INSEAD Meeting In Asia: TNT & WFP Partnership

The theme for this year's INSEAD Meeting In Asia was Risk & Responsibility. When I saw the program had a session on Partnerships between Business and NGOs, and saw that one of the speakers was INSEAD alum and good friend Brett Rierson (he works at the UN World Food Programme), I became interested in attending. The rest of the programme, was pretty much business as usual -- much of the topics addressing risks as it pertains to the financial markets. The theme of the weekend and BR's session inspired me to sponsor copies of our Little Cream Book: Goodwill for the Councils Dinner, because I do believe that a lot of the risks that businesses face stem from social and political instability and that the corporate community can and should take responsibility for mitigating some of the risks through corporate & social responsibility programs.

As panel moderator, Luk van Wassenhove (Henry Ford Chaired Professor in Manufacturing, Professor of Operations Management at INSEAD) put it, "It's not about doing good; it's about doing what makes good business sense". While the bottomline benefits of a CSR program are not often immediately apparent, the business case that BR and Luke Disney, Global Director of Communications at TNT, presented made a strong case that doing good can be good for business. Their partnership has been a real success story. TNT's partnership with WFP is more than just about making a one-off cash donation. In fact, it is really an effort that started from the top and has gotten TNT employees of every level involved. The story on how it all started with CEO Peter Bakker reading an article with the appalling statistic that a child dies every few seconds from hunger is just one example of how great things can be inspired by simple things. Much of TNT's nearly EUR10 million annual support is helping WFP get food to where it's needed, especially in emergency situations such as when the tsunami hit. The key to the partnership's success, I believe, stems from the fact that TNT's management treats the partnership like a business unit; they expect the partnership to yield results and dividends for both parties rather than just seeing it as charity. The benefits for TNT can be measured in a boost in goodwill from the positive publicity, but more importantly, there is the boost in morale among TNT employees, leading to better employee retention, higher levels of job satisfaction and performance. On WFP's side, the TNT partnership has allowed them to feed on average 90 million people, 10% more than before. WFP has also benefited from TNT's knowledge transfer and investment in IT and training within their organization.

So now all this has got me thinking about what CSR programs companies in the travel industry such as airlines, hotels, tour operators, etc. can get involved in. Any ideas??

INSEAD Slacker Six mini-reunion at Hong Kong's ingredients

INSEAD was where I was schooled in the art of living the Little Cream Life. It didn't hurt that I found myself sitting in an amphitheatre with 70-odd other like-minded individuals. INSEAD's admissions process prides itself on selecting people from diverse and international backgrounds. Somehow, they also managed to figure out early on who all the slackers in the promotion would be and stuck them in Section Six (our promotion had 3 other sections: 5, 7 and 8. One of these sections prided themselves in having the most people on the Dean's List). Ours was the section that gifted the "Ding" Bell in the Fontainebleau campus bar (Singapore campus, which came later, has a gong), which is rung whenever someone is "dinged" by a potential employer. Someone at the bar would then buy that person a drink as consolation. In fact, I was the one who hauled the bell back to Fountainbleau from a foundry in London after a day of interviews with Morgan Stanley. After more interviews in Hong Kong, I eventually got "dinged". Obviously, they too could tell that I was a slacker!

So by chance, the stars aligned last Thurday and 5 other slackers (that's at least 1/12 of our Slacker Six section) plus guests found ourselves in Hong Kong at the same moment in time and decided to have a mini reunion at ingredients. There was Indian-American AS (whom I was supposed to sit next to in the amphitheatre, but since he hardly showed up to class, I ended up sitting next to CS), on an 8-month transit from Intel's San Francisco through their offices in Hong Kong and Mumbai before eventually settling into his more permanent position in Intel's Dubai office looking out for investment opportunities in the region. From Shanghai, there was French NG, who left INSEAD with the job we all thought we wanted with Quiksilver in the resort town of Biarritz. He eventually moved to Shanghai to establish and expand the brand's presence in China. From NYC, there was Singaporean KF, who's with jumpTV, which just listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and London's AIM Market over the summer. He had invited Canadian TS, his colleague from Singapore, and PT, his friend in Hong Kong to grace our little gathering. Of the more permanent HK-ers, there was American IE, with Corporate Adventures, Korean-American CK with ABN Amro private equity and myself (American-born Chinese) as well as two younger alums, BL (Australian-born Chinese) with CIMB-GK equity research and VH (another American-born Chinese), consulting for Neil Pryde. We were quite a mixed bag, which was what made the evening so much fun.

ingredients (23 Wing Fung Street, T: +852 2544 5133; ingredients@netvigator.com) made for a great venue for this little get-together. originally a private kitchen started by an ex-banker located on NoHo's Gough Street, ingredients re-opened in its swanky, brand-new 3-story glass-facade building on hip Wing Fung Street just off Star Street on 1 September. Also on Wing Fung Street are Xi Yan Sweets, OVO Garden, agnes b.'s library/gallery space and other eateries and small shops. We were 10 people and fit comfortably into one of their private dining rooms on the 1st floor restaurant space. The ground floor is a lounge, 2nd floor is a bar and the rooftop will open sometime in November. The rooftop is sure to be a great space for parties. I was pleasantly surprised that a brand-new building on this street in the trendier part of Wan Chai was built not built higher than the other building. I can't imagine there being any height restrictions, since across the street is the Three Pacific Place office tower. Is it an ultra-rare case of a Hong Kong developer sacrificing some GFA in favour of aesthetics??