to Good (CTG),

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Hamdi Ulukaya Hamdi Ulukaya (born 26 October 1972, Iliç) is a Turkish billionaire businessman, activist, and philanthropist of Kurdish ethnicity based in the United States. Ulukaya is the owner, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Chobani, the ...

, CEO of

Chobani Chobani is an American food company specializing in strained yogurt. The company was founded in 2005 by Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish businessman. Chobani sells thick, Greek-style yogurt with a higher protein content than traditional yogurt and is o ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

* Agbor Ashumanyi Ako, co-founder of GiftedMom,

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

2020

James Mwangi James Mwangi (born 1962) is a Kenyan accountant, career banker, businessman, and entrepreneur. He is the current Group Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Equity Group Holdings Plc, the banking conglomerate with one of the ...

, Group Managing Director and

Group Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

Equity Group Holdings Limited Equity Group Holdings Limited (EGHL), formerly Equity Bank Group, is a financial services holding company based in the African Great Lakes region. EGHL's headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sud ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Marc Benioff Marc Russell Benioff (born September 25, 1964) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, an enterprise cloud computing company. In September 2018, Benioff acquired ''Time''. ...

, Founder, chairman, and CEO,

Salesforce Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, a ...

, United States * Felicitas ‘Joji’ Bautista Pantoja, CEO and Co-Founder of Coffee for Peace, Philippines & Canada

The Oslo Business for Peace Summit

Starting in May 2007, the

Business for Peace Summit has been held annually in the

. The Summit examines the relationship between ethical and responsible business practices and the promotion of trust, stability and peace. Highly respected statesmen, businesspersons, academics and business thinkers have participated at the Summits through the years. Summit Themes: 2007 - Peace and Stability through Trade 2008 - Globalisation: the good, the bad and the ugly 2009 - The World in Recession, a call for a more ethically aware capitalism? At the 2009 Summit, the

Natural Resource Charter The Natural Resource Charter is a global initiative to assist governments and societies of countries rich in non-renewable natural resources to effectively govern those resources in a way that generates economic growth, promotes the welfare of the ...

was presented. 2010 - New Times, the potential of business to contribute to stability and peace 2011 - Business as an Instrument of Peace - Research Symposium in Oslo, in collaboration with the USIP, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Peace Research Institute Oslo 2012 - The Essences of Trust in Business Today 2013 - Business in Fragile Environments 2014 - The New Imperative: Creating Shared Value 2015 - How Sustainability can Drive Value Creation 2016 - The Opportunities for Business to Act as a Problem Solver in Society 2017 - Brundtland +30: Breakthrough Ideas for Future-proofing the Global Economy 2018 - Building Trust: Accelerating Climate Leadership 2019 - Navigating in a World of Imbalance A selection of speakers who have contributed to the Summits:

Kjell Magne Bondevik Kjell Magne Bondevik (; born 3 September 1947) is a Norway, Norwegian Lutheranism, Lutheran Religious minister, minister and Politics of Norway, politician. As leader of the Christian Democratic Party (Norway), Christian Democratic Party, he serv ...

Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, , formerly Princess Alexandra of Denmark, (''née'' Alexandra Christina Manley; born 30 June 1964) is the former wife of Prince Joachim of Denmark, the younger son of Margrethe II of Denmark. She was born i ...

, Roberto Servitje (

Grupo Bimbo Grupo Bimbo, S.A.B. de C.V. (also known simply as Bimbo) is a Mexican multinational company with a presence in over 33 countries located in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It has an annual sales volume of 15 billion dollars and is currentl ...

Guy F. Tozzoli Guy Frederick Tozzoli (February 12, 1922, North Bergen, New Jersey – February 2, 2013, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) was director of the World Trade Department of the Port of New York Authority in the 1960s. As such he was a driving force behind t ...

(World Trade Center), Vijay Kalantri (All India Association of Industries),

Jan Egeland Jan Egeland (born 12 September 1957) is a Norwegian diplomat, political scientist, humanitarian leader and former Labour Party politician who has been Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council since 2013. He served as State Secretary i ...

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...

Nabil Shaath Nabil Ali Muhammad (Abu Rashid) Shaath ( ar, نبيل شعث, , also spelled Sha'ath; born August 1938 in Safad) is a senior Palestinians, Palestinian official. Career In politics He has held the following titles: *Palestinian chief negoti ...

, Anders Källström, Khater Massaad, Jinghai Zheng, John Lervik,

Margaret Beckett Dame Margaret Mary Beckett (''née'' Jackson; born 15 January 1943) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South since 1983. A member of the Labour Party, she became Britain's first female Foreign S ...

Erik Solheim Erik Solheim (born 18 January 1955) is a Norwegian diplomat and former politician. He served in the Norwegian government from 2005 to 2012 as Minister of International Development and Minister of the Environment, and as Under-Secretary-General of ...

, Festus G. Mogae,

Kandeh Yumkella Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella (born July 5, 1959) is a Sierra Leonean agricultural economist, politician, and the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy ...

Jeremy Rifkin Jeremy Rifkin (born January 26, 1945) is an American economic and social theorist, writer, public speaker, political advisor, and activist. Rifkin is the author of 23 books about the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, ...

Anthony J. Venables Anthony James Venables, CBE, (born 25 April 1953), is a British economist and the BP Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford, Department of Economics, University of Oxford. Venables is known as one of the pion ...

, Gobind Nankani, Petter Nore, Long Yongtu, Timothy L. Fort, Patricia Aburdene, Juan Carlos Echeverry,

Børge Brende Børge Brende (born 25 September 1965) is a Norwegian politician and diplomat, and has been the president of the World Economic Forum since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 201 ...

, Henrik Syse and

Erna Solberg Erna Solberg (; born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician and the current Leader of the Opposition. She served as the 35th prime minister of Norway from 2013 to 2021, and has been Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004. Solberg w ...

References

External links

LIPEACE - Business for Peace Foundation
nbsp;– Official webpage for LIPEACE LLC
Business for Peace Foundation
nbsp;– Official webpage for Business for Peace
Natural Resource Charter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Business For Peace Foundation, The Business organisations based in Norway