Events

LJD Week 2021 | From Commitments to Action in Corporate Social Responsibility: the Private Sector Engaged in Promoting Racial Equality

November 10, 2021

Virtual | Live Broadcast & Recorded

MULTIMEDIA

The event has now concluded.

Summary

This panel focused on the relationship between CSR and racial equality. Based on their extensive experience in the private sector and empirical studies, our distinguished panelists analyzed the legal framework and policies of Brazil and South Africa on racial diversity and equality in the private sector and pinpointed existing gaps and challenges. The panel also explored how corporations can move from commitments to actions to advance racial equality and the importance of taking such initiatives within the corporation. These actions include developing training programs for racial minority groups, establishing employment equity policies, and for management team to take personal initiatives in promoting racial diversity and equality from the top down. As to the connection between CSR and racial equality, our panelists highlighted skill development and social-economic development of CSR as two key areas for enabling the transformation to a more diverse and equal workplace environment, which include providing scholarships to students of racial minority groups, building racially diverse talent programs, skill training and capacity building for diverse hiring, among others. The panel also addressed the role of IFC in assisting client companies to promote racial diversity, drawing on from past experience of promoting gender diversity in the boardroom.

Keys Takeaways:

For businesses to advance creativity and development, there is an undeniable need to take actions within the corporation to promoting racial diversity and equality.

Current anti-discrimination laws and policies needs to be further developed to support corporations to tackle the existing challenges of promoting racial diversity and equality in the private sector.

Conversations of racial diversity and CSR needs to be framed beyond “who’s in the room” and towards ensuring an equal access to decision making in order to promote racial equality.

SPEAKERS

Speakers

Thiago de Souza Amparo

Professor at FGV Direito SP and FGV International Relations School, journalist for newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.
Thiago de Souza Amparo  is a Brazilian lawyer, law and human rights scholar and professor at FGV Direito SP and FGV International Relations School, as well as a columnist for newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. He is an expert in constitutional law, public policy as well as diversity and antidiscrimination law. He is a member of the Brazilian Alliance of Jurists for Racial Equity and a leading figure in public debate on diversity and inclusion in Brazil.
@thiamparo

Armando Henriques

Non-executive Board Director at Brazilian Institute for Corporate Governance (IBGC)
Armando Henriques is a Non-executive Board Director at the Brazilian Institute for Corporate Governance (IBGC), a Non-executive Board Director at VIX Logistica S/A, and a Non-executive Board Director at Ibitu Energia S/A. With 32 years of experience in the international energy industry, he is a renowned expert in the field of energy and board governance. Armando Henriques served many prominent governing roles in the private sector, including President of Duke Energy International (DEI), Chairman, President and CEO of Duke Energy Brazil, and President of BG Brazil, BG Argentina, BG Italy and BG Spain. He also served as Board Director of Metrogas, COMGAS, and ONS.

Lorraine Hill

Group Chief Operations Officer of Aspen Pharmacare Holdings
Lorraine Hill is the Group Chief Operations Officer at Aspen Pharmacare Holdings. She graduated from Rhodes University and formally entered the pharmaceutical industry in 1987. She has worked for the Aspen Group for more than 23 years, and is responsible for multiple operational areas of the business, including strategic manufacturing, pharmaceutical affairs, new product development and strategic procurement. In addition, she plays an integral role in the negotiations and implementation of new business initiatives including global transactions. Lorraine Hill was awarded Top Women Award in 2015 for her achievements in health and pharmaceuticals.
@aspenpharma

Marie-Laurence Guy

Senior Program Manager, IFC Nominee Director Support Center, International Finance Corporation
Marie-Laurence Guy has over 17 years of private sector development experience. She currently leads IFC’s Nominee Director Support Center which harnesses expertise across IFC to pro-actively, strategically, and systematically support IFC nominated board directors and investment teams in adding value to client companies’ operations and creating shareholder value consistent with IFC’s development mandate and core values. Prior to joining IFC, she worked in the French Ministry of Economy and for the OECD. She has led work related to women on corporate boards and interviewed directors from around the world on the presence and absence of women in the boardroom.

Camila Villard Duran (moderator)

Professor at the University of São Paulo (Brazil), Senior Research Associate at the Global Economic Governance Programme at the University of Oxford.
Camila Villard Duran is a professor at the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and works on issues related to the international economic law. She was a fellow of the Nantes Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). She is a former Oxford - Princeton Global Leaders Fellow (GLF), a research program on global economic governance run by the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the University College, University of Oxford. She is a visiting professor at Sciences Po Paris and ESSCA School of Management.