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Net Positive: Building Businesses That Profit in Volatile Times

Net Positive: Building Businesses That Profit in Volatile Times by Solving the World’s Problems

Major corporations are investing in renewable energy to help mitigate the harmful effects of climate change.

By Frank Scarpa

At the March 30 meeting of the Retired Men’s Association, Peter Berg introduced the speaker, Andrew Winston, business writer and Greenwich resident for 16 years. Mr. Winston’s talk was modeled after the most recent of three business books that he has written or co-authored.

He started with the premise that shareholder profit as the primary purpose of business is now being challenged. “Capitalism,” he said, is undergoing a reset. Major corporations have seriously adopted an ethos of “sustainability,” and are examining their “role in society.” Larry Fink of Blackrock has posited that a company must create value for everyone.

Immediately after World War II, virtually everyone seemed to reap the benefits of a newfound prosperity. Currently there is such inequality that the top one percent of our society has been garnering most of the benefits. COVID, income inequality, racial injustice, and climate change have come to provide a wake-up set of stimuli. Businesses have come to realize that we will lose up to 18% of the economy’s value if we do not manage carbon well. Companies’ investment in renewable energy has increased exponentially, as renewable energy has become significantly cheaper. Environmental, social, and corporate governance funds have outperformed initial expectations, and the four largest banks in the country have invested one to 2.5 trillion dollars each.

Even in the search for jobs, millennials have been searching for “values” and demanding transparency in environmental friendliness. The SEC has mandated public companies to publish environmental risks, and private equity has been doing its own disclosure in this area.

Ajay Banga, former CEO of Mastercard, has thrown out the challenge, “is the world better off because your business is in it?”

Currently, 95% of the world’s largest companies have major “sustainable development” goals, led by Microsoft, Walmart, Google, and Apple.

Peter Berg led the audience in an active Q&A session. Mr. Winston proved himself to be a lively, informed, and engaging speaker. He concluded with a quote from Gandhi: “Live simply so others may simply live.”

To watch Andrew Winston’s presentation, click here (https://vimeo.com/694205858).

The RMA’s upcoming presentation “Africa Cries Out” by Dr. Jun Xu is scheduled for 11 AM on Wednesday, April 13. Dr. Jun Xu is the founder and president of Africa Cries Out (ACO), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Riverside, CT. He and his team have traveled to Senegal in West Africa to provide medical and humanitarian services to a leprosy village and other jungle villages each year since 2013, except for 2015 because of Ebola, and 2020-2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Africa Cries Out supports two hospitals in Senegal and is helping to build a trade school.  ACO provides students with free room, board, and tuition. The trade school has graduated about 80 students over the past two years, and currently enrolls around 40 students. ACO has finished a 10,000 sq.ft. academic building, a 12,000 sq.ft. student dormitory, and is planning to expand its base hospital with inpatient services and an operating room by 4,000 sq.ft. Since 2013, ACO has spent about $30,000 per year to support local villagers with food, vegetable oil, etc.

Dr. Jun Xu has been practicing acupuncture and rehabilitation medicine in Riverside since 2000. He is the owner of the Rehabilitation Medicine and Acupuncture Center. He graduated from Jiangxi College of Chinese Medicine in China and finished his residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at New York Medical College in 2000.

Dr. Xu and his medical team recently completed their 7th medical mission in Senegal. Please visit ACO’s website for detailed information. https://africacriesout.net/

To stream Dr. Xu’s presentation at 11 AM on Wednesday, April 13, click here (https://bit.ly/30IBj21). This presentation will also be available on local public access TV Channels, Verizon FIOS channel 24 and Optimum (Cablevision) channel 79.

RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees. The RMA urges all eligible individuals to consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer, and community service opportunities which the RMA offers to its members. For further information, go to www.greenwichrma.org, or contact Michael Ambrosino (mailto:brooklynoil@ yahoo.com) or Peter Stern (mailto:pmstern@optonline.net).

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