India Business Support firmly believes that corporate social responsibility entails that any business venture be accomodated by a genuine concern and commitment with regard to the social environment in which it operates. And because iBS does not want these to be mere nice and attractive words written somewhere in a postscript to our mission statement and corporate values, we deem it necessary to not just talk, but act. One needs to walk the talk. Res, non verba!

FAIR TRADE

 

For this reason, IBS wholeheartedly subscribes to the standards set by Fair Trade. This means that we expect all our contacts, be it the members of our extensive network both in Belgium and abroad, our clients, our suppliers and our offshoring and sourcing partners to do the same. For clients, this means that offshoring outsourcing or sourcing deals established through the intermediary services of IBS, are 100% guaranteed to be in line with Fair Trade standards. Sometimes, in an odd case, this means that we do not always propose the best deal on purely economical terms. If that be the case, we of course inform our clients of the situation, and clients are free to opt out if they choose not to follow our ethical stand. 

 

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

 

As a subsidiary to Dunya, IBS is an active and committed member of KAURI, the Belgian Meeting Point for Global Sustainable Action. At Kauri, we make extensive use of networking opportunities with fellow believers in sustainable business standards, we volunteer to present workshops on intercultural management and diversity management, and we frequently represent the Cultural Diversity point of view at stakeholder meetings, both at profit sector companies and NGOs. Moreover, our headquarters at Bayt al-Andalus host Kauri events on a variety of topics on a regular basis.

 

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FOR THE UNDERPRIVILEGED IN BIHAR, INDIA

 

For many years, Francis Laleman has been involved with Jeevan Deep, a series of education and community development programs for the Dalit (Untouchable) and Scheduled Castes communities in Gaya District, Bihar, India. In order to be able to maintain these programs, in 2004, he was joined by Jerry Meuris and a group of students and friends, who together set up the Steuncomite Anand, an informal fund raising group in Belgium. Lately, this informal group has been transformed into an official registered charitable trust according to Belgian Law. The statutory committee consists of Rene Geybels (president), Francis Laleman (vice-president), Jerry Meuris (finance administrator), Eddy Van Hemelrijck (secretary) and Koen Dierckx.

Jeevan Deep solely depends on Anand vzw for its finances. Next to a small group of residential well-wishers, Beyond Borders, Dunya and IBS are structurally transferring funds to the project, and we are inviting our clients to help us out.

Doing business in India is fine indeed. But we just have to realize that the chasm between the well-to-do Middle Class, to which our business counterparts belong, and the underprivileged, is nowhere as deep and forbidding as in India. Indian polity makers are well aware of this problem, and they do everything in their power to change the abysmal feat of the poor and introduce structural changes in Indian society - but in the mean time millions of people are still locked up in a poverty trap and their needs are really urgent.

The distance between the two pictures here on the left, is less than 500 metres. We know, it seems odd, but it is true. This is why we cannot stand aside and watch. We just need to do something, if only to provide a firm ethical basis to our doing business with India. Therefore, IBS invites its clients to join us in our efforts. There are many ways in which this can be done, some of which are suggested here. You can help us bridge the gap, and ensure that the children on the left picture, one day, might be the business partners of your own sons and daughters.

 

GRAMEEN FOUNDATION

 

On a larger scale, IBS is an active supporter of the Grameen Foundation. Ever since we have read the enlightening works of Grameen's founding father Muhammad Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2006 for his development of sustainable microfinancing schemes for the poor, we have been seeking to help, support and promote Grameen in its 4 main endeavours: (1) to create economic opportunities for the world's poorest, (2) to build large-scale and easy-to-replicate solutions to end the cycle of poverty in developing countries around the world, (3) to leverage the knowledge and expertise of local partners to create the most effective programs possible, and (4) to lead the industry in measuring impact and creating results.

 

For more information on Grameen and its achievements, take some time to go through the Grameen website or to read one or more of Muhammad Yunus's books.