NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Antony Burgmans of Unilever gives an excellent speech on the role of private investment, businesses and governments towards meeting the MDGs. His beef: broad taxes ( a la French air passenger tax to alleviate African poverty) with little impact. His hopes: the current WTO Doha round will focus on BOP-oriented strategies.

“Let me make some remarks on the role of both business and government in this respect. I am convinced that both have a major role to play, both in their own right and through public-private partnerships, also including civil society such as Non- Governmental Organizations (NGO?s).”

“I?ll give you some examples from my own experience. Unilever–the company for which I have been working throughout my life–operates in most parts of the world, including Africa, where we employ some 50.000 people and as such are one of the largest employers on the continent. Unilever–with a long historic presence–has always attached great importance to further development of living standards in Africa, both from a business and humanitarian perspective, and has started activities in areas such as training and scholarships, partnership with UNICEF on fortified food, HIV/AIDS progammes and working with smallholders in tea to promote sustainable tea.”

Read his entire speech here.