LET’S DO MORE INITIATIVE
INTRODUCTION
The Global Association of Billionaires and Millionaires (GABM) Let’s Do
More Initiative is the most ambitious and inclusive global alleviation
of poverty project ever undertaken in the world to date.
With this initiative GABM aims to unite the entire international business
community and civil society together as a strong collective of responsible
corporate citizens who decisively and effectively address global poverty
through GABM’s various constructive entrepreneurial and business development
programs.
We are all equally aware that the current unprecedented levels of poverty,
civil unrest, crime levels and political instability all over the world will
soon severely affect our business interests or personal lives in one way or
another. We also know that the aforementioned is directly attributed to the
high levels of unemployment, especially amongst the youth.
In fact, the ONLY solution to effectively alleviate global
poverty would be for the international business establishment and civil society
to come together and unite with a common purpose of fighting
poverty; through combined efforts; and utilizing collective
resources – the GABM Business Model.
With the following narrative one can clearly define as to why it is absolutely
imperative for the international business community and civil society to come
together and join the GABM Let’s Do More Initiative:
In our view, global poverty can be compared with a huge dam wall which has
developed millions of small leaks over decades. Every single resident living in
the city just downstream from the dam are acutely aware of the leaks, yet chose
not to do anything as it does not seem to have any immediate negative effect on
their daily lives. Ultimately they share a common view that the problem could
be resolved at a later stage, and obviously do not comprehend the severity of
their indecisive decisions.
Some of the residents however acknowledge that they should do something about
the ever increasing problem before the leaks increase to such an extent that
repairs would be impossible. Subsequently, they go and plug and fix most of the
leaks individually as and when it appears and thereby treating only the
symptoms of the problem as appose to effectively dealing with the actual
problem itself.
And by fixing the leaks one inadvertently only treats the symptoms which
effectively hide the actual threat. The real threat to the city and its residents
is of course that the integrity of the dam wall structure has been severely
compromised over decades of leaking and the dam wall might break at any time,
which will totally destroy the entire city and its residents. The ignorance on
the part of the residents therefore unfortunately put their future safety and
security in imminent danger.
If they were however more vigilant, they would have realize that the only
sustainable solution to save the city and themselves would be for all to come
together with a common purpose and through combined efforts built a new
protective wall in accordance with a structured and well defined plan. This
would obviously solve the problem for good.
The aforementioned
narrative is very relevant to the current global poverty situation. Mainly
because at present corporates and philanthropists are mostly supporting various
charities, which in principle is excellent and commendable, but this is only
treating the symptoms of poverty.
We will have to in addition to supporting these charities also come together
and join the GABM Let’s Do More Initiative to
engage in effective and efficient programs that will create millions of
sustainable jobs, develop entrepreneurship, and fund business developments.
This is the only way how we would eventually remedy global poverty successfully
and sustainably.
WHY SHOULD WE ACT NOW?
We all need to start looking and notice the nearing poverty tsunami of civil
unrest, wars, famine, environmental destruction that is silently speeding
towards us.
The current global economic crisis has presented us with unprecedented
challenges. First and foremost we are faced with a poverty disaster and
moreover our current demand for natural resources and food cannot for much
longer be sustainably produced by Planet Earth. It has become obvious that our
generation MUST take responsibility NOW and
bring about change to save the world from our own destructive actions, or
eventually face extinction.
It is no longer an exclusively political problem for national governments and
the UN to resolve. We as corporate business must step up and start creating
millions of jobs, and develop entrepreneurship as well as stimulate the global
economy with business development initiatives through GABM’s pragmatic
philanthropic programs.
Moreover, we have a social and moral obligation as responsible citizens to help
those in need; and in respect of the environment we have to acknowledge that we
are indeed the custodians and guardians of Planet Earth from which all our
resources derive from.
To date, GABM has as a private initiative made significant contributions to
address the effects of global poverty, etc but to make a more significant
impact we desperately need to increase our various philanthropic programs on a
global or macro scale.
