Staff Reporter, Gulf Today

Badr Jafar , CEO, Crescent Enterprises has called for the creation of a Gulf Corporate Philanthropy Network to encourage all businesses to embrace the transformative power of strategic corporate giving, as businesses across the region and the world play a leadership role in the post-pandemic economic recovery.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s Jobs Reset Summit on Tuesday, Badr Jafar, who also founded the Centre for Strategic Philanthropy at the University of Cambridge, said: “Beyond the ill-effects on the pandemic, it provided many with an opportunity to fundamentally rethink the status quo in relation to the role of business in society, with a greater acceptance of the notion that business really has no other choice but to be at the forefront of addressing our social and environmental challenges.”

“This is not simply a moral imperative, but a commercial one, with inextricable links between long-term economic success and positive societal impact,” Jafar added.

The World Economic Forum Jobs Reset Summit brought together world leaders and top business executives to collaborate on shaping a fair, inclusive, green socio-economic COVID-19 recovery. In 2020, the global workforce lost an equivalent of 255 million full-time jobs, $3.7 trillion in wages and 4.4% of global GDP. While the growth outlook is expected in improve, a fair socio-economic recovery is not guaranteed.