Edition 113 -
6/24/2005

By SANDRA NASCIMENTO

Hazel: A living example that one person can make a difference

At a time when the media almost always reports the bad news - corruption, violence and war, the idea of a program that shows the success of people, companies and governments walking the path of sustainable development, practical social responsibility and respect for individuals and the environment has until now, seemed unrealistic. However, there is such a program seen by about 100 million US citizens since April 2005, "Ethical Markets Media" TV series on PBS (Public Broadcasting System)..

Within a year, Brazil could have its own version of “Ethical Markets” TV, thanks to a trio of enterprising women already very highly-successful in its main areas of performance. Creator of the American program, economist Hazel Henderson, North American English naturalized recognized world-wide for her defense of practical social responsibility, entered into a partnership with Christina Carvalho Pinto, advertising executive and president of Full Jazz de Comunicação e Sócia da The Key Cidadania Corporativa. Rosa Alegria, business executive and President of Perspektiva will be the main executive in this venture.

“Ethical Markets” examines how socially-responsible companies can make a profit while making a difference and how this practice can be a factor in attracting capital. In the United States, annual profits for socially-responsible companies exceed 2.2 trillion US dollars, according to Social Investment Forum Trends Report.

Hazel Henderson is excited that Brazil will have the first licensing agreement for the local production of the program. Since her first visit to the country, Rio De Janeiro, for Eco-92, Hazel has come back innumerable times and considers Brazil "a world-wide leader in socially-responsible business practices” and cites as an example, the fact that more than 2 thousand companies who participate in the UN Global Compact, one third are Brazilian - only 4% are United States companies.

The Global Compact is an initiative proposed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to the international corporate community, based on ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, work and environment. It also has participating companies in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom and China.

Though the licensing process for the Brazil production of the TV program is not final yet, it is in the last stages of the process and Christina is optimistic that it will be done soon. "The media is anxious for new projects and ideas, and Hazel not only brings an idea, but programs that prove that her socially responsible approach to making money is working in the United States."

For an independent production of “Ethical Markets,” the costs are estimated between 200R$ a thousand and R$300 a thousand for month. If the agreement includes the co-production of an open broadcast TV network, this will mean a considerable reduction of costs. Proposals are being carefully analyzed.

Hazel affirms that the key concept and “brand” will mean finding advertisers that will have to be screened and prove to be socially responsible companies," or in the process of reinventing themselves based on good corporate practices. Christina finished by saying “because the program is based on ethical behavior, ethical initiatives, ethics, the power of the ethical vision to transform the planet, we have to be very careful with our partnerships ".

The television program - part of a platform of electronic media that involves radio, InterNet and printed matter - is considered by Hazel the high point of her arduous work throughout more than 30 years, in an area that in the end of the last century only started to be taken serious by government and the economists and, more recently, by the financial market." I started to conceptualize this media venture five years ago. It was very difficult initially, but I was helped by the wave of corporative crimes of Enron, Arthur Andersen, WorldCom, Tyco, Parmalat. Suddenly, all the financial press was obliged to cover these scandals, so we took the initiative to produce a show that gives us the “good news.”

Annan: proposta à iniciativa privada para aderir à lista de princípios universais

In the United States, the series is already gearing up for the second season. Hazel said that approximately US$1 million was invested to produce the first 13 programs. Though the company is debt-free, in the next stage, the company will need US$1.5 million. All investments have been via private investors."

The program is intended for financial investors as well as public authorities, students, home owners and workers in general. The preference for an agreement with a broadcast television network is to show not only companies that are successful, responsible, but socially aware. Hazel had just arrived in New York and as a mother in the 1960’s, she worried about the effects of the pollution in the big city on the health of her small daughter. She started to write letters to the local authorities, with copy for television networks. After insisting, one of the networks adhered to the cause, mobilizing the population and pressuring the public power.

Forty years later, this same mother has an honorary doctorate degree in economics from the Soka Universities of Tokyo and of San Francisco (U.S.A.). She has eight published books, four in Portuguese, among them "Beyond Globalização: Shaping a Sustainable Global Economy". She also co-created the Calvert- Henderson Quality of Life Indicators, with the Calvert Group of Bethesda, MD in the US, a leading company in socially responsible investments, with more than US$9 billion in asset. As a consultant, she travels the world giving lectures to the most diverse audiences. "I believe that one person can make a difference", says Hazel Henderson.