To achieve this we are in the process of drastically increasing GABM’s global
membership collective, as well as to work with general society in a well
structured collaborative action – the GABM LET’S DO MORE INITIATIVE.
It is important to understand that every citizen of the world can contribute
towards GABM’s Let’s Do More Initiative, as the initiative involves
many aspects of support besides from providing financial grants.
PERSPECTIVE ON THE GLOBAL POVERTY
CRISES
Around the world, in rich or poor nations, poverty has always been present. In
fact, the majority of the world’s people are still living in extreme poverty.
Global poverty is a catastrophe that present those affected with daily
challenges which can altogether be prevented if there is global consensus among
us all to address same.
Similarly, in most nations today, inequality—the gap between the rich and the
poor—is alarmingly high and is widening rapidly.
Quick Facts:
Although global
poverty levels have declined from 46% in 2000 to 27% in 2005, more than a
billion people have still lived under the international poverty line of $1.25
per day in 2008.
By contrast, poverty in East Asia has declined from nearly 60% to 20% in the
past 25 years, but in sub-Saharan Africa poverty has only declined from 58% to
%51% since 1990.
The World Bank has estimated that a further 64 million people had been pushed
into extreme poverty as a result of the 2010 global economic crises.
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567
million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people
combined.
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign
their names. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on
weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it
didn’t happen.
In addition:
·
1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world)
·
640 million live without adequate shelter
·
400 million have no access to safe water
·
270 million have no access to health services
·
10.6 million children died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or
roughly 29,000 children per day). That is equivalent to:
·
1 child dying about every 4 seconds
·
15 children dying about every minute
·
A 2010 Haiti earthquake occurring almost every 10 days
·
A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every 10 days
·
An Iraq-scale death toll every 18–43 days
·
Just under 8.1 million children dying every year
Some 88 million
children died between 2000 and 2009.
The above statistics portray only part of the shocking reality of what is
really happening around the world.
THE EFFECTS OF GLOBAL POVERTY
Most of us are generally ignorant about the effects of global poverty or those
affected by it, because we live in relatively safe and economically sound
environments far from the raging wars and regions affected by frequent and
extreme natural disasters. Why then should we care if we are not
affected?
Besides from our social and moral obligations explained in the introductory
section, we are all being affected by the symptoms of global poverty in some
way or another. We live in a globalized society and are affected by what is
happening elsewhere in the world. Just to name a few:
1. Poverty or financial instability in
one region affects the financial security of other regions.
2. We all are affected by the ever
increasing levels of crime.
3. Civil Unrest is ever present these
days, in particular by young people who cannot find quality jobs to support
their families or to further their professional careers. (A good example of
this is the situations in North Africa and Middle East where people engage in
violent protests to secure regime changes or fleeing to neighboring countries
creating humanitarian challenges.)
4. Political Instability in developing
countries is one of the major causes of poverty and associated problems which
required immense resources from the developed world.
5. Spread of Diseases all over the world
by citizens of the developing world as a result of poor health care services in
their countries.
6. Destruction of the environment and
natural resources.
CAUSES OF POVERTY
Poverty is
unfortunately the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Why
is this? Is it fair to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they
been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight?
What about their governments?
The causes are actually numerous, including:
·
Corporate Greed (the cause of the current financial crisis)
·
Corporate Corruption
·
Global Financial Markets and instability
·
Political Corruption and instability
·
High levels of unemployment due to labor laws, etc.
·
A lack of individual responsibility
· The exploitation of people and businesses by those with power and
influence, or a combination of these and other factors.
The above causes of poverty and
inequality are no doubt real. But deeper global causes of poverty are often
less discussed.
Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global
decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or
formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or
other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and
influential people.
In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor
nations and their people are often powerless and they have a propensity to
pursue bad policies that harm successful development, or in most cases they
regrettably become involved in large scale corruption. As a result, in the
global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle.
