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"There is a common belief that we need to revise how we do foreign assistance, and new, dynamic partnerships with the private sector need to be an integral part of that. "
ROBERT
MOSBACHER, JR.
Former President & CEO, OPIC
Carleton S. Fiorina, Former Chairman, President & CEO, Hewlett-Packard Company
November 6, 2007

IGD Board member and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carleton S. Fiorina spoke to a group of business leaders in Boston about the importance of creating a business voice to advocate for global poverty reduction. The event host committee included the following:

  • James Brenner, President & CEO, Broad Cove Partners Inc
  • Gururaj Deshpande, Chairman, Sycamore Networks, Inc.
  • Rosabeth Kanter, Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
  • Ted MacLean, General Manager, Northeast District, Microsoft Corporation
Jane Nelson of Harvard, Nishith Acharya of the Deshpande Foundation and Mark Evans formerly of the Bank of Boston participated in the event. The conversation was rich and Ms. Fiorina emphasized the need for the business community to weigh in on critical issues of the day, including the image of the United States abroad. “I’m involved in IGD because I think it’s good business to be involved,” she stated. Ms. Fiorina also said that reducing global poverty is in our nation’s security interest and a sustained collaboration between the private sector and the government is needed in this regard. “Business leaders think differently about solving problems,” she said, which could be a tremendous help in formulating new government investments in job creation and poverty reduction throughout the world. Ms. Fiorina ended by saying that in the past, addressing global poverty has been considered a “nice-to-do” action by business. Now there is a shift and poverty reduction is becoming a “have-to-do” action in order to promote economic development in poor countries and for enlightened self-interest. IGD can play a vital role in bringing government and business together to align interests and increase economic growth and opportunity in developing countries.
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