Business for Peace Award

Business for Peace Award
The mission of Business for Peace is to recognise, inspire, and accelerate businessworthy leadership. We recognise businessworthy leadership via our annual Oslo Business for Peace Award. Each year, recipients are selected by an independent committee of Nobel Prize Laureates in Peace and Economics in closed-door sessions. The Award is conferred annually to the exceptional individuals who exemplify the Foundation’s concept of being businessworthy: ethically creating economic value that also creates value for society. Past Honourees represent leaders of diverse industries worldwide.We welcome you to read more about the Business for Peace Award Committee, and the previous recipients of the Business for Peace Award.The Business for Peace statuette is made by sculptor Bruce Naigles. Read more about his art on his website, including the process behind making the statuette, as told to Hélène Kolmodin from ICC
| Sl | Name | Country | Flag | Year | Awarded For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | Ratan Tata | India | 2024 | Business for peace | |
| 51 | James Mwangi | Phillipines | 2020 | Business for peace | |
| 50 | James Mwangi | Kenya | 2020 | Business for peace | |
| 49 | Marc Benioff | United States | 2020 | Business for peace | |
| 48 | Hamdi?Ulukaya | Turkey | 2019 | Business for peace | |
| 47 | Agbor Ashumanyi Ako | Cameroon | 2019 | Business for peace | |
| 46 | Alice Laugher | United Kingdom | 2019 | Business for peace | |
| 45 | Sir Martin Naughton | Ireland | 2018 | Business for peace | |
| 44 | Edgar Montenegro | Colombia | 2018 | Business for peace | |
| 43 | Lori Blaker | United States | 2018 | Business for peace | |
| 42 | Elon Musk | South Africa | 2017 | Business for peace | |
| 41 | Murad Al-Katib | Canada | 2017 | Business for peace | |
| 40 | Harley Seyedin | Iran | 2017 | Business for peace | |
| 39 | Durreen Shahnaz | Bangaladesh | 2017 | Business for peace | |
| 38 | Jennifer Nkuene Riria | Kenya | 2016 | Business for peace | |
| 37 | Tore Lærdal | Norway | 2016 | Business for peace | |
| 36 | Sarah Beydoun | Lebanon | 2016 | Business for peace | |
| 35 | Juan Andrés Cano | Colombia | 2015 | Business for peace | |
| 34 | Merrill Joseph Fernando | Sri Lanka | 2015 | Business for peace | |
| 33 | Zahi Khouri | Palestine | 2015 | Business for peace | |
| 32 | Poman Lo | China | 2015 | Business for peace | |
| 31 | Paul Polman | Netherlands | 2015 | Business for peace | |
| 30 | Marilyn Carlson Nelson | United States | 2014 | Business for peace | |
| 29 | Adnan Kassar | Lebanon | 2014 | Business for peace | |
| 28 | Kesha Kumari Damini | Nepal | 2014 | Business for peace | |
| 27 | Sir Richard Branson | United Kingdom | 2014 | Business for peace | |
| 26 | Ouided Bouchamaoui | Tunisia | 2014 | Business for peace | |
| 25 | Selima Ahmad | Bangaladesh | 2014 | Business for peace | |
| 24 | Nadia Al-Sakkaf | Yemen | 2013 | Business for peace | |
| 23 | Dean Cycon | United States | 2013 | Business for peace | |
| 22 | Connie Hasemann | Denmark | 2013 | Business for peace | |
| 21 | Margaret Mussoi L. Groff | Brazil | 2013 | Business for peace | |
| 20 | Latifur Rahman | Bangaladesh | 2012 | Business for peace | |
| 19 | Reginald A. Mengi | Tanzania | 2012 | Business for peace | |
| 18 | David MacLennan | United States | 2012 | Business for peace | |
| 17 | Vladas Lasas | Lithuania | 2012 | Business for peace | |
| 16 | Eduardo Eurnekian | Argentina | 2012 | Business for peace | |
| 15 | Ibrahim Abouleish | Egypt | 2012 | Business for peace | |
| 14 | William Rosenzweig | United States | 2010 | Business for peace | |
| 13 | Emily Cummins | United Kingdom | 2010 | Business for peace | |
| 12 | Venkataramani Srivathsan | Nigeria | 2010 | Business for peace | |
| 11 | Roberto Servitje Sendra | Mexico | 2010 | Business for peace | |
| 10 | Sir Francis Yeoh | Malaysia | 2010 | Business for peace | |
| 9 | Stef Wertheimer | Israel | 2010 | Business for peace | |
| 8 | Ratan Tata | India | 2010 | Business for peace | |
| 7 | Zhengrong Shi | China | 2009 | Business for peace | |
| 6 | Jiang Jianqing | China | 2009 | Business for peace | |
| 5 | Josephine Okot | Uganda | 2009 | Business for peace | |
| 4 | Jeffrey R. Immelt | United States | 2009 | Business for peace | |
| 3 | Mohammed Jameel | Soudi Arabia | 2009 | Business for peace | |
| 2 | Mohamed Ibrahim | Sudan | 2009 | Business for peace | |
| 1 | Anders Dahlvig | Sweden | 2009 | Business for peace |

