The 0.01%

I had high hopes for the US-ASEAN Business Forum, as the list of keynote guest speakers is quite impressive: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of Thailand, President Thein Sein of Myanmar, and Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia. So far the conference sessions have been extremely high level with government ministers from a variety of Asian nations giving speeches and advice on doing business in ASEAN countries. The attendees are also a who's-who of business leaders, ambasadors, and other powerful individuals in the region. These aren't the 1%. These are the 0.01%. 


Networking and hobnobbing are not my favorite activity. Combine that with the caliber of the attendees and as a result I am mostly keeping quiet. Only a couple of introductions and chats with nothing massively substantial as the result. That's fine by me. I'm pretty sure I'm getting way more than I asked for with my $65 entry fee.


The tone of the meeting is clear: US companies are eager to enter into this region of Asia. Most speakers talk about the need for infrastrcture (e.g. roads, energy distribution, water management, etc.). Others mention the challenges of education in the most developing countries like Cambodia, and even the problem of corruption was uttered a couple of times. Corporate responsibility and being a good citizen in the local marketplace is on the agenda and even regarded once or twice, but not the focus.


My hope was that a few leaders would at least acknowledge the role of NGOs in supplementing the basic services that the government is unable to provide. That never happened, and I feel like there is a significant missed opportunity for companies to help nurture the very market they want to partner with. This is especially true with the excitement around the upcoming sanction reversals for Myanmar and the business conference there tomorrow. NGOs maintain a foothold in that country today. Imagine the possibilities if a fortune 500 company invested in the country and used an NGO as the fast-track for establishing the market and addressing the initial challenges. From their perspective, it would be a great way to improve and return on investment and shorten the time to profitability. From the NGO's perspective it would accelerate the humanitarian impact and literally save lives.


A Corporate-NGO partnership isn't new. I can google it and get results. I'm just dumbfounded that in a conference with so many extremely intelligent people that none of them have put these together as an effective strategy the day before they are going to fly to quite possibly the most improverished nation in the ASEAN group.