Helping those left behind

Padma Edirisinghe

The ‘Bill Gates’ I had come to know via print and electronic media carried the superlative of ‘The richest man in the world’. In my stray readings I once came across his local librarian who peering into the crystal ball of the future was the first to predict the boy Bill’s immense capabilities. Actually it was not though her prowess in the occult arts but simply because he had volunteered and executed a plan of putting into better working order, the village library.

I had forgotten all about this iconic figure living so far away when I came across almost accidentally, a back number of the prestigious Times magazine that encases an article penned by him. Then I on my own decided to confer on him, another superlative, ie one of the best writers of contemporary times.

That is if ghost writing is precluded. The world can be very cruel and bigoted. If a man or woman has achieved fame in some other way, it irrationally assumes that all his or her other feats are ‘Rogue Ones’. Mahamudliyar Sir Solomon Bandaranaike of Siyane Korale, the father of S W R D Bandaranaike, put out the wonderful book, ‘Remembered yesterdays,’ but no one would credit him with it.

They put the honour on Armand De Souza, a Burgher, if I remember correct. Coming back to the article contributed by Bill Gates to the Times magazine, I found the style very unpretentious and language lucid. Here he goes,

“A few years ago, I was sitting in a bar with Bono, and frankly I thought he was a little nuts. It was late and we have had a few drinks and Bono was all fired up over a scheme to get companies to help tackle global poverty and disease.”

This Bono could be a close associate of his.

Goes on this titan of the Microsoft world, “As crazy as it seemed that night, Bono’s persistence soon gave birth to the RED campaign.”

Red never ended ‘blood red’ but ‘pristine white’ judging by the gamut of activities so far indulged in, ‘to help those left behind’ ... Exults Bill Gates, “It is a great thing. The companies makes a difference... consumers get to show their support for a good cause and lives are saved.”

How many lives are saved through RED - Thousands in Africa alone. Writes Gates, “In the past one and half years RED has generated 100 million $ for the global Fund to fight AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria ...that is creative capitalism.” This term in all probability is a concept that Bill Gates himself has created.

“Creative capitalism is not something big new in economic theory. And it isn’t a knock on capitalism itself. It is a way to answer a very vital question. How can we most effectively spread the benefits of capitalism and the huge in quality of life it can provide to people who have been left behind.”

As the reader may conclude that I am parroting the article by this wizard of a man, let me go on to give a few examples quoted as to the practical application of this theory by well-meaning entrepreneurs, many of them quite unaware of this concept of creative capitalism. If the list includes Westerners with the only exception of Muhammed Unus of Bangladesh, it is for obvious reasons. Perhaps this article may serve a stimulant to collect a list of such benevolent entrepreneurs in our own country. Maybe Nawaloka Mudalali, a famous businessman and philanthropist can head this list. Here is the list presented in Bill Gates article.

* 1799 - Robert Owen, owner of a cotton mill in Scotland introduces social reforms in the work place such as setting up a fund for sick workers.

* 1831 - J Cadbury, begins to sell drinking chocolate to workers to draw them away from alcohol. It was the post-Industrial Revolution phase marked by squalid conditions for workers. His son buys land for a village offering amenities for workers.

* 1914 - Steel magnate and writer Andrew Carnegie, richest man of his time declared that millionaires ought to act as trustees for the poor and that after a man accumulates wealth he should give it away, all or most for public good.

He himself sheds 90 percent of his wealth before he dies and as a writer, endows 2,509 libraries.

* 1914 - A Berle and M Dodd, two law professors propound the view that executives must first and foremost act in the interest of shareholders to which group workers, customers, etc. could be taken in.

* 1960 - D Packard at a management training session has this to say, “Many people assume wrongly that a company exists simply to make money. We have to go deeper and find the real reasons for our being”.

* 1962 - David Rockfeller, famous philanthropist, “Ownership carries binding social obligations” ...Theodore Levitt, “it is no longer fashionable for a corporation to take gleeful pride in making money. More fashionable is to show that it exists to serve the public”.

* 1976 - The 5 percent Club is begun under Minnesota program to give a set percentage to charity.

* Banker Muhammed Yunus of Bangladesh begins to lend money to rural poor, especially women hitherto regarded as bad credit risks.

Grammen Bank thus initiates an admirable worldwide movement Women of Bangladesh now are a happier lot, no doubt.

* 1983 - American Express begins the practice of enticing customers to buy products by promising to make a cause to a donation each time they do.

* 1988 - Robin Hood Foundation gets going. Robbing the rich to help the poor - No. In a more positive way. P T Jones saw to it that programs that don’t do enough to help those left behind, have each dollar invested cut.

Bill Gates goes on to write a Goody Goody article on all this. But is it all accepted or considered the words of another god, a capitalist god who has made mountains of money and lives in an opulent Washington residence caved into a mountain and sporting unimaginable luxury? No. that very magazine has a feature titled - ‘Audacity of Bill Gates’. It seems to condone the Leftist view that important social goals should not rest on the charity of corporations. But even that writer condescends to end his piece this way.

“Certainly no one can seriously object to his putting these issues on the table. His timing is excellent. There is growing interest, especially among the young, to helping the world’s poorest.”

A very noble cause indeed. So even that piece begun on a critical note ends up a Hurray for the king of computers who has outdone the world’s emperors in amassed wealth. He has begun now to tackle universal problems that ‘software cannot solve’ and solicits the aid of the business world in this challenging task.

He has a right to do so. In fact any body has the right to venture into right actions, ennobled in Buddhism too.