Business for Peace Award Laureates (2013)

Nadia Al-Sakkaf
Business for Peace Award 2013
Nadia Al-Sakkaf: Chief Editor of Yemen Times
Yemen
Dr Nadia Al-Sakkaf was the first female Chief Editor of Yemen Times. This is the country’s first and most widely read independent English-language newspaper, a leading voice in Yemen on issues of development, media, gender, and politics. During the May 2011 leadership crisis in Yemen, Al-Sakkaf and her organisation were vital in reporting the news and putting the political situation in context for international readers. Under Al-Sakkaf’s leadership, the Yemen Times has also created several publications – including publications to advocate for women’s participation in politics, such as Breaking the Stereotype, a book on Yemeni women’s experience as political candidates in elections. She went on to become Yemen’s first female Minister when she became the Minister of Information in 2014.

Dean Cycon
Business for Peace Award 2013
Dean Cycon: Founder of Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company
United States
Dean Cycon is the founder and owner of Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company, with more than 30 years on development issues in indigenous communities, including coffee-producing villages around the world. Cycon created Dean’s Beans to prove that businesses can promote positive economic, social, and environmental change in developing countries, while being profitable at the same time. The company designs and funds people-centred development projects in coffee-producing areas in partnership with growers. Dean’s Beans returns a percentage of its profits to the growers as a “social equity premium.” Cycon is also a co-founder of Cooperative Coffees, the world’s first fair trade roaster’s cooperative.

Connie Hasemann
Business for Peace Award 2013
Connie Hasemann: Founder and CEO of Telehandelshuset
Denmark
Connie Hasemann, Founder and former CEO of Telehandelshuset AS, is a strong advocate for social change through sustainable business. With a mission to prove that disabled people are a valuable labour resource on equal standing with others, Hasemann established what is now one of the leading social enterprises in Denmark. Hasemann has developed a business model that demonstrates a new concept of comprehensive rehabilitation of disabled people, where the outcome is employment. This business model is both scalable and adaptable across sectors and national borders.
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Margaret Mussoi L. Groff
Business for Peace Award 2013
Margaret Mussoi L. Groff: CFO of ITAIPU Binacional
Brazil
Margaret Mussoi L. Groff is the former Chief Financial Officer of ITAIPU Binacional, the world’s largest hydropower station in terms of power generation. She engaged in motivating female employees to seek professional development which resulted in an increase of female managers from 10 to 21 percent in nine years, in ITAIPU Binacional. Groff has also established ITAIPU’s policy and guidelines for gender equality based on the UN Global Compact Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Group, contributing to more gender-equal societies.

Business for Peace Award Laureates (2012)

Latifur Rahman
Business for Peace Award 2012
Latifur Rahman: Chair and CEO of Transcom Group
Bangladesh
The late Latifur Rahman was the Chairman and CEO of the Transcom Group. The group’s growth was committed to ethical and responsible business practices that serve as a guideline for other businesses in the region. Rahman was renowned for his leadership as well as his guidance and integrity, ethical standards and business acumen. He served as Chair of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry for several terms and served two three-years terms in the International Chamber of Commerce.

Reginald A. Mengi
Business for Peace Award 2012
Reginald A. Mengi: Founder and Chair of IPP Group
Tanzania
The late Reginald A. Mengi was the founder and chairman of the IPP Group. Coming from humble beginnings, Mengi’s company today ranks amongst the largest private companies in Tanzania. Mengi consistently advocated the need for business to actively engage with communities and take responsibility for their development. He promoted initiatives that assist the disadvantaged and fostered national unity as a leading advocate for peaceful coexistence. He indiscriminately contributed to all religious faiths and helped finance the construction of schools. The examples of social responsibility set by Mengi are widely emulated in the Tanzanian business community.

