The Private Sector Has A Seat At The Table, Now It's Time To Step Up

Oct 5, 2015 5:30 PM ET

Originally posted on devex impact

By Adva Saldinger @deveximpact 30 September 2015

The momentum has been building for years, and this past week in New York has demonstrated that the era of greater private sector participation in development has arrived.

From a series of business-related events and summits to the United Nations, the sense from our own Devex Impact conversations with executives as well our coverage of the proceedings is that companies have featured much more prominently in what is undeniably one of development’s biggest weeks of an important year.

At Nestlé, that process begins next week when its Creating Shared Value Council, an external advisory board, meets to discuss how the company will focus on and work towards the SDGs.

Safaricom, the leading mobile network operator in Kenya, releases its sustainability report in two weeks and will already get to work on the next report, which will focus on links between the SDGs and its business. 

Platforms like the U.N. Global Compact, the International Chamber of Commerce and others can also play a role in helping businesses through this process and push organizations to understand that “achieving the SDGs does not imply a loss of profit,” according to John Danilovich, ICC’s secretary general.

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