Business leaders united to fight poverty

Harry Bhaskara Davos, Switzerland

One might expect pomp and snobbism at the capitalistic showpiece that is the World Economic Forum, where a participant pays US$12,000, apart from an annual membership fee of $25,600, but they were far from visible. If anything, there was a star- stricken panic among organizers when celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone, Richard Gere and Lionel Richie made their way around the conference venue.

A total of 5,500 Swiss soldiers were on guard at the World Economic Forum at this Swiss ski resort, in addition to 30 combat aircraft and 50 helicopters. The choppers were also available for rent.

Here, efficiency is pushed to the limit. The opening reception on Jan. 25 was held in a tiny hall. It was a far cry from the luxurious and spacious wedding receptions in Jakarta's five- starred hotels. So small was the reception hall you barely felt the freezing temperature outside as you rubbed shoulders with other participants.

The registration hall was no less modest. The hall was so small and unpretentious it looked like a makeshift building, with an equally tiny coffee corner at the edge of the hall. The corner had only three very small round tables, and you felt you had better flee before you crowded the place. After all, registration only took a few minutes to complete.

Frugality, perhaps, should be the farthest thing from this gathering of world business leaders, but that did not seem to be the case. More astonishing was participants' choice of the most urgent world issues to be tackled, which were identified as poverty and equitable globalization. Does this stem from a feeling of guilt? If so, does guilt go with prosperity?

Starting with discussion of management theories, the forum, which was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, has convened more than 30 times.

In the late 1970s it incorporated discussions on social and political issues. In 1977 the forum members included 1,000 multinational companies with a minimum turnover of $1 billion. Membership fees started at $15,000 a year.

When antiglobalization protests broke out in the late 1990s, the forum opened discussions on the topic. Beginning in 2003, it introduced an open forum for moderate activists held in parallel with the forum in Davos.

Schwab, a former university professor, and his team have come a long way but there is still a lot to do. Genderwise, woman representation at the forum is still below 10 percent, as is the percentage of activists and political leaders.

To date, the forum is the biggest such private gathering, unrivaled in term of size and eminence of participants. Apart from the January meeting, the forum also holds regional meetings in different part of the world, including in the United States, Europe and India.

The author is a staff writer for The Jakarta Post.