“The old model was to make a lot of money, and at the end you’d build a hospital or give some money to Greenpeace to deal with the fact you’ve done bad things in your career.” Entrepreneur and philanthropist Maurice Ostro OBE told Michael Hayman on the latest episode of ‘The Change Makers’, that corporate social responsibility is changing.
Maurice is the founder of Entrepreneurial Giving (EG), which encourages its members to put purpose alongside profit. He explains: “what we’re going to be doing is setting up entrepreneurial communities made up of people who think ‘we are here to make money, but we want to do it in the right way.’”
With the Millennial generation putting increasing pressure on companies to embody values that reflect their own – both as employees and consumers – responsible business decisions are more important than ever.
“People are voting with their wallets, choosing whether to buy the regular coffee or the fair-trade coffee.”
While Maurice encourages governments and NGO’s to remain involved in social missions, he believes businesses are better placed than any to do that work.
“I think, for entrepreneurs, it is a massive opportunity. Because if you are a business with a difference, you become a benefit to your community and we view you as someone who is helpful, why would we then go elsewhere?’”
As the son of a Holocaust survivor, Maurice has lived his life knowing not to take what he has for granted, providing his own inspiration to do good through his business.
“By all probabilities my father should never have survived, and I should never have been born.” he explains. “When you wake up every morning with that thought of ‘why am I here?’, you think it has to be about more than just consuming the next meal.”
Watch Maurice’s ‘The Change Makers’ interview here.
To find out more about EG click here