David MacLennan
Business for Peace Award 2012
David MacLennan: President and COO of Cargill, Inc.
United States
David MacLennan is the President and Chief Operating Officer at Cargill, Inc. Under MacLennan’s guidance, Cargill has developed management systems and policies to ensure environmental compliance, prevent pollution and continually improve performance on criteria relevant to their business and operations. The group’s commitment in this area has led the way for others, in showing that it is possible to have a proven social responsibility record, while being a leader in profitability and growth. The Ethical Guiding Principles developed for the group, under MacLennan’s stewardship, can serve as a guideline for all businesses.
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Vladas Lasas
Business for Peace Award 2012
Vladas Lasas: CEO of Skubios siuntos UAB Kaunas and UPS Lithuania
Lithuania
Dr Vladas Lasas, CEO and Founder of Skubios siuntos UAB Kaunas & UPS/Lithuania, is a business leader who is helping drive awareness of how technology, cooperation and synergy can provide important solutions to pressing, global problems. He is Co-Founder of the Carbon War Room, the global non-profit initiative by entrepreneurs to implement market-driven solutions to climate change. His numerous involvement and initiatives all have as a common goal to bring together resources from several fields and disciplines.

Eduardo Eurnekian
Business for Peace Award 2012
Eduardo Eurnekian: President of Corporacion America
Argentina
Eduardo Eurnekian is president of Corporacion America. Eurnekian has a strong commitment to peace and reconciliation and is a prominent advocate of ethical business practices. He advocates genuine restoration and reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia, with the consolidation of bilateral relations between the two countries. When diversifying into other sectors of the Argentinian economy, he sold all of his media holdings, in order not to have privileged access to the media, “in a manner that would imply unfair competition with other companies.”

Ibrahim Abouleish
Business for Peace Award 2012
Ibrahim Abouleish: Founder of SEKEM
Egypt
The late Dr Ibrahim Abouleish was the founder of the comprehensive development initiative SEKEM. During a journey through Egypt in 1975, Dr Abouleish was overwhelmed by his country’s overpopulation, and its pollution, particularly from the use of chemical pesticides. SEKEM has been a leader in developing and spreading biodynamic farming methods in Egypt. The organisation’s commitment regarding innovative development has led to widespread use of biodynamic methods in pest control and to the improvement of yields. Dr Abouleish then commenced a three-fold project allowing him to contribute to community-building, humanity, and healing the Earth.

Business for Peace Award Laureates (2010)

William Rosenzweig
Business for Peace Award 2010
William Rosenzweig: Managing Director of Physic Ventures
United States
William Rosenzweig is the managing director of Physic Ventures, whose purpose is to invest in companies which create value through delivering innovative solutions for sustainability, preventing disease, promoting consumer-driven health. Physic Ventures connects experienced enterprises with companies in developing countries to create an ultimate benefit which goes far beyond bottom-line considerations.

Emily Cummins
Business for Peace Award 2010
Emily Cummins: Inventor
United Kingdom
Emily Cummins is an inventor who designs products to improve the quality of life in developing countries. She designed and created a multi-bucket water system to transport water effectively across southern Africa. Her sustainable fridge uses solar heat to provide refrigeration cheaply and easily. Her product’s design is publicly available and the refrigerators serve the everyday refrigeration needs of countless families across southern Africa.

Venkataramani Srivathsan
Business for Peace Award 2010
Venkataramani Srivathsan: Managing Director of Nigerian Operations at Olam
Nigeria
Venkataramani Srivathsan is the managing director of Nigerian operations at Olam International, a leading global supply chain management company for agricultural products and food ingredients. He has created the rice extension farming and out-grower programme in collaboration with farmers’ organisations and NGOs. This programme has allowed Olam Nigeria to increase overall returns to rice farmers through enhanced productivity, improved quality and guaranteed buy-back of crops.
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Roberto Servitje Sendra
Business for Peace Award 2010
Roberto Servitje Sendra: Chair of Grupo Bimbo
Mexico
Roberto Sendra is Chair of Grupo Bimbo, a multinational banking enterprise. Early in its development, he stated that the group’s goal was to be “altamente productiva y plenamente humana” – highly productive and truly humane. Grupo Bimbo has a significant social responsibility programme, which is tightly related to health, the environment, society, and the wellbeing of its workers. Grupo Bimbo has set a leading example through its efforts to recycle and to reduce water consumption while supporting a major reforestation campaign in Mexico.

Sir Francis Yeoh
Business for Peace Award 2010
Sir Francis Yeoh: Managing Director of YTL Corporation Berhad
Malaysia
Sir Francis Yeoh is managing director of the YTL Corporation Berhad, Malaysia’s leading integrated infrastructure conglomerate. He believes that a sustainable business means one which can thrive in the long term and that true sustainability has four equal components: social, economic, environmental, and cultural.

