Issues such as the role of business in society, the behaviour of global firms, the contributions of ethnic minorities, and the prospects for racial integration and community cohesion are very much in the news these days. To discuss many of these issues, The Centre for Social Markets (CSM) held its National Conference on 15 October 2003 at the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall, London.

The conference brought together two years of insights and experiences from CSM's nationwide campaign called 'British Asians: Building Leadership for Corporate Citizenship' promoting and highlighting responsible business practice within the Asian business community.

In her welcome address to the Conference, Ms Malini Mehra, Founder & Director of the Centre for Social Markets, noted that there are almost 2 million people of South Asian origin in Britain. She said: "We form the largest ethnic minority group in the UK and are estimated to contribute more than £5 billion to the economy. In Leicester alone, one out of five residents is of Indian origin, and the city is reputed to have the largest population of Indians living outside of India. However, we continue to remain under-represented in political and economic life - and Asian business champions of integrity are woefully few and virtually unknown by the public. Given that there are more than 20 million Indians in the diaspora around the world, it is time to make our contributions known and felt."

The conference was an effort to correct this information gap and inspire visible public leadership - especially by a new generation of Asian leaders. It demonstrated the crucial importance of Asian business - not only to the economy, as a source of domestic entrepreneurial drive, and contributing an estimated 10% of the UK's total GDP - but also as a key link to foreign markets, and a key potential contributor to community development, social cohesion and racial integration. With ethnic minorities set to overtake the indigenous population in the EU workforce by 2010, it is time for employers and policy makers to take heed of the implications for their future strategies.

In her message to the conference, Patricia Hewitt MP, Secretary of State for Trade & Industry, said: "I'd like to join with the Centre for Social Markets in stressing the importance of responsible entrepreneurship. By contributing to the social and physical environments around them, I believe that Asian businesses in this country will be able to go from strength to strength and fulfill their great potential. I would particularly like to endorse the message that CSM sends to Asian business leaders, regarding the importance of businesses being engaged in communities, and taking seriously their corporate responsibility."

The Keynote Address was delivered by the Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms MP, Minister for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI). The Minister congratulated CSM for its pioneering efforts in bringing the Asian business community into the mainstream of the national debate on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Reflecting on his own constituency in East London, the Minister noted the transformation of the Green Street area through enterprise support, and the need to promote CSR not as an 'add-on, but very much as part of a company's DNA and its work culture. He noted the DTI's support of CSM's initiative through sponsorship of CSM's report, 'Giving Something Back: South Asian Business and CSR', launched at the conference, and emphasized the need for more such 'partnerships for progress.'

The conference featured a number of distinguished speakers from the world of business and industry. In his address, Mr Digby Jones, Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), emphasized the need for 'socially-inclusive wealth creation'. He noted the many positive contributions made by Asian firms to the UK economy and the important trading relationship between India and the UK. He was convinced that Asian business had a major role to play not only in Britain, but in the world through the international diaspora.

Mr Karan Bilimoria, Managing Director of Cobra Beer, provided an example of a leading Asian-run firm actively engaged in community life in the UK. An early supporter of CSM's campaign, he said that it had 'opened his eyes' to the need to promote corporate citizenship more vigorously in the Asian community and emphasized the need for public leadership to change stereotypes. In his speech, Mr George Cox, Director-General of the Institute of Directors (IOD), noted the IOD's commitment to bringing about an all-inclusive enterprise culture and supporting small enterprises - the majority of UK business - in implementing good practice. The IOD is a key partner in CSM's follow-up activities to the conference.

Mr Ram Gidoomal, Chairman of the London Sustainability Exchange, and well-known as the challenger in the Mayor of London elections, noted the need to address political and economic challenges facing the Asian community - including the 'culture of exclusion' illustrated by the fact that the London Assembly still lacked a single Asian despite there being 1 million Asians in London.

Other distinguished speakers included Baroness Greengross, Chair of the All-party Parliamentary Group on Corporate Social Responsibility; Ms Geeti Singh, Asian Businesswoman of the Year 2003, Mr Tony Sarin, Chair of the Asian Business Association; Mr Klaus Koerner of the European Commission, and many others.

ABOUT THE CENTRE FOR SOCIAL MARKETS

The Centre for Social Markets (CSM) is a non-profit organisation based in Britain and India. CSM works with a variety of different groups in developing and developed countries to make markets work for the Triple Bottom Line - people, planet and profit.

The BALCC campaign was launched at the Royal Society for Arts, Commerce & Manufactures (RSA) in London in July 2001. Since then it has held 10 Stakeholder Dialogues in all the leading cities in England, Wales and Scotland with a high concentration of Asians (London, Cardiff, Leicester, Birmingham, Manchester/Stockport, Glasgow and Cardiff) on the theme of ethnic business and corporate citizenship. The objective was to mobilise leadership by the Asian community on key issues facing business and society in today's multi-cultural Britain.

This initiative is part of CSM's international programme on Ethnic Minority & Diaspora Communities that seeks to draw under-represented communities into the debate on corporate responsibility. The programme will extend to other ethnic communities in Britain and Europe, and through the huge Indian and Chinese diasporas in Africa and Asia, in 2004.

Click here for the Corporate Citizenship leaflet. (, 265KB)
Click here for the Corporate Citizenship program. ( 777Kb)
Click here to visit the CSM website.

	CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP CONFERENCE
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