Business for Peace Summit recognizes role of business in achieving SDGs

Mr Danilovich and over 60 prominent business leaders also personally committed to tune their business activities to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by way of a Businessworthy pledge made during this year’s Summit.

Recognizing the role of the private sector in implementing the SDGs, Mr Danilovich said: “The notion that business is a genuine force for good in the world is woven into the very fabric of the UN’s 2030 development agenda. The 2016 Business for Peace Honourees are prime examples of business leaders who are committed to placing business at the heart of society.”

2016 Business for Peace Award winners are:

Sarah Beydoun (Lebanon)

Sarah Beydoun is the founder of Sarah’s Bag, an initiative which has trained 200 underprivileged women in Lebanon to become handbag artisans. The project has become an extraordinary way to give women in prison and from disadvantaged backgrounds an opportunity to reintegrate society.

Jennifer Nkuene Riria (Kenya)

Jennifer Nkuene Riria, CEO of Kenya Women Holding, has singlehandedly transformed the microfinance industry in Kenya in order to tangibly improve the lives of women. The bank has emerged as a model microfinance institution, achieving its mission of positively impacting the lives of Kenyan women.

Tore Lærdal (Norway)

Tore Lærdal, one of Norway’s leading social innovators, has spent his career trying to reduce maternal and newborn mortality in least developed countries. He established the not-for-profit company Laerdal Global Health in 2010 with the mission of offering simple and highly affordable newborn and birthing simulators.

“We need to focus on business as an essential part of the solution to the big issues facing the world today: from raising people above the poverty line to eliminating corruption, from combatting climate change to promoting peace and global stability,” said Mr Danilovich.

Past Business for Peace awardees include Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever; Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group, Ouided Bouchamaoui, Nobel Prize winner and ICC Tunisia Honorary Chairman.The award ceremony takes place tonight at the Oslo City Hall.

Learn more about the Oslo Business for Peace Foundation