Stef Wertheimer
Business for Peace Award 2010
Stef Wertheimer: Founder of Iscar Metalworking Company
Israel
Stef Wertheimer is the founder and honorary chair of Iscar Metalworking Company, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of carbide cutting tools. He employs an integrated workforce of Arabs, Jews, and Christians. In his company, employees work side by side towards a common goal, shedding the stereotypes so prevalent in the Middle East. Wertheimer believes in the importance of quality technical education as a basis for a better society. To this end, he has initiated the Arab-Jewish Executive Development programme, bringing together Jews and Arabs in intensive courses on entrepreneurship.

Ratan Tata
Business for Peace Award 2024
Ratan Tata: Chair of Tata Group
India
Ratan Tata is Chair of the Tata Group, India’s largest conglomerate. His personal view is that the Group’s sense of social responsibility does not collide with the creation of shareholder value. Tata donates on average eight to fourteen per cent of its net profits every year through dedicated philanthropic programmes.

Business for Peace Award Laureates (2009)

Zhengrong Shi
Business for Peace Award 2009
Zhengrong Shi: Founder, Chair, and CEO of Suntech Power
China/Australia
The Chinese-Australian solar scientist Dr Zhengrong Shi is the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Suntech Power, one of the leading solar energy companies and the largest solar module manufacturer in the world. When he decided to start his own company in 2001, he was acutely aware of the growing need for renewable energy and he wanted to be part of the solution. He is considered to be one of the world’s leaders in the development and commercialisation of renewable energy technology. Dr Shi guided Suntech into designing and providing low-cost solar generators to let even the disadvantaged be able to afford clean energy.

Jiang Jianqing
Business for Peace Award 2009
Jiang Jianqing: Chair of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
China
Jianqing has served as Governor of the Shanghai Bank and the Pudong Subsidiary Bank before becoming the Head of the Investment and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Under the leadership of Mr. Jianqing, the ICBC became the first Chinese bank in the country’s domestic banking to introduce and apply the notion of “Green Credit”, strictly constraining credit inputs for heavily polluting and/or high energy-consuming corporations. For the ICBC, the environmental protection compliance serves as the ultimate determinant to reject or accept any projects and business entities requesting loans.

Josephine Okot
Business for Peace Award 2009
Josephine Okot: Founder and Managing Director of Victoria Seeds
Uganda
Josephine Okot is the Founder and Managing Director of Victoria Seeds, a full line seed company in Uganda. She founded Victoria Seeds for the purpose of delivering quality seeds to “small holder” farmers who produce over 90% of agricultural output in Uganda. Okot’s goal is to reverse the decline in agricultural productivity in Uganda and other countries of the region where Victoria Seeds exports.
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Jeffrey R. Immelt
Business for Peace Award 2009
Jeffrey R. Immelt: Chair and CEO of General Electric
United States
Jeffrey Immelt is Chair of the board and CEO of the conglomerate General Electric since 2000. Under Mr Immelt’s leadership, GE implemented a new initiative, “ecomagination,” to ramp up development of clean technologies and lighten the company’s environmental footprint. GE committed itself in 2005 to double its research-and-development investments in eco-friendlier technologies from 2004 to 2010, more than ten times the 2005 federal US R&D budget for solar and wind combined.

Mohammed Jameel
Business for Peace Award 2009
Mohammed Jameel: President of Abdul Latif Jameel Co. Ltd.
Saudi Arabia
Mohammed Jameel is President of Abdul Latif Jameel Co. Ltd. Jameel has developed several community programmes which promote job opportunities for thousands of young Saudi men and women each year. Jameel has been the driving force behind the Grameen Jameel Pan Arab Initiative, which aims to reduce poverty through micro credit. In addition, he opened the first Bab Riza Jameel (Gateway to Prosperity) Centre, creating employment opportunities for women. The centre also offers financial support for start-ups and loans for vocational training in both the public and private sector.

Mohamed Ibrahim
Business for Peace Award 2009
Mohamed Ibrahim: Founder and Chair of Mo Ibrahim Foundation
Sudan/United Kingdom
Dr Mohamed “Mo” Ibrahim is a Sudanese-born British mobile communications entrepreneur. He is currently on the board of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and is a member of the Africa Regional Advisory Board of London Business School. In 2006, his foundation launched the Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The prize is awarded to African heads of state who deliver security, education, health, and economic development to their constituents, and who democratically transfer power to their successor.

Anders Dahlvig
Business for Peace Award 2009
Anders Dahlvig: CEO of IKEA
Sweden
Anders Dahlvig started working for IKEA in 1984 and served as CEO from 1999-2009. Under Anders Dahlvig’s leadership, IKEA placed sustainability at the heart of its product development and supply strategy. “The IKEA Way of Purchasing Home Furnishing Products” is a code of conduct which defines what suppliers can expect from IKEA and what IKEA requires from its suppliers in terms of legal requirements, working conditions, the active prevention of child labour, environmental protection, and forestry management.