OBJECTIVE OF GABM’S LET’S DO MORE INITIATIVE
The exclusive objective of GABM’s Let’s Do More Initiative is
to create an international movement by which the combined efforts of the
international business establishment and civil society is sought to participate
with GABM in a common purpose to alleviate global poverty. GABM firmly believes
that through its existing pragmatic philanthropic programs meaningful long-term
solutions will be created in alleviating extreme global poverty and the effects
thereof.
HOW CAN ONE CONTRIBUTE TO GABM’S LET’S DO MORE INITIATIVE?
The emphasis of GABM’s philanthropic programs has always been to encourage the
principle of individual responsibility and to provide less fortunate people
with the necessary skills, and opportunities, and business resources to take
control of their own lives.
The focus is therefore on the funding of business ventures, and the development
of business opportunities, and entrepreneurship, and the creation of
sustainable job opportunities, and tertiary education sponsorships, and
entrepreneurship mentoring, etc.
As such, the implementation and success of GABM’s Let’s Do More
Initiative depends on two groups of people.
1. Those who have the financial and professional capabilities, and wish to make
a measurable difference are invited to become directly involved in GABM’s
philanthropic programs or corporate activities, which include but are not
limited to:
· ADOPT A STUDENT - by sponsoring a student’s university fees a future entrepreneur
or business leader is developed and one can physically experience the value of
one’s human development investment.
· ADOPT AN ENTREPRENEUR - by sponsoring subsistence farmers and small entrepreneurs in
developing countries with a small investment of $1000 - $10 000, one can
permanently alleviates poverty among a family group of up to 10 people.
· INVEST IN BUSINESS VENTURES – by investing in business development ventures, one not only
receives an above average growth on investment but have a sense of pride
knowing that one is indirectly part of a business that created several quality
job opportunities.
· FINANCE A HOME – by sponsoring the construction of a house, one will with an
investment of about $25 000 have the satisfaction of knowing that one has given
shelter to one of the millions of families not having a basic form of housing
or shelter with water and basic sanitary infrastructure.
· PROVIDE BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL MENTORSHIP – by providing mentorship, one
directly transfer theoretical knowledge into practical experience from which a
new generation of entrepreneurs are created that has the potential of creating
successful businesses and numerous quality job opportunities.
· CREATE ONE MORE JOB – by creating just one more job opportunity small, medium and
international organizations all over the world will create millions of
additional quality job opportunities.
· INVOLVE YOUR COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS – by informing and motivating
individuals from your professional and social networks to become involved in
GABM”s Let’s Do More Initiative, the movement will have an international
snowball effect that has the potential of addressing the effects of global
poverty in a significant and sustainable way.
· FOLLOW GABM ON FACEBOOK – by following GABM by clicking the “Like This” button on GABM’s
Facebook, one’s valuable moral support will create global awareness on the
plight of the poor.
The direct value proposition of
GABM’s philanthropic programs is that one can become directly involved with the
individual you are developing or sponsoring, and thereby experiencing the
physical growth of the said individual or family as appose to merely giving a
donation to a charity of sorts and do not know how your capital has been
utilized. Moreover one has the satisfaction of knowing that you have
potentially created another responsible citizen in the world, able to secure
the financial, education, health and home security for yet another
family.
2. Those who do not have the
financial or professional capabilities of contributing towards GABM’s
philanthropic programs or corporate activities, but feel strongly about making
a difference, are invited to support us in creating and establishing the Let’s
Do More Initiative movement by aggressively spreading the message by means of
the internet, Facebook, Twitter, social networks, professional networks or
informally to the business community in your region.
· INVOLVE YOUR COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS – by informing and motivating
individuals from your professional and social networks to become involved in
GABM”s Let’s Do More Initiative, the movement will have an international
snowball effect that has the potential of addressing the effects of global
poverty in a significant and sustainable way.
· FOLLOW GABM ON FACEBOOK – by following GABM by clicking the “Like This” button on GABM’s
Facebook, one’s valuable moral support will create global awareness on the
plight of the poor.
Come on people, LET’S DO MORE – because it is the right thing to do!
Comments
Post